All Star Review: N.M.; N.Y., N.C., N.D.
It takes a little more to be an All Star.
To provide the best customer service; fit perfectly with your community; find the niche categories for your locals; and have the people and personalities to create that certain something extra.
This year’s class of STIHL Hardware All Stars marks the 14th year of the program, in which editors recognize one business from each of the 50 states.
We visited with, and talked to, stores and dealer markets, distributors and suppliers, even studied customer reviews on social media to help determine the honorees. And that’s how we found our latest elite-level hardware and building supply dealers.
• NEW MEXICO
Cardinal Hardware and Lumber
Let’s time travel back to July 1997…. “We opened the doors of a hardware store and lumber yard in Eunice, and have since expanded our interests to include a manufacturing division and a transport company,” said the owners. They’ve also opened a yard in Midland, Texas, to better serve the Permian Basin as a whole. This family owned business, and Orgill dealer, sells calverts, cattle guards, fencing, hardware and lumber. Eunice has a population of 2,922, located in the southeast part of the state. “We are down to earth, and very much a part of our community,” said the owners.
• NEW YORK
Millwood Hardware
Owner and known people-person JoAnn Virag took over her dad’s iconic store when she was young. Her range of products in key categories is matched only by her ability to find what customers are looking for, and figure out how things work. She’s intentional about getting young people connected to the hardware industry, and brings in employees from failed businesses to gain work hours. JoAnn supports groups in four surrounding towns on a rotating basis. She’s even carved out space in her store for organizations to use for their own fundraising efforts.
• NORTH CAROLINA
Town Hardware and General Store
When Peter and Beth Ballhaussen bought Town Hardware and General Store in 2013, they soon learned it was really “owned” by the community. A fixture in Black Mountain since the 1920s, the store is an enduring symbol of locally-owned small business. The old-fashioned hardware and general store, complete with creaky floors and tin ceilings, offers a huge variety of traditional hardware and hard-to-find gifts, housewares, and retro games and toys. Also, they created a bookstore on the first floor promoting books on tourism for those visiting nearby Asheville.
• NORTH DAKOTA
Home of Economy
This Orgill dealer based in Minot, has eight locations in the state. They sell work clothing and work boots; they’re a STIHL dealer, and are a BBQ HQ. Founded in 1939 in Thief River Falls, Minnesota, by Bob Kiesau and his wife, Jean, Home of Economy was originally an auto parts wholesale business. In February 1940, Bob started a store in Grand Forks, North Dakota, recapping used tires at night and selling them during the day. The business has, “expanded greatly beyond our early beginnings but our goal has never changed: Provide every customer with the products and services they need.”
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