Operations

Every retailer faces their own set of challenges. Suburban retailers may worry development is heating up away from the place they’ve called home for years. Urban retailers may fret over where to store a high-volume shipment without sacrificing space. No …

Gourmet foods, local gifts, unique home goods, custom cabinets, firearms, live bait, microbrew beer, even frozen pizzas— there’s no shortage of variety alongside the core hardware categories at Solon Springs Mercantile. Owners Meg and Ken Thoreson have built up a …

Home improvement retailers who talk about their competition these days inevitably include Amazon on the list. Fortunately, there are many ways to compete against this formidable retailer. One of the tactics many retailers are now pursuing is by offering a …

In 1998, Jeff Paladino purchased his family’s 4,500-square-foot hardware store nestled in a shopping mall in Milton, New York. His family had owned several businesses over the years before taking on a local hardware store. A switch into hardware seemed …

The North American Retail Hardware Association (NRHA) is always developing new tools and resources to train independent home improvement retailers. Best of all, many of the programs the association develops are completely free for retailers to use and implement in …

Teenagers hoping to find the perfect prom dress or suit had a unique opportunity to shop for their attire at a discount, thanks to Newby’s Ace Hardware in Devils Lake, North Dakota. Newby’s employee Jacqui Dammen says she was inspired …

Melissa Brett and her husband John have owned Welden Hardware for 15 years, but the business has been in operation in Simsbury, Connecticut, for 130 years. Late last year, the Bretts and their store manager started brainstorming ways to celebrate …

In January 2018, a fire destroyed Papenhausen Hardware in San Francisco. This fire was the second in 20 years that the business had experienced, and the owners had taken precautions to ensure employees and the operation were protected. “We have …