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House-Hasson Hardware, America’s largest independent regional hardware distributor, has named John Sullivan as vice president of retail development and Taylor Hasson as the company’s vice president of marketing.
“House-Hasson has been in business for 111 years because our people care about our independent hardware store and lumberyard retailers and their profitability,” Don Hasson, president of House-Hasson, says. “John and Taylor have that understanding at the core of what they do for retailers.”
The company’s current vice president of marketing, Dave Helfenberger, has retired after 30 years with the company. House-Hasson’s growth means Sullivan and Taylor Hasson will divide Helfenberger’s responsibilities between them, Don Hasson says.
Sullivan joined House-Hasson in February 2014 working in customer service and store and business development. He has 25 years in the retail hardware business, having owned stores in Texas and Maryville, Tennessee, and serving for 10 years as vice president of Distribution American, a buying cooperative of which House-Hasson is a member.
As vice president of retail development, he will supervise store-set crews, assign them to new stores, conduct bin-tagging and develop new stores and remodels of existing stores.
“Giving stores a fresh, welcoming appearance and merchandising them correctly at the right retail pricing is a key to dealer profitability,” Sullivan says. “For example, sales increase an average of 25 percent when we remodel a store.”
Taylor Hasson grew up in the family-owned business. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Tennessee and a master’s in organizational management from Tusculum College.
The son of Don Hasson, Taylor Hasson has gained experience working in multiple company operations: the warehouse in return goods; the lumber department; taking orders and billing; the credit department; and the last eight years in the marketing department.
“We’ll continue to grow advertising effectiveness for our retailers in both the digital and print areas,” Taylor Hasson says. “Digital is a big factor right now, and we’re going to help retailers make the most of it in their use of advertising and with social media. These platforms are constantly expanding in their capabilities and reach, and we want our retailers to benefit from them.”
Hasson says print is still a vital part of House-Hasson dealers’ marketing strategy, and the company will focus on helping retailers get customers into stores. He also plans improvements to vendor programs and other marketing initiatives.
House-Hasson serves more than 2,500 retailers in 22 states and the Caribbean Basin.
