Buyer desire: ‘Deals and inspiration’
Hardware store owners attend trade shows for many reasons.
Some of those reasons include networking, meeting friends and simply to get away.
“I came to find deals and inspiration,” said Tyann Bender, owner of Kootenai Drug True Value in Troy, Montana.
Here with her store manager Dana Wallace, the two walked the Discount City area of the recent True Value Reunion show pushing their carts down a wide aisle and pausing to check out a barrel of wooden walking sticks.
“This item gives me ideas,” Bender murmurs to her manager as she examines the quality of the product and looks over the pricing.
Her store has the word “Drug” in the name.
“We sell hardware, toys and we have a pharmacy,” she said.
The three of us walked together a moment more as she looked over stuffed animals and straw hats.
“We’re getting inspired,” she grinned, paused, then moved off.
Mitch and Hannah
Recently married, Mitch and Hannah Stadtlander, who are moving into the ownership role at their store, Cedar Mountain True Value in Duck Creek Village, Utah, have come to buy, not for spring, but summer and fall.
“Our high season is just winding down now,” said Mitch. “We’re a cabin resort destination, at an altitude of 8,500 feet. Now that our peak is over, we concentrate on store upgrades, improvements and preparing ourselves for next year, that’s what winter is for, for us.”
He said this is the strategic time to find new products. So the show hits timely for them.
“We sell groceries, housewares, anything for stocking a cabin, and beer – a lotta beer,” he smiled.
The couple is taking over ownership duties from his parents. Managers now, they are preparing to become the next generation to take charge of their hardware store.
“We’ve been married two years,” he said smiling at Hannah, “and want to start a family soon, as hardware owners running a successful business.”
Spring bling
Beth Sower is co-owner, with her husband Ryan, of Lewis True Value in Bayfield, Colorado.
She’s looking for spring items, like many owners here, but, she said, “we specifically need to buy a new paint tinter.”
That item is high on their priority list. “And we obviously want to find deals for our inventory,” she said as she was busy studying product assortments.
Her cart is full of literature about products and she turns her attention back to studying her cell phone with the photos she’s taken of items on sale at the show.
The aisles are becoming increasingly crowded with attendees on the hunt for good prices.
Two aisles over, Scott and Robyn Geiser, owners of 222 Hardware in Cozad, Nebraska, are sliding along eyeing bargains and sipping coffees.
“This is our big buying show,” said Scott, “bigger than the spring True Value show – for us.”
They said paint is, by far, their store’s single biggest seller.
“Why 222? What does that stand for?” Asked this reporter.
“It’s the exit number off Interstate 80 and it goes right past our store,” said Geiser, “we’re located at the end of the off-ramp. A perfect location.”
Buying for next spring and summer; finding deals; and getting some inspiration along the way: The True Value Fall 2023 Reunion defined.
