Hardware staffing challenges
Doug Johnson is the owner of Johnson True Value Hardware, in Mt. Pulaski, Illinois, a town of 1,500 in Logan County, situated in the heart of the golden Midwest farmlands northwest of Decatur.
“We started Johnson True Value Hardware in 1996, purchasing the former Farmers Hardware in Mt. Pulaski,” said the owner. “I had been behind the scenes in the auto dealership business for years after college and the entrepreneurial spirit got me looking to start my own business.”
Hardware had been only a sideline for the Farmers Grain Company grain elevator business across the street. Johnson purchased the hardware portion from them and immediately worked at rebuilding the business into a real retail hardware store. The trajectory was slow but steady and in 2021 he moved to a new location in town, “and went from 4,000 square feet to 12,000 square feet – and business has been great,” he said.
“Mt. Pulaski is a small town in central Illinois, with a colorful history dating back to the 1800s, when Abraham Lincoln regularly practiced law at our Mt. Pulaski Courthouse on the circuit. The original Mt. Pulaski Courthouse still stands and is available for tours and a history lesson,” said Johnson.
Now we know about Doug, his business roots, and the town; but what does the overall staffing picture look like for his hardware store?
We are a small closely knit group, he explained, “like many small businesses, as owner and manager I wear many hats – but depend on everyone to share in as many hats and responsibilities as possible.”
He has two assistant managers, and five part-time customer care team members. “We have had our share of student employees over the years. Last year’s crop of kids moved on and I waited until this spring to find replacements. With winter and uncertain economic times looming I tried to wait as long as possible to hire new employees,” said the owner.
This spring kicked off above expectations, he said, so he recently brought on two high school age part-timers as trainees for the summer who he hopes will continue into the next school year.
“The team is a good cross-section of our community and customer base. All of the employees are locals, varying in age from 17-84 years old, evenly split into men and women including the new hires,” he said.
The word, the wage, and the loyal worker
Wages are an issue for any U.S. hardware store owner and that’s no different in Mt. Pulaski.
Illinois instituted a big minimum wage act effective in 2020, he pointed out. “Minimum wage was raised in 2020 to $10 for all workers and goes up $1 per year until 2025 leveling off at $15 per hour. Adding additional entry level staff is difficult to justify due to the immediate high cost,” he said.
Although some of the employees were above minimum wage, everyone has gotten an automatic raise every January, said the owner.
“Payroll, payroll taxes, and workers comp insurance have all increased proportionally so my employment costs have essentially risen 30% since 2019, with another bump coming in January 2024, and January 2025,” said Johnson.
Most of the employees are now earning the minimum of $13.00 per hour and the more senior staff are a couple dollars higher, he explained. Additionally lead staff are earning a weekend hours bonus of $1 per hour.
“I still print paychecks weekly using our in-house accounting software,” he said. “I would definitely consider direct deposit if we had a larger staff, but I have been doing paychecks the same for all these years I almost can do it in my sleep. The software does all the work, so not a big deal.”
The technology-driven world we live in today can bring about changes in staffing, but in degrees.
“We are still pretty low-tech, so not a lot of impact. Two Point of Sale terminals using RockSolid Classic software do about all we need store-wise,” he said.
“Employee cell phones are a double-edged sword. Even though it’s nice that they have the ability to utilize their personal devices to search Google or True Value websites, more often the nuisance of personal calls or social media negates any benefit of mobile devices,” said the owner.
“I like the idea of reaching employees via text,” he said. “We don’t depend on it to any large degree. We still use clip boards and a white board to assign tasks and disseminate information.”
When it comes to staffing-up, a local hardware store can be an inviting job to potential hires.
“I find that word of mouth is a good way to find suitable applicants. Current employee referrals have worked out well for us. Being a small town where everyone knows everyone else, you kind of have an idea of who the applicants are from the get go. I have not advertised for new employees in many years,” said Johnson.
“Thankfully with most of my staff having been on board for many years, we have not had a lot of turnover. Half of my employees have over 10 years or more of seniority. I try to hire for the long term, avoiding temp or summer help. The learning curve is too steep to start over after only a few months or even a year,” he said.
From the front lines of hiring, Johnson said: “Hiring today is one of the more challenging and important tasks I face as owner and store manager. Today’s worker is as demanding as the customer we serve. A careful balance is difficult to achieve. Trying to balance payroll costs and at the same time provide the right level of customer care and also provide a good work environment is getting more difficult.”
The owner added, “regulations and increased overhead costs will drive a lot of small businesses like ours out of the market. The Amazons and Walmarts of the world take a huge toll on the smaller competitors too. We are fortunate to be in a rural setting with lots of loyal customers and what I like to think are friends of our locally owned and operated hardware business.”
Consistency, longevity
Now let’s hear from Michael Bruns, owner, Kingsford Ace Hardware in Kingsford, Michigan, a town of 5,000 in the Upper Peninsula, sitting side by side next to the town of Iron Mountain to the north, right in the heart of ski country, bordered on three sides by the arc of the Menominee River, with Wisconsin just on the other side to the south.
“We are a family owned and run business located in an old K-Mart building that’s 40,000 square feet. We added 20,000 square feet two years ago bringing our footprint to 60,000 square feet, with 20,000 square feet occupied by a NAPA Auto Parts store and the rest is all hardware,” he said.
His hardware business serves a twin city with a total population of about 25,000 people and another 10,000-person population out around town. “We originally started out as a NAPA store and when our current location came up for sale in 1997 we relocated and expanded by opening up the hardware side,” said Bruns.
They originally opened as a True Value then converted over to an Ace Hardware in 2015. “We also have a commercial and B2B division which is staffed with one outside sales person and two inside support employees. We also deliver,” said the owner.
He explained that he feels very fortunate in that most of their staff has been with them for quite awhile. Although having to occasionally find help has not been an easy task, especially part time positions for night time cashiers and floor people.
“We had a full time shop servicing small engines and lawn equipment with three full time techs,” he said, “but lost two techs and had to stop doing that service because we could not find replacements.”
Wages have not been too much of an issue although he did have to increase salaries for all full time employees as a retention measure, he said, “and we find that in order to attract new hires we needed to increase starting wages in the mid to high teens. Luckily business has been very good to support the increase in payroll. We have had several long standing employees retire but have been able to retain them part time to help with staffing.”
Technology has not really brought about many changes, he said, as the majority of their employees are up in age and do not really embrace tech.
“Our younger hires tend to rely more on technology but our managing personnel are younger and can relate to handling things in a technical matter with employees that respond better to that technology,” said Bruns.
“We have found the older generation of employees to be more loyal and hard working,” he said, “but find we need a mix of both older and younger employees to keep our store relevant to upcoming trends in how people purchase and shop.”
