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State of Independents Conference

5 Video Highlights From the State of Independents Conference

The North American Retail Hardware Association’s (NRHA) recent State of Independents Conference brought together innovative home improvement retailers from throughout the U.S. to offer insight into how their operations are evolving.

Six store owners participated in panel discussions on challenges, growth opportunities and changes they are seeing in the industry. View the videos below to see some highlights from the panel conversations.

  1. Brian Kabat, owner of Kabat Ace Hardware Stores in Arizona, talks about how to grow your business.

2. Dave Umber, owner of Umber’s Do it Best Hardware in Fort Wayne, Indiana, describes the types of people he hires as part-time employees.

3. Kabat challenges retailers to consider whether their struggle to find quality employees reflects that they may not be good employers. “Would you work for you?” he asks.

4. Eric Hassett, CEO and president of Hassett Hardware in the San Francisco Bay Area, offers insight from his operation’s hiring process.

5. Jackie Sacks, co-owner of Round Top Mercantile in Round Top, Texas, talks about managing inventory and offers advice to manufacturers trying to get their merchandise into her store.

About Kate Klein

Kate is profiles editor for Hardware Retailing magazine. She reports on news and industry events and writes about retailers' unique contributions to the independent home improvement sector. She graduated from Cedarville University in her home state of Ohio, where she earned a bachelor's degree in English and minored in creative writing. She loves being an aunt, teaching writing to kids, running, reading, farm living and, as Walt Whitman says, traveling the open road, “healthy, free, the world before me.”

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