Moving Forward With World and Main Market

The World and Main Fall Market last week presented retailers with opportunities to connect with each other, meet with vendors and buy products at special prices.

The buying show, which is World and Main’s first Houston market since retiring the Handy Hardware name and branding in January, had a different focus than the first show.

The spring market presented World and Main as a brand and company to retailers. World and Main—under the name Hardware Holdings—had purchased the assets of regional distributor Handy Hardware in 2013, and began rebranding the company in October.

The recent market focused less on the company’s new brand and more on reinforcing the value the distributor offers its customers, says Craig Cowart, president of World and Main’s retail distribution division.

For example, World and Main is working to ensure its buying markets are simple to shop so retailers can maximize the time they take away from their stores to be there, says Anthony DeRosa, vice president of marketing.

“We get a lot of compliments on how easy it is to navigate,” Cowart says.

The company is also refining its overall focus to strengthen its core category offerings—developing more products and boosting areas such as home environment, which includes heaters, fans and plumbing, he says.

“We’re only getting better as we refine the business and refine the strategy,” Cowart says.

Retailers attending the market, which ran July 28-30, talked about the importance of using the show to meet with vendors and find good deals on products.

Rodney Rowlett, owner of Rowlett’s Hardware, was looking for good buys at the World and Main show. But he had opened a fourth store in April, so he was on the hunt for product displays for the new location in Grandview, Texas.

Special market prices on products were also important to Scotty Richard, president of D & R Supply in Eunice, Louisiana.

“The thing I try to do here is buy a lot for a good price and make it last to the next show,” he says.

And John Matejek, store manager for Pearland Lumber in Pearland, Texas, was looking for new products, but he was prioritizing relationship building with vendors.

“A lot of it’s just keeping up the line of communication with vendors,” he says. “They know you. You know them. It smooths the way of doing business.”