Hardware Retailing The Industry's Source for Insights and Information
For over 100 years, the W.B. Howland Company has served the city of Live Oak, Florida, investing in the community that invests in them. Dedicated family ownership, a customer-first approach and expert employee engagement has established the operation as a premier hardware and building supply destination for north Florida and the Southeast.
Specializing in building supplies, roof and floor trusses and rental equipment, third generation owner Lyn Fletcher is committed to serving his customers with care and treating his nearly 200 employees like family. Hosting a convenience store, gas station, retail hardware store, lumberyard and roof and floor truss manufacturing facilities, the operation delivers solutions for a wide range of customers occupying nearly 40 acres.
While the store is celebrating its centennial, W.B. Howland is known as one of the oldest retail establishments in North America, dating back to the nation’s earliest days.
“We’re just celebrating 100 years at this location, but our first southern store started in 1843,” Fletcher says. “Our store goes back another 10 generations to before the Mayflower. We’re the oldest merchant family on this continent.”
Mayflower passenger John Howland, Fletcher’s distant relative, traveled to America by means of apprenticeship to John Carver. During the Mayflower’s voyage, John was swept overboard during a storm, believed to have drowned in the Atlantic, but was miraculously found clinging to a rope tied to the ship and was hauled back on board. Once in America, Howland and others agreed to pay off voyage financiers in exchange for exclusive trading rights with indigenous people, building a successful business by trading manufactured goods.
Howland’s descendants migrated to Florida, first in Madison, Florida, in 1843 and then in the Suwannee County Clayland community in 1880 before planting roots in Live Oak in 1926 where the store stands today. For generations, the new locations carried the name of the son, Fletcher’s maternal grandfather, who started the new location that is known today as W.B. Howland Co. The first two southern locations consisted of a sawmill, grits mill, cotton gin, brick manufacturing facility and a post office.
When it comes to merchandising and marketing, Fletcher says he keeps it “old school.” The store uses social media as a marketing tool, offers same day delivery and plans to roll out buy-online-pickup-in-store services soon, but face-to-face interactions with customers is what the store is known for.
“Because we are located on a five point intersection, people still walk in our store every day, and since we are more of a building supplier than a boutique hardware store, our customers know what they need for the most part,” says Kyler Gray, chief operating officer of W.B. Howland. “It’s having a commitment to customer service that sets us apart.”
W.B. Howland’s operates with a horizontal leadership structure, where employees are encouraged to provide feedback and input into store processes. Allowing employees to give input into decisions, new ideas and store operations contributes to the long-term success of the store.
“In terms of employee engagement, everyone has a seat at the table,” Gray says. “Our employees are able to contribute and give their say in how we do things and how we operate.”
W.B. Howland is heavily involved in several organizations throughout the community, investing in multiple renovation projects with churches and schools and serving as the sponsor for local athletic teams and parks and recreation departments.
“We’re happy to help make people’s dreams happen and support them in those endeavors,” Gray says.
A friendly face and a trustworthy reputation is the undercurrent of W.B. Howland’s success. Gray says customers know they will receive personalized and reliable service each time they visit the store, and always know when the store will be open.
“We are not a company that hides behind an iron curtain where you can’t reach management—we’re accessible,” Gray says. “We’re open the same days, same times, every single year. Our customers know we’re going to be open even during turbulent times and that’s just the above and beyond mentality that we have.”
To celebrate 100 years, W.B. Howland invited the community to a centennial celebration at the Live Oak store. Festivities included a proclamation by mayor Frank Davis establishing March 28th as W.B. Howland Co. Day, dozens of free raffles and door prizes, children’s activities, free hand dipped ice cream cones, barbecue and chicken pilau dinners, the special dedication of a centennial time capsule and the planting of a new fully grown pecan tree in the parking lot that was relocated from the 1880 store location, replacing the beloved pecan tree that stood watch over the store since its opening in 1926. To end the day, Fletcher was awarded “The Key to the City” by Live Oak mayor Frank Davis for his contributions to the company and community.
While Fletcher and his team, alongside Orgill, the store’s wholesaler, plan to continue to evolve with changing technology and retail advancements in the coming years, the store will always continue to provide what they are known for—a robust product mix, genuine customer interactions and keeping the ownership in the family.
“Our longevity is owed to no absentee ownership or outside investors,” Fletcher says. “This business is either your career or it’s not, plain and simple.”
