Farm-and-ranch hits home in Missoula
Can a single specialty hardware category make your store famous? – It can.
At one hardware store in Montana, the Farm category went off.
“A couple weeks ago, I had a phone call from Lakeland looking to see if we had any Horse Power vitamins for horses in stock for a customer. We were the only store who had any in stock for that customer,” said Mary Borrelli, assistant manager at Montana Ace Hardware Eastgate in Missoula.
“She came in to purchase all the bags we had that day,” said Borrelli. “She didn’t know we carried horse feed – and now she has become a regular customer.”
And Now She Has Become A Regular Customer.
Ride those words to the wire.
The power of a single category in your hardware store can have a magnified effect – and then you become the place that customers call home.
“Our clientele varies as we cater to contractors, property management groups, farmers, homeowners and students,” said the assistant manager.
Her hardware store offers a variety of goods and services while also carrying unique items like nunchucks and ‘Made in Montana’ goods.
The team they have for their pets section includes the store manager Dan Conners; floor manager Cole Werdin; and Francine White, department head, who runs the department.
Montana Ace Hardware customers have come to know their stock.
Our customers know we carry farm items, said Borrelli, as we have carried these for a few years.
“We carry chicken food, including pellets and scratch, 3-way molasses, cracked corn, chick starter, pullet developer, equine silver, horse power, whole corn, oyster shell, veggie layer pellet, veggie layer crumble, mealworms, whole oats, steam rolled oats with molasses, 3-way dry, whole wheat, horse mineral,” she said.
“We have expanded this past year into carrying more farm items like oats, salt licks, equine silver, horse power, 3-way molasses, horse grooming items and chicken feeders. Most of the feed comes from a local company called Lakeland Feed.”
The hardware store also sells some medicine for farm animals, she said, including Ivermectin, a heartworm prevention drug; Tylan animal supplement; Noromycin, a livestock disease antibiotic; Liquamycin, for the treatment of bacterial pneumonia in cattle or swine; Dry Cow Formula supplement; Sustain III Calf Bolus antibiotic; and Gain It equine supplement to gain muscle.
Also, she said, the hardware carries horse stall refresher, chicken feeders and waterers, barn and stable spray, and horse grooming tools.
This hardware store’s customers come in looking for farming items and items for horses.
“We have some customers who come in specifically to purchase our chicken feed, like the veggie layer pellet or crumble. Customers found out we carry the farm items through word of mouth as well as shopping for other items in our store,” said the assistant manager.
There’s no doubt this hardware business has been helped by the farm category.
“The farm section has grown in revenue over the previous year due to us being able to stock more items and feed. If a customer needs a certain product, we are able to bring it in for them from outside vendors. If it is an item multiple customers ask for, we will integrate it into our set and carry it permanently,” said Borrelli.
Animal sense
Even some of the local pets know this hardware store is the place for them, she related.
“We have many customers with dogs that they bring into the store. One dog, Duggie, learned to recognize the front of the store and would howl until he was in the store where we would give him treats. We have a dog park right across from the store and he would howl while there,” she said.
There are challenges to keeping up a hardware store’s farm category as it grows: Some of those they faced included organizing the spacing in the store, to provide more items to customers.
“We were able to remedy this by expanding our store this past year and a half. We know we are able to carry more feed and accessories for customers,” she said.
“We have also been able to carry more of the existing items we carried previously to service more customers. We are able to order items specifically for customers, which enables us to maintain and grow our customer base,” said Borrelli.
She has some tips for other owners looking to grow the farm category at their hardware stores.
“Work alongside the vendors that already supply your pet supplies. They have good insight into what sells. Start with Chicken and Chick supplies as that seems to be the most popular, at least in our region,” she said.
The farm category, or other categories specific to hardware owners regions, can lead to opportunities.
“It isn’t going to be the cash cow – pun intended – due to lower margins, but it will provide another outlet to garner more foot traffic and continue to push up average ticket amounts, because running a farm or having equine isn’t cheap,” she said.
Borrelli said: “We like to be known as the store where you can get everything.”
Farm has become something at Montana Ace. Maybe not everything – but enough.
