Hardware Connection March 2016

As long as there are pipes to be fit, carburetors to be rebuilt and wiring to be run, there will be pros whose first instinct is to grab a CHANNELLOCK® tool and get to work. That’s why we do everything we can to ensure a seamless buying experience for our valued retail partners. The brand America trusts for tough, reliable hand tools is the brand you can count on for streamlined ordering and comprehensive sales support.

Publisher/Principal: Tom Chasteen tom@thehardwareconnection.com 305-852-6126

Editor/Principal: Chris Jensen chris@thehardwareconnection.com 317-514-8864

Marketing & Creative Director/Principal: Dan Akers dan@thehardwareconnection.com 317-797-6609

Associate Publisher: Craig Cope craig@thehardwareconnection.com 804-690-0666

of Vendor Programs: Diane Allen diane@thehardwareconnection.com 317-432-9177 National Account Manager: Cathy Karabag cathy@thehardwareconnection.com 408-772-7961 Beacon Awards Director: Tom Delph tdelph@thehardwareconnection.com

By Chris Jensen

Memorable Advice from ‘The Profit’ Star

For those who did not attend the True Value Reunion and listen to guest speaker Marcus Lemonis, star of the CNBC reality show “The Profit,” let me pass on some of the great advice he gave True Value retailers.

• “You will outwork people and outservice people, because what you sell is not a commodity. It’s about relationships. If you try to stay in the commodity business you will be crushed.”

• “People, process and product are all that matter.”

• “The business you are in is a family neighborhood relationship business. The only way to grow your business is to have a closer relationship with the people who work there and shop there.”

• “It’s your responsibility to make sure everyone under your care is taken care of. We’re not all the same, but employees come to work looking for leadership and guidance. How hard is it to be nice to someone? Everybody deserves respect. It’s

important to give people second chances and to be forgiving. Some of you are detached from the business and don’t care about people. It’s your job to fix it.”

• “The best way to get people on board with your plan is to do the job with them. You should be having staff meetings every week and sharing financials.”

• “Your business has to bring true value to customers. If you can’t convince them to be loyal to you, they’ll be loyal to price.”

Lemonis shared intimate details of his childhood, noting he was an orphan from Beirut who was adopted at age two by an American couple. Growing up he was overweight, suicidal, suffered from an eating disorder and was molested by a family friend. “I tell you this so you can better relate to me, because the number one thing in business is vulnerability and you have to be able to relate to people. I’m going to connect people for the rest of my life,” he told those in the audience. It was a powerful message from someone whose wisdom comes from more than the business world. ■

By Tom Chasteen

Working Without a Net?

Every successful person I know both personally and professionally, when asked, will attribute a great deal of their success to their parents, family members or mentors. That’s because to be successful a person needs support, trust and frankness. In my opinion, without these three ingredients I honestly don’t believe success can be achieved at any significant level.

Support is critical. Life is not always fair, nor do things go as planned even with a lot of hard work. The support of those around us helps us to maintain our course. It helps us get back up when we’ve been knocked down. Support encourages us to go against conventional thinking and support helps us withstand significant headwinds that can cause us to question our own judgment.

Trust is a priceless component. To be able to trust someone implicitly and know that person will “have your back” unconditionally is critical when people are climbing out on the longest and skinniest branches to reach the “sweetest” fruit. To be able to share your business and personal information with someone and know they will not share

Independent hardware stores are typically family-run businesses and, like the way i see it

it with anyone unconditionally is a very valuable asset.

Frankness is equally critical, in my opinion, to success. Not everyone who supports you and whom you trust has the ability to be frank. Talking with the people who can tell you objectively what they think (good or bad) of an idea is not always a positive conversation to have. Many times when someone tells us what we don’t want to hear we accuse them of not caring, of being shortsighted and even of not being loyal.

I know a hardware retailer who became irate that a wholesaler new business manager would not sign off on a new hardware store location. In fact, the retailer was so irate he put a picture of this person on the back of his office door and used it as a dart board.

In reality, that new business manager saved the retailer from losing a lot of money with a poorly thought out plan, because the location could not possibly support a retail hardware store. To be successful you have to have people around you who will tell you the truth, not just what they think you want to hear.

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the way i see it

farming, the business is passed down from generation to generation. Part of that process is one generation becomes the mentor for the next generation. No one as a

whole cares more about someone else than family.

In my case, both my mother and my father were my mentors. My father passed away almost 20 years ago. He

Work Facing Any Direction.

had completely retired from the hardware business for about 10 years before he passed away. My mother passed away about 15 years ago and had worked part time in the office of our family hardware business until just before she died. Regardless of whether my mother and father were actively involved in the family hardware business they were still my safety net. I could always count on them for support. I could trust them implicitly and they both were extremely frank in giving me an honest appraisal of what I was thinking of doing or not doing. My father was so conservative I often accused him of making the John Birch Society look like flaming liberals. However, I cannot tell you how many times he saved me from my own demise.

When my parents passed away I began to truly understand the circus saying “working without a safety net.” Many

The answer is simple… Outservice Your Competition!

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every

the way i see it

times we get so accustomed to working with our mentors (our safety nets) that we often forget how much we rely on them. Very often we don’t even need them and most of the time we forget they are even there—until one day they aren’t.

I was recently speaking with a friend who just became the director of sales for one of the largest manufacturers in the hardware industry. He was mentored by one of the finest people I’ve ever had the opportunity to know and work with who just recently retired. I asked him “so how is it to work without a “net?” He smiled and said “It’s a little different, but I’m getting used to it.”

I recommend you take a few minutes, think about who’s holding your safety net and give them a call and thank them, because without them I’m pretty confident you wouldn’t be where you are today. And if you have the opportunity to mentor someone else, don’t pass it up.

A year or so before my father passed away we were laughing and joking and I told him, “You know dad, the older I get the smarter you get.” The look on his face and the smile of appreciation was something that will be with me the rest of my life. I just wish I hadn’t waited so long to tell him.

Share stories about your safety net with me, from one retailer to another, at tom@thehardwarestore.com. ■

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HARDWARE HUMOR

HARDWARE STORIES Amazing but TRUE

We had a guy come in the other day who asked for 20 feet of aluminum screen. He was going to plug the screen into an outlet and put the screen under his bed to get WiFi signals out of his body. He said he was using some website that shows different ways to ground yourself. He also wanted a replacement cord that only came with a grounding pin and not the other parts that go in an outlet.

Brad Plotner Plotner PRO Hardware Richwood, Ohio

Is it universal to all hardware stores that the old guy that comes in with the caliper in his hands will take more patience than you knew you had, and your reward will be a 65-cent sale that the customer will com- plain is too expensive? I love my customers, they pay my bills. I just love some of them more than others.

Alan Talman Karp’s Hardware East Northport, N.Y.

Alot of times we hear about people trying to use some other tool or product instead of doing it the right way. Once we had some people try to plumb natural gas with garden hose.

Todd Hart Hart’s Hardware Moriarty, N.M.

One day a customer asked us to fill out his IRS return. Sure enough, the calendar said it was a full moon.

Dick Beal Retired retailer Merritt Island, Fla.

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How’s

Business?

MIDWEST

Sales and customer counts so far in 2016?

Both have been lower this year, about 10 percent less than last year. I’m hoping it’s the weather. We’ve had a mild and wet winter.

Best niche categories?

We’ve done well with rentals. We started offering rentals in 2008 and continually expanded since then. We’ll rent just about anything from big equipment such as Bobcats, small backhoes and sky lifts to small stuff like drain openers. We rely on the Do it Best rental program and that’s helped us train employees and figure out what equipment to buy. Our store also has a small engine repair shop.

Employee scheduling system?

We have 10 employees and use a sheet on a post to create schedules. Employees fill out time cards by hand and we do our payroll ourselves.

What new items have been strong sellers?

We’re always adding new things. Right now, we’re in the process of changing three displays but we don’t venture too far out from our core. Paint is our best seller. We recently added Milwaukee hand tools and those have done well.

Dean Haley

Haley Do it Best Hardware Elkton, Ky.

Sales and customer counts so far in 2016?

Little soft, but last year was a record year. We’re down about 2 to 3 percent. Last year, we had a good year that continued a trend of two strong years coming out of the recession. This year people are concerned about the upcoming elections and are holding onto their money.

Employee scheduling system?

We have 33 employees most of the year and a few more in the summer. We handle schedules with an Excel spreadsheet. For the most part, we try to maintain fixed schedule so we don’t

bounce people around. The employees like having set hours.

David Brunjes

Craftwood Lumber & Hardware

Highland Park, Ill.

NORTHEAST

Sales and customer counts so far in 2016?

Unfortunately, with no snow we’re down a little

compared to last year. The customer count is down, too, because of no snow. Last year was phenomenal. It’s been one department—lawn and garden with the rock salt and snow brushes – that has taken a hit.

Best niche categories?

For the past three years, we’ve been a full dealer for Husqvarna, and that’s gone really well. Our chainsaw sales have tripled because of the brand recognition. Starting out, it was nerve racking because of the amount of money we had to invest in inventory, but we seem to sell through every season. This year even with no snow we’ve sold about 50 snow blowers. We do repair, so that draws in customers, too.

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How’s Business?

Employee scheduling system?

We’re a family-run business, and we have four full-time employees and three part-time employees. We should have some sort of scheduling system, but we use the old-fashioned time card and bulletin board. Most part timers are set on the times they come in, so there’s not too much to the scheduling. What new items have been strong sellers?

Just before Christmas we put in a line of True Value impulse buys, and they did very well. It includes products such as keychain flashlights, nail clippers, back scratchers and potpourri. It’s still selling decent now.

SOUTH

Sales and customer counts so far in 2016?

Sales are very good, about 20 percent above last year. The storm this past January had a big impact on sales.

Best niche categories?

During the summer time, we sell a lot of patio furniture. We’re in a lake community, so patio furniture, giftware and flags have done well. We also have marine supplies to cater to our customers. To help with the patio furniture sales, we’ll set up tables with

placemats and napkins—kind of dress up the furniture. We offer middle-ofthe-road to lower-cost patio furniture. Also in the spring and summer, we sell Virginia-grown produce and flowers.

Employee scheduling system?

We have 15 employees, and we use the old-fashioned scheduling spreadsheet. We don’t use an automated program. We’re open seven days a week and are only closed four days of the year, so we’re pretty set with our schedules.

How’s Business?

What new items have been strong sellers?

We do well with Evergreen flags, outdoor statues, birdfeeders and chimes.

Mary-Burnam Brown

Louisa True Value Hardware | Louisa, Va.

SOUTHWEST

Sales and customer counts so far in 2016?

Our Aspen store has been crazy, up about 20 percent. I’m hoping that it’s because of our remodel that we did 18 months ago. Our two other stores are about the same as last year.

Best niche categories?

We emphasize the core categories. In one store, paint is almost all we have. Ice melt and snow shovels have done well this winter.

Employee scheduling system?

There are 45 employees for our stores. We use an Excel spreadsheet template that each store manager adjusts to their store.

Chris Peterson Alpine Ace Hardware Aspen, Colo.

Sales and customer counts so far in 2016?

Sales have been consistent and customer count is up about 5 percent. Weather plays a large role in what happens here. We had a tough start in January because the weather was cold and rainy. It allowed weeds to start to sprout.

Best niche categories?

Patio outdoor living is one of our best niches. We do a lot of outdoor living, such as patio furniture and grills. Those products really drive our winter and spring sales. If a store is going to go into outdoor living, I recommend proper signage. It’s a small thing, but if the signs are outside they need to

be weatherproof and maintained. It’s a simple thing and most easily forgotten, but it makes a difference.

Employee scheduling system?

We have 85 to 90 employees and we just started using a payroll service that also has a scheduling module that we’re implementing as well. Managers can budget hours based on comparative sales. I wear a lot of hats as a store owner, but I’d prefer not to manage payroll taxes. Our payroll system manages the whole project

What new items have been strong sellers?

We’ve always had a love-hate relationship with shrinking hoses. The ones that are as-seen-on-TV seem to have a

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How’s Business?

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Gordon Keith

Sunwest True Value

Sun City West, Ariz.

WEST

Sales and customer counts so far in 2016?

Sales have been about the same as last year. Customer count is down a little bit. We’re in Napa Valley and the tourist count is down. Also, our demographics are changing. More people are buying homes for vacation homes, so we don’t have as many people living here full time. We’re losing the reliable, average customer.

Best niche categories?

One of our dominant categories is housewares. We have a separate 3,000-square-foot building for our housewares, kitchen and gourmet products. It’s about 30 percent of our business. We just got back from the

Las Vegas gift show and also go to the Chicago gourmet extravaganza. We aggressively shop for our housewares. We also stay aware of what’s in other stores such as Williams-Sonoma.

Employee scheduling system?

We have 15 to 16 employees with some part time. We create the schedules on a calendar a month at a time. Everyone usually works the same days.

What new items have been strong sellers?

We do really well with fine knives and chef knives. Gorilla Glue has taken off, but we’ve had that a few years now.

Ron Menegon

Steves Ace Hardware | St. Helena, Calif.

From Tom’s Shop hardware products review

One thing I admire about winners is their desire to continue to be the best. Winning teams continue to try and improve their starting lineup by drafting new players or trading for experienced players. Individuals who are winners are constantly trying to do better and make those people around them better at whatever they strive to do. Winners in the business world are always trying to develop a better product or service. Real winners create a culture within their organizations that promotes the mindset that complacency is simply not good enough.

As we begin the March Madness of college basketball you will notice 50 percent of the teams have been there at least four out of the past five years. They have clearly developed a culture within their organizations that helps

By Tom Chasteen

ensure they will go back again next year.

Both WD-40 and the Crescent® brand of Apex Tool Group are perfect examples of how a company can develop a winning culture in the hardware industry. Can you actually imagine opening a new hardware store without stocking WD-40 or Crescent® products? Even if you could, the real question is why would you? Both companies continue to maintain very high brand awareness and make quality products.

What sets both WD-40 and Crescent® apart from their competitors is they continue to develop new quality products that appeal to hardware stores’ customer base. Crescent® has launched two really innovative products that completely change the way we view a nut driver and an adjustable wrench.

product #1: Quick convert nut driver apex tool Group

The Quick Convert Nut Driver has taken the concept of the standard screwdriver handle nut driver and literally turned it on its head. To start off, if you pull the metal shaft of the tool it will snap into a 90-degree handle, making the nut driver a T handle nut driver for those stubborn nuts that need a little extra persuasion. The metal shaft is also hollow to allow the

products review

From Tom’s Shop hardware

bolt to slide up in the shaft so the nut driver can slip over the nut.

The Crescent® nut driver can also handle hex nuts, square nuts, 12-point nuts, Torx nuts, what I call rounded nuts and spline nuts. Another nice feature is the size of each nut driver is color-code stamped on the butt of the nut driver with both SAE and metric size of the nut driver. And to top it off each nut driver has a comfort rubber non-slip handle.

To see more click this link.

product #2: pass-thru™ adjustable wrench set apex tool Group

Crescent’s Pass-Thru™ Adjustable Wrench is another game changer over the typical adjustable wrench. Like most adjustable wrenches when you turn the knurl you can increase or decrease the wrench size to accommodate the nut size. However, with the Crescent® Pass-Thru™ Adjustable Wrench if you continue to open the jaw opening the bottom jaw will come out, you can then reverse the jaw and it becomes a pipe wrench. Crescent then added a ratchet pass-thru socket in the butt of the steel handle. It is this kind of out-of-the-box thinking that continues to keep the

company at the top of the tool category in the hardware channel. To learn more about the Crescent® Pass-Thru™ Adjustable Wrench click on this video.

product #3: eZ-reach™ wd-40 coMpanY

The number of cans that WD-40 produces each year is simply astonishing. I don’t know of one hardware store that does not stock WD-40 in either the 9 oz. or 12 oz cans. Not to mention the Specialist® group of products like the Corrosion Inhibitor, Water Resistant Silicone Spray, Penetrating Spray,

product #4

specialist® Gel lubricant

wd-40 coMpanY

WD-40 has also developed a gel lubricant under the Specialist® brand of products. Now you can spray the lubricant on a vertical surface and the lubricant will not run down the surface. It will also lubricate 12 times longer and is the perfect product for ball bearing raceways, constant friction areas and corrosive environments as it will help prevent rust for up to a year.

Take a look at the video below and you will see why our testers rated the WD-40 products so highly across the board.

Click here to see a video demonstration.

By Chris Jensen

Scheduling Employee Control of Getting

Judith Pyle knows the pain of employee scheduling.

The owner of Ace Hardware Evergreen Way in Everett, Wash., used to spend too much of her work week creating Excel spreadsheets and trying to turn them into grids. Then after posting the schedule she would often have to redo it because she couldn’t remember all the time off requests for her 12 employees. “It was frustrating and time-consuming,” she says.

Pyle has been using an intelligent workforce optimization platform from Scheduling Plus for two years and says she now spends one-third to one-half the time on employee schedules with a lot fewer errors. “It’s absolutely a timesaving, cost-effective solution to the problem of scheduling,” she adds.

“We’ve operated our own hardware store in Colorado for the last 10 years, so we understand the pain that retailers face with employee scheduling,” says

Judith Pyle, owner of Ace Hardware Evergreen Way, now spends a lot less time on employee scheduling since adopting an intelligent workforce optimization platform.

Erick Prohs of Scheduling Plus. “It was built specifically by hardware retailers for hardware retailers.”

Scheduling Plus is a web-based tool with three main components: employee scheduling, time clock and task management. You can access it

from anywhere and assign a task to an employee remotely or set up the schedule from home. Gone are the days of posting schedules on the bulletin board in the break room. Employees can receive their schedules via text or email and log in to their own personal dashboard.

A workforce optimization program like Scheduling Plus keeps your payroll costs in check, and at the same time helps ensure your customers stay satisfied on the busiest of days. It allows you to easily establish schedules using forecasted daily sales and transactions based off your historical point-of-sale (POS) data.

ScHeDuLing function

Prohs understands the importance of having the right people on the sales floor at the right time, making labor

When you log in to the Scheduling Plus dashboard you can view number of employees working that day, scheduled hours, monthly sales, hours that week, completed and uncompleted tasks, hot floor times, weather forecast, pending requests and predicted sales.

costs more efficient. “Are you meeting your labor budget is one component of a schedule, but do you have enough staff to provide awesome customer service? It’s proven that the shopping experience improves if a store provides enough staff to help customers,” he says.

Scheduling Plus currently integrates POS data with the Epicor system, looking at how sales are trending going back three years. “You can use other POS systems but you miss out on the sales intelligence behind the scheduling,” he says.

A “hot floor” is the time period when you have 75 percent of your transactions take place, typically between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Then the next group is a medium floor when 15 percent of your transactions take place. The remaining 10 percent of transactions take place when you have a cold floor, so less coverage is needed on the sales floor. What might constitute a hot floor in the winter turns into a medium floor in the summer.

“You can take a schedule and easily copy it

from week to week, but no week is ever the same. There’s seasonality and time off requests,” Prohs points out. “Our store is based in a tourist area, so we know when we see more customers come in and can schedule accordingly.”

The Scheduling Plus software makes it easy to set up templates to manage the scheduling function. First, set up the positions you have in your store such as manager, cashier, paint expert, sales floor clerk, yard personnel and rental desk.

It’s easy to create templates for regular shifts of specific positions, using your own color-coded system.

An employee may have multiple positions they are eligible to be scheduled for. Part-timers can only work certain days or hours, and the system won’t let you assign them beyond those parameters. “It’s easy to drag that template over so you know you need two cashiers, one manager, a paint expert and two staff in the yard,” Prohs says. The dashboard view will display different

information for a manager such as predicted sales, time off requests and other messages. Employees log in and see their schedule, tasks assigned and weather forecast for the day. They can mark tasks as completed or go in to the time off widget to request a vacation day.

As you’re building your schedule you might see that you are 6.9 hours over on cashiers and your sales forecast for the day is $1,137. You see your labor budget for the week and the month so you know what to work with.

“Our platform creates employee engagement,

because it’s interactive and allows them to see things in a grid,” says Prohs. “If you’re having issues with understaffing, this helps you ensure you have the right functions covered on the floor such as a paint or lawn and garden expert. The goal is to develop a schedule that works for your business and makes it more profitable, not just something that meets the specific requests of your employees,” he adds.

Pyle starts the scheduling process by looking at her payroll goal as it relates to sales. She usually copies a schedule based on a typical week

Workforce optimization software like Scheduling Plus allows retailers to better manage their payroll dollars.

but might start fresh with a particular employee if they have a time off request. “The goal is to manage my payroll for profits,” she says.

When Pyle finishes her schedule she sends to staff via email or text based on their preference. “All my employees have the ability to sign into the program and view the schedule. I usually create the schedule but sometimes my manager does it,” she says.

Pyle created a user called show schedule, which allows everyone to see the schedule in grid format. “We keep it open in our POS so the main cashier can ensure we’re staying on track with lunch breaks. I’m a visual person and like to the see the grid,” she says.

Pyle’s employees love the system, which means she now spends less time

with their specific tasks for the day.

A task can follow a shift, so you don’t have to go in every week and keep putting in that same task. You can assign daily and weekly tasks and even print out task cards to hand to employees. The online interface lets them update the

status of their tasks upon completion.

Pyle is using the task management function for checklist items that employees might forget such as watering in the garden center and mopping the floor.

Metcalf says their stores have just started using task management and

Upper: Employees can easily log into the system and request time off.

Lower: Scheduling Plus is flexible enough to offer retailers a number of options for clocking in such as remote log-in, required break-time check-ins and outs, special hour rounding rules and overtime rules.

that one manager really likes to use that function.

tiMe cLock function

Using the time clock function saves a lot of time when it comes to processing payroll, Prohs points out. “There is less room for error and it’s easier to maintain compliance when there is a question of when employees worked, since we keep records for them,” he says. Data is hosted on Amazon’s EC2 Cloud Front and is automatically backed up and secured on an hourly basis.

One retailer with six stores likes the fact that the Scheduling Plus time clock function helps them manage the 30-hour requirement for part timers to remain in

compliance with the employer mandate provisions of the Affordable Care Act.

Metcalf says the time clock function has been a big time-saving improvement for Gillman Home Center. “We still had one store on a manual punch clock system and there was a different system for each store,” he says. “It used to take our payroll clerk two to three days just to do payroll for the company. Now they can just import the payroll data to ADP and it takes much less time.”

Employees can either log in to their dashboard to clock in, or they can go to a dedicated time clock web page and punch in a four-digit code to clock in or out. “We just put in a shortcut to the time clock page on all the floor computers, so employees can clock in or out at any computer. At some stores we also mounted a tablet up on the wall that displays nothing but the time

There are different levels of access for owners, managers and employees. Managers/ owners can see cost per employee and can see a day view of payroll cost.

clock website they can use as well,” Metcalf says.

He adds, “The support we’ve gotten from Scheduling Plus has been the best I’ve ever seen with a software company. Their live chat function is great. When bugs crop up they are fixed in a day or two. They went out of their way to handle a request for me— not all their customers use ADP for payroll, but they put it in so we could export directly to ADP.”

As Prohs explains, “We pride ourselves on listening to feedback from retailers. It’s been actively developed for three years now and the software is never done because we’re always enhancing it, but we’ve created a product that meets the employee scheduling needs a lot of retailers face.”

For more information on Scheduling Plus and to view a quick demo, go to www.schedulingplus.com/demo. ■

Jack Gurnon has been working at Charles Street Supply since he was 10 and loves operating like a real shopkeeper, since he lives on the two floors above the store.

little Hardware The Best in America Store

Dick Gurnon was a salesman who called on a man who opened a tiny hardware store in 1948 in a basement on Charles Street in the historic Beacon Hill neighborhood of Boston. It is a wellheeled neighborhood of Federal-style row houses with narrow streets, brick sidewalks and gas-lit streets. After a while Dick started to work part time in the store and soon became partners in 1952.

Wholesaler: Ace Hardware

Square footage: 2,100 sq. ft. on the main floor plus 1,200 sq. ft. in the basement.

Sales per square foot: $1,500. Ace is amazed at what we produce—we have the highest sales per square foot of any Ace store in the country.

Year founded: 1948

Number of employees: 6 full time and 6 part time.

Top-selling categories: Light bulbs, paint, cleaning supplies and mouse traps.

The store’s inventory was lost to fire in 1963, which led to a move to the present location at 54 Charles Street. In 1985 Charles Street Supply expanded to 2,100 square feet by knocking down the wall and taking over space that used to be a fish market. Dick’s son, Jack, started working full time after college in 1977 and shortly after that Norman Solari came on board to help take care of customers. Jack took over when his father retired in 1997.

Charles Street Supply, which bills itself as Boston’s oldest hardware store, was named Best of Boston in 2005, 2007 and 2011.

Best niches: We have our own power press machine in the back to

Upper: Charles Street Supply generates sales per square foot of $1,500, which is 10 times greater than the average hardware store.

Lower: Second-generation owner Jack Gurnon knows how to meet the needs of his neighbors with personalized service.

make plaster washers for repairing plaster walls. We sell them online all over the world. We also sell Miele vacuums and Yeti coolers.

Dealer Profile

Secrets to your survival as a small store? We’ve been here since 1948 and we’re the second-longest running business in Beacon Hill. Everyone knows and trusts me. I have keys to everyone’s house. A lot of our customers were on vacation when we had the last big storm and they called me up and I arranged for plumbers to go into their houses and thaw out their pipes. I love coming to work. I live upstairs on the second and third floors of the building—I have a 13-step commute. I can always be open during a storm, and customers know they can ring my doorbell at any time for an emergency. I’m a real shopkeeper who is totally indebted to the neighborhood, and I know it intimately so I can cater to it. We’re neighbors and friends.

How do you ensure your customer service stands out? It’s lead by example. I’m at the counter six days a week. All my employees are long time and they get it because they see how I do it. We greet each customer, almost always by their first name. You have to make eye contact with everyone.

How do you keep customers shopping local? Our clientele is pretty savvy. Their time is more valuable than the 20 cents they will save by driving across town. They can pick up the phone, tell me what they need and ask

Charles Street Supply bills itself as Boston’s oldest hardware store, dating back to 1948.

me to deliver it by Friday. We offer free delivery on orders over $60. They shop smarter, not harder. Plus parking is at a premium in Beacon Hill, so people like to walk to shops.

How often do famous people from Beacon Hill shop there?

Before he ran for president John Kerry used to come in every Saturday right before closing time and have a beer with us, wearing his leather flight jacket. Jack Welch doesn’t come into the store but he sends someone to buy things here. James Taylor would come in with his dad Isaac, who lived down the street. Rock stars who were performing in town have wandered in like Joe Walsh and Rod Stewart.

How did you get into special services such as custom window

Lower: The store has an old power press that makes plaster washers that are sold online all over the world.

boxes, handyman service and lamp repair? We’ve been building window boxes for 40 years, because customers kept asking my dad for them. He would hold a window box contest. Now just about every house around here has our window boxes. We have good mechanical guys and we try and fix anything. One guy was a helicopter mechanic. My cousin used to work for Home Depot but got laid off, so now he’s a full-time handyman for us. We could use a second full-time handyman.

What made you decide to open at 6 a.m. on Mondays and Thursdays? Since we are such a small store and don’t have any room for back stock we get two deliveries a week from Ace on Monday and Thursday mornings. The Ace truck comes real early because there would be no place to park otherwise. Since we have to be here at 5:30 a.m. anyway we might as well have the store open then. Some of our contractors come in early those days.

What family members are involved in the business? I’ve been involved in the business since I was 10 years old. My sister, Meg, used to be involved, but she moved to Florida. My wife, Cassie, is an interior designer, so we can recommend her to customers who are looking for help picking paint colors.

Biggest challenges facing your business? Internet sales and the new generation of consumers who don’t know what they’re doing. They want to look at a picture online, order something and send it back if it doesn’t work. It’s frustrating because they think they’re informed customers, but they don’t factor in taxes and shipping when comparing prices.

Ever explored moving to a bigger location? Not really, because the price of real estate around here is exorbitant. We love being in our neighborhood and couldn’t imagine being anywhere else. n

nominations now open for Beacon awards

This year’s Hardware Conference, set for September 9-11 at the Marco Island Marriott in Marco Island, Fla., will again be highlighted by the Beacon Awards, now in their fourth year.

The Beacon Awards, which are co-sponsored by The Hardware Conference and The Hardware Connection, are designed to honor the “best of the best” independent hardware/home improvement retailers.

Premier Beacon Award Sponsors include Apex Tool Group, Epicor Software Corp., Sunnyside Corporation, 3M and Sherwin-Williams Diversified Brands Division. Additional wholesaler sponsorship support comes from Ace Hardware Corp., Do it Best Corp., Orgill Inc. and True Value Co.

The Beacon Awards honor the Retail Beacon Award winners for each of the participating wholesalers, plus the Best

Sponsors:

Co-Sponsors:

New Stores in two categories: under 20,000 square feet and over 20,000 square feet. Whether it’s an existing retailer opening a branch store or a newcomer opening a ground-up business, these new stores represent the future of the industry.

“It’s an encouraging sign to see so many great new stores in our industry. We have heard lots of positive

comments from the winners and our sponsors,” said Tom Delph, Beacon Awards program director.

Last year’s winners included Rogers Do it Best Hardware, Sparta, Mich.; Basic American Supply, Colorado City, Ariz.; Earl’s True Value, Fredericksburg, Va.; Islands Ace Hardware, Savannah, Ga.; Brady and Cavany Ace, Tunkhannock, Pa.; and Woodland Do it Best Hardware & Home, Woodland Park, Colo.

• Store must feature all the core departments: electrical, plumbing, tools, hardware, paint and lawn & garden.

Get your nominations in now for the Best New Store award, as the deadline of June 1 is fast approaching. Any dealer can nominate his store and nominations are also accepted from wholesalers.

Judging will be based on any or all of the following criteria: financial performance (sales, profits, margins, etc.); community involvement; store design; merchandising displays; promotion activities; specialized product areas/ niches; employee training/recognition programs; and innovative retailing concepts.

Qualifications:

• Store must have been open at least one year, to a maximum of 4 years.

• New ground-up store or it can be a substantially expanded existing store.

• Can also be a store built to replace store destroyed by natural disaster.

• Can also be new to business owner, if substantial changes are made.

• Can be a branch store.

The Beacon Awards Banquet will be held Friday night, September 9, 2016 at the Marriott Marco Island. Honorees will receive: all-expenses paid trip for two to the 2016 Hardware Conference in Marco Island including conference registration, airfare, hotel and meals; Beacon Award plaque and feature article in The Hardware Connection.

to complete nomination

Please include detailed information for each of the judging criteria, attach any relevant pictures, list the date of new store opening and also provide retailer name, store name, square footage, address, phone number and email address. Email nominations by the June 1 deadline to Tom Delph, Beacon Awards program director, at tdelph@thehardwareconnection.com. n

Be Part of the Hardware Industry’s Exclusive and Professional Women in Hardware Program!

Designed for professional women and men in the two-step hardware industry to exchange ideas, educate, network and provide support and access to opportunities to further careers and help grow the independent channel.

Who’s Eligible to Join?

• Independent Hardware Store Owners and Managers

• Vendors Involved in the Two Step Hardware Industry

• Service Providers Involved in the Two Step Hardware Industry

• Wholesalers/Distributors

• Industry Professionals

For more information: Cathy Karabag

Activities

• Membership benefi ts include up to six networking events per year held in conjunction with other industry events.

• Each event will have a business focus offering direct and immediate benefits.

• Vendor and Service Providers will have the ability to interact with business owners and others in management positions sharing experience, concerns and solutions.

• While focus is on women and their opportunities, men are welcome and encouraged to participate to better understand and lend their perspective of the industry.

cathy@thehardwareconnection.com • (408) 772-7961

hardlines digest

out there using an instant chat service?” she asked.

Ken Nelson of Rural Supply Ace in Los Gatos, Calif., pointed out that Zapier is a web-based app that automates tasks and integrates very well with Wunderlist, while Wayne Ringling of Strosniders Hardware Stores in Bethesda, Md., recommended HipChat as a group messaging app.

Beth Benton of Bluestem Farm and Ranch in Emporia, Kan., posted that they signed up with Brosix several years ago. “It’s a paid service, but you get group chat, file sharing, screen sharing and history logs. It has worked very well for us. They also have mobile apps and it’s very useful at buying shows. Your user licenses can be transferred between all employees, so there is no extra cost.”

Steve Oberholtzer of eight-store Stauffers of Kissel in Pennsylvania shared that that they use Google Enterprise (Gmail for business) for their email service. “Chat or Hangouts works very well. We use Drive for file storage and collaboration. Our training division uses Google+ for training class materials and follow up discussions. We have also had great success using Chromebooks. It’s not a desk or laptop replacement, but many times it is all that someone needs for travel or work away from their desk. We have a project to use Chrome Box or Chrome Base in kiosk mode to deliver an electronic version of our handbook. We’re also looking to use Chrome Box for

meetings to set up video conference in most of our meeting/training rooms.”

health insurance

J.C. Warren of Stars Ferry Building Supplies in Burley, Idaho, was looking for some advice on health insurance. “We currently have a group health plan, but we are looking at dissolving the plan and having the employees get their own plan from our state’s exchange. We would like to still reimburse them somehow. From the research we have done it looks like the reimbursements will have to be taxed, and you cannot call it an insurance reimbursement. I have thought about doing a bonus on either each check or once a month, but I’m not sure if that will be too obvious in the IRS’s eyes. We could give the employees an hourly raise, but I’m not sure of a good way of tracking what portion of the raise is for health insurance and what portion is for regular wage increases. If we decide to go back to a group plan in the future, then how do we handle that with cutting the employees’ pay?” he asked.

Mike Bruns of Kingsford Ace Hardware in Michigan, responded, “We did just what you are thinking of doing for 2016. We had two insurance companies in our area for health coverage, Blue Cross and a new company. The new company was promised a subsidy from the government if they expanded to our area, and in the end the subsidy was not there so they just went out of business.

This left us with Blue Cross only and of course the rates immediately jumped 40-50 percent. Priced us right out of offering health care, so we just decided to not offer health care anymore. For most employees the insurance on the exchange was the same or lower than Blue Cross and with better coverage/ lower deductibles as long as you qualify for the subsidy income wise. The ones that made more money (managers) did end up with an increase, but not as much if we had stayed with Blue Cross. It’s also backwards as the older people get better rates than the young heathy guys.”

Bruns added, “We ended up just giving most full-time employees a dollar an hour raise, and for the most part they actually made out better than before, plus overall the company still saved some money even after the raises. The key for us was to stay under 50 full-time and full-time equivalent employees, which eliminates the penalty for not offering insurance.”

He continued, “I have a spreadsheet that I received from our insurance agent that allows me to input the employees’ hours monthly and it gives you your total full time and full-time equivalents for that month. I input the hours every month to make sure we stay on track, but ultimately the hours are for the entire year so if you go over a little one month you just have to pull back the next month. Overall the employees took the news very well, understanding that this was

not our fault the rates skyrocketed and were very appreciative of the raise. The biggest thing for us was the education, trying to understand the exchange and how that works because the employees look to you for help and guidance on this. Our local insurance agent was able to take the employees one on one and guide them in the right direction on the exchange. It’s a big change, but in the end it did work out for us.”

Scott Plummer at Plummer’s Hardware in Farmington, Mo., reported that they give their full-time employees two options: join a group plan in which the store pays up to $400 a month or receive a $400 bonus check each month to use for insurance. “It has worked out good for us in attracting decent employees. You have two types of people seeking employment, those wanting insurance and those who either have it through a spouse or they just don’t care—the money is more important. I’ve talked to a lot of good applicants that were not excited about the hourly wage, but they perked up when they heard about the insurance or the $400 monthly bonus. All of our part-time employees are not concerned about insurance.” n

John Fix started the Hardlines Digest in 1996. The list was run for many years using servers in John’s hardware store, but recently the list migrated to Google Groups. There are currently more than 1,500 subscribers reading Hardlines Digest. To read more or subscribe, go to www.hardlinesdigest.com .

Sponsors:

Co-Sponsors:

By Fred Fischer

Driving Sales with Digital Signage

Should you have digital signage in your store? Digital signage is starting to pop up everywhere from menu boards at fast-food restaurants and flight schedules in airports to waiting rooms in doctors’ offices. Some dentists are mounting TVs on the ceiling promoting their services while they attend to you in the chair. Look at the outdoor billboards that are turning to digital content.

What makes all this possible is the falling prices of LED TVs. A 42” or 50” big-screen TV a couple of years ago cost $1,500 or more. Now you can purchase them for around $300. How does digital signage work? First, obviously you need a TV or multiple TVs. Then you need something to deliver the content.

Content can be delivered by a number of methods. One is streaming the content over the internet using a large server located off-site by a provider. You could use DVD players streaming content using network wires. Other methods use small computers that mount on the back of the TV and use wireless connectivity to download the content to the computer.

There are advantages and disadvantage to various systems. DVDs require players, are mechanical and typically are high on maintenance. Video streaming using the internet lowers the

upfront cost, but is usually not as flexible from a user standpoint and if the internet fails so does your signage.

A computer-driven package is better for a number of reasons but costs more upfront. By having a computer at each TV you can create specific programming for each digital TV sign. If you use one computer for multiple screens and the computer fails, you end up with all blank TVs, but the cost is higher.

Another advantage of using computers is the content is downloaded to the computer for a variety of content and at different times of the day. Part of the display data like prices can be updated without having to redo the graphic parts of the digital display.

As an example, the right 25 percent of the display could display product or service advertising and the left 75 percent could display lumber prices. The lumber prices might change weekly, but the product advertising might only change monthly.

technology update

The key to digital signage is content management systems (CMS). Digital signage needs to be exciting and active to attract the customer’s eye. Digital signage can be in the checkout area, behind a contractors counter, on endcaps of display counters, at the entrance of your store or in your paint department to promote products and services.

If you have a signage computer on each TV (content is downloaded using wireless connectivity) there could be more upfront cost. The return in the long haul is much better, because of the flexibility this type of program offers.

Digital signage can provide information to your customers such as product or service information, build branding, enhance the customer experience and influence your customers’ buying habits. The key is the content management system, which is what drives all the digital signage presentations.

Most hardware and lumber dealers have neither the skill nor the time to develop the content. Be prepared to find a package that is going to provide good content on a monthly basis. There will be some cost associated with providing good content, but it is money well spent. You can even make money on adding signage to your store. On one of your digital signs you could take that 25 percent space on the right side of one of the TVs and sell ads to contactors, plumbers, electricians, landscapers and painters. They are already buying products in

your store, so promote their services to your other retail customers. Maybe you charge $25 a month and you have six or eight ads rotating every 10 seconds. Eight ads is $200 per month income. The cost of the content service is a fraction of the $200 income you will receive.

You could even set up a sliding scale based on total purchases per month and give them a credit toward the cost of the advertising. Digital signage does not require a POS system. Content is downloaded using the internet. We have a program that allows for product price updates of items like lumber that can be updated whenever price changes are required. If you have our J3 POS software, when you change prices it can update the signage with a mouse click.

The bottom line is digital signage is affordable, dynamic and eye catching. Your store will have product and services being promoted every minute your store is open. You will look professional, compete with the big boxes, sell more products and make more profit.

Be sure to check all the digital signage options and keep in mind that a cheap upfront cost may not be a good value in the long haul. Content is king! Make sure whoever you choose they have a good program to deliver content, since that is what digital signage is all about. n

Fred Fischer is president of J3 Point-of-Sale - Ganymede Technologies Corp. He can be reached at fred@j3pos.biz.

CresCent® Bull Bar™ DeCk removal tool

• The double fork design provides balanced lift on both sides of the nail. Boards are removed faster, cleaner and with less effort.

• Rugged indexing joint allows for maximum flexibility and increased leverage.

• Patent-pending center nail puller offering better balance and more leverage.

• Precision tips designed for fast access between boards and reduced damage for reclaiming materials, while ripping teeth on forks assist in preventing board slippage.

angle grinDer

• Bosch AG50-10TG 5-inch angle grinder with slide switch and new tuckpointing guard with tool-less installation makes it quick and easy to install and remove.

• Variable depth adjustment allows the guard to collect dust throughout the duration of the cut, while the large viewing window makes it easy to see the line of cut when in operation.

• The dust extraction port ensures a cleaner work piece and job site when used with a vacuum.

• AG50-10TG features 10 amp motor with direct motor cooling and more air vents, which reduces hand blockage to extend tool life and provide higher overload capabilities to prevent overheating.

a growing community of thousands of

“I created Hardlines Digest in 1996 as a way for my fellow retailers to swap tips about the nitty-gritty of running an independent hardware store. Today, it’s grown to a community of thousands of independent hardware store owners just like you. I hope you’ll join today and start sharing your own expertise.”

John Fix Owner, Cornell’s

Hardware Eastchester, NY

IN THE NEWS

NEW STORES:

• Wilco is opening its 17th store in Puyallup, Wash.

• Henery Do it Best Hardware has acquired Sebo’s Do it Best Hardware & Rental in Anacortes, Wash.

• Ryan Ringer, owner of Gold Beach Lumber, has acquired Cascade Home Centers in Creswell and Cottage Grove, Ore.

• Brett Seright opened his third Seright’s Ace Hardware store in Rathdrum, Idaho.

• Sunrise True Value Hardware in Sunrise Beach, Mo., reopened with Chris Pieschl as the new owner.

• Chad Poirier has opened his second Poirier’s True Value store in Plattsburgh, N.Y.

• Sam and Hitesh Patel opened True Value of Palm Bay in Palm Bay, Fla.

• The Carter family has opened their seventh store, Crystal River Ace Hardware, in Crystal River, Fla.

• Tom Felker has opened a new Ace Hardware store within Oregon Snyder Pharmacy in Oregon, Ill.

• The Meendeering family has opened their second store, True Value Hardware of Salisbury, in Salisbury, N.C.

• Nilsen Co. opened its fourth store in Arcata, Calif.

• Parkrose Hardware, part of the Central Network Retail Group, opened its third store in Vancouver, Wash.

KUDOS TO:

• True Value Co. honored its Best Hardware Store in Town winners for 2015: Belgrade True Value, Belgrade, Mont.; Cash True Value Home Center, Mystic, Conn.; Sawyer’s True Value, The Dalles, Ore.; Grafton True Value Hardware, Grafton, Va.; Handyman True Value Hardware, Florissant, Mo.; True Value Homecenter, Oakhurst, Calif.; Smith’s True Value Hardware and Rental, Eunice, La.; Nelson Agri-Center, Viroqua, Wis.; Colmar Home Center, Margate City, N.J.; Stevenson Hardware, Ransomville, N.Y.; Howards True Value, Phoenix; Murdale True Value, Cardondale, Ill.; and True Value-Kuwait.

• Jeff and Ben Vavro are celebrating the 40th anniversary of Jeff’s True Value Hardware in Strongsville, Ohio.

• Rocky’s Ace Hardware in Springfield, Mass., is celebrating its 90th anniversary.

• The Old Farmer’s Almanac will be publishing its 225th edition this summer.

• Ace Hardware Corp. ranked number one in its category and 14th overall on Entrepreneur magazine’s Franchise 500 list.

• Lochard’s Do it Best Hardware, led by third-generation owner Mike Lochard, is celebrating its 70th anniversary in Sidney, Ohio.

• Don Kosier is celebrating 50 years of service at The Wooster Brush Company.

Do it Best Corp. received one of eight statelevel Freedom Awards presented by the Indiana Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve at their annual awards dinner. From left: Diego Morales, special assistant to Governor Mike Pence; Steve Lynch, Indiana ESGR state chair; Randy Rusk, Do it Best communications director; Col. Douglas Schwartz, commanding officer 434th Air Refueling Wing; and Sandy Dye, Indiana ESGR Region 3 chair.

ON THE MOVE

• True Value Co. has promoted Heath Ashenfelter to vice president, chief merchandising officer.

• House-Hasson Hardware has promoted Jason Monroe to vice president-merchandising, Pat McCutcheon to vice president-sales and Steve Henry to senior vice president and a member of the board of directors.

• PRO Group has hired Trent Kauffman as merchandise manager.

• Home Hardware Stores has appointed Rick McNabb vice president-marketing and sales.

Do it Best Corp. Communications

Director Randy Rusk accepted the Pro Patria Award from Indiana Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve State Chair Steve Lynch on behalf of Do it Best. It is awarded to employers who have demonstrated the greatest support to Guard and Reserve employees through their leadership and practices.

WHOLESALERS IN THE NEWS:

• Ace Hardware Corp. reported record revenue of $5.0 billion for fiscal 2015, up 7.3% from the prior year. Net income rose 10.5% to $156.2 million, with a record patronage dividend of $145.9 million (up 7.8%). Revenues increased 0.2% in the fourth quarter to $1.2 billion. Store count increased to 4,311 with the addition of 158 new domestic stores.

• True Value President and CEO

• Apex Tool Group named James Roberts CEO.

James Roberts

• PACOA has named David Steuerman vice president-sales.

John Hartmann told members at the Spring Reunion in Houston that the co-op will continue to focus on engagement, growth and efficiency. “We will continue to modernize the company in support of your relevance. We’re making long-term investments to your benefit and the current results reflect that,” he said, adding that members should expect a similar patronage dividend in 2016.

IN THE NEWS

Paint Works area at Orgill show.

• Orgill Inc. reported record attendance and sales for its spring dealer market, held February 25-27 in Orlando. Three model store sets on the show floor attracted attention as well as the new Paint Works area.

OTHER NEWS:

• Epicor Software Corp. has released Epicor BisTrack™ 5.0, an update to the business management software.

• ECi Software Solutions has released RockSolid MAX™ software, a product designed specifically for small to medium-sized hardware and home improvement retailers.

• Mills Fleet Farm has been acquired by KKR, a New York investment firm. Former Walmart executive Duncan Mac Naughton was hired as the new CEO and Hugh Leasum was named COO.

• The International Hardware Fair, held March 6-8 in Cologne, Germany, attracted about 44,000 trade visitors from 124 countries, including 2,670 exhibitors from 55 countries.

IN MEMORY:

Richard “Dick” McCoy, owner of sevenstore Orme Do it Best

Richard “Dick” McCoy

Hardware in Ohio and a member of the Do it Best Corp. board of directors, passed away on March 11 at the Cleveland Clinic after a year-long battle with a respiratory illness. He was 63.

He and his father purchased their second store location in 1967 which launched a lifelong practice of fi nding stagnant neighborhood hardware stores and turning them into successful, community-focused businesses.

“Dick was a great man,” said Do it Best CEO Dan Starr. “He was caring, kind and a true professional, as well as an outstanding independent retailer. Above all, he was a man of great integrity.”

He is survived by his loving wife of 26 years, Karen; children Brandon (Heather), Cameron (Alyson) and Emily; father Jack, sister Beth (Mark) Wharton and brothers Mark (Susi) McCoy and Sam (Linda) McCoy, and granddaughter Ruby.

MARCH

Blish-Mize Spring Dealer Market

March 18-19, Overland Park Convention Center, Overland Park, Kan.

Lumbermen’s Association of Texas and Louisiana Annual Convention

March 30-31, JW Marriott Resort, San Antonio

APRIL

Ace Canada Spring Market

April 16-18, RBC Convention Centre, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Home Hardware Spring Dealer Market

April 17-19, St. Jacobs, Ontario

Wallace Hardware Spring Dealer Market

April 6-8, LeConte Center, Pigeon Forge, Tenn.

MAY

Do it Best Corp. May Market

May 20-23, Indiana Convention Center, Indianapolis

National Hardware Show

May 4-6, Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas

JUNE

House-Hasson Summer Dealer Market

June 16-18, Sevierville Events Center, Sevierville, Tenn.

United Hardware Fall and Winter Buying Market

June 17-19, Minneapolis Convention Center, Minneapolis

JULY

World and Main Fall Dealer Market

July 28-30, George R. Brown Convention Center, Houston

UPCOMING EVENTS

AUGUST

The Eastern Show for Independent Garden Centers

August 2-4, Valley Forge Casino Resort, Philadelphia

Ace Hardware Fall Convention

August 18-20, McCormick Place, Chicago

Florida Hardware Company Fall Dealer Market

August 12-14, Double Tree Hotel and Convention Center, Orlando, Fla.

HDW Fall Dealer Market

August 19-21, State House Convention Center, Little Rock, Ark.

Independent Garden Center Chicago

August 16-18, Navy Pier, Chicago

Orgill Fall Dealer Market

August 25-27, Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas

World Pet Association SuperZoo

August 2-4, Mandalay Bay Convention Center, Las Vegas

SEPTEMBER

The Hardware Conference

September 9-11, Marco Island Marriott, Marco Island, Fla. www.thehardwareconference.com

True Value Fall Reunion

September 16-18, Colorado Convention Center, Denver

For a complete listing of calendar dates, click here: http://thehardwareconnection.com/programfeatures-benefits/calendar-of-events/

thanK YoU to veteranS

DeRonne True Value recently opened its second store in St. Clair Shores, Mich., and wanted to give back to the community. “As a small token of our appreciation for the men and women that have put themselves in harm’s way to provide us with the freedoms we enjoy today, we have designated two parking spots close to the entrance for veterans only. We thank you for your service,” said owner Lorrie DeRonne.

Carr True Value Hardware in Massachusetts also offers special parking for veterans.

Akard True Value in Zionsville, Ind., does a number of things to honor veterans throughout the year. Owner Leigh Ann Akard offers a Military Thank You Card with a 10 percent discount every day to veterans. The store is a collection location for Hope for Heroes, encouraging customers to drop off winter wear and personal care items for homeless and at-risk veterans. It sells hot dogs to support the

American Legion and every year it collects photos of veterans in uniform for the Veteran Tree that is displayed in the store.

An 89-year-old veteran of two wars in Washington state had a new carport built for him thanks to McLendon Hardware. Click here.

one-StoP ShoP

DeRonne True Value offers designated parking for veterans.

Northern Lakes Do it Best Hardware in Hayward, Wis., now offers a convenience selection of lumber and building

Northern Lakes Do it Best Hardware now offers lumber.

materials to its homeowner customers in partnership with Vortanz Lumber, a prooriented yard also located in Hayward.

Embroidery machine at Quincy Hardware and Lumber.

Made in the USa

Quincy Hardware and Lumber in Quincy, Wash., has an embroidery machine that embroiders logos for businesses, sports teams, churches and schools on jackets, vests, hats, shirts and blankets.

the Price iS right

Fuller and Son, with 6 stores in Arkansas, offers an in-store Price Match Center to give customers piece of mind that they are getting the best price on their purchases. The store will check local competitors’ prices and is willing to match any price.

Life-Saving tooL

Sunshine Ace Hardware’s seven stores in Florida became the first in the United States to sell CPR RSQ Assist®, a device that makes it easier for anyone to perform life-saving cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The device is equipped with an audio visual metronome that guides the rescuer through proper CPR techniques without mouth-to-mouth contact. n

Behind the Numbers

47

Number of jobs created by independent retailers for every $10 million in sales, compared to Amazon, which employs just 19 people for every $10 million in sales in North America, according to the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.

-3.8%

Rate of U.S. housing starts in January, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, a decline due mostly by bad weather.

73%

Percentage of U.S. small businesses that offer paid time off to full-time workers, according to the National Federation of Independent Business.

35%

Percentage of households in America that are growing food at home or in a community garden, a 17% increase over the past five

years, according to the National Gardening Association.

57% Sales increase for canister vacuums with an average selling price between $100 and $200 in the first quarter of 2015, according to Retail Tracking Service.

38%

Percentage of NKBA designers who specified water-saving faucets in kitchen remodeling projects in 2015, according to the National Kitchen and Bath Association. n