Meet the 2022 STIHL Hardware All Stars: S.C., S.D., Tenn.
Here are the next three in the latest class of STIHL 2022 Hardware Store All Stars that represent community-oriented, customer-focused, high-performance hardware-and-building-supply retailing at its finest. From each of the 50 United States, HBSDealer recognized an All-Star performer.
You can read about all 50 honorees here in the digital issue of HBSDealer. Additionally, HBSDealer.com will highlight a handful of honorees one batch at a time. Three 2022 high performers from South Carolina, South Dakota and Tennessee are featured below.
South Carolina
Each year, the folks in Chapin, led by Boland’s Ace Hardware and the Newberry Boys Farm, organize a toy drive for many children in the area who wouldn’t otherwise have a merry Christmas. Boland’s manager Leigh Ann Boland, owner Eric Boland, and many volunteers load up a vintage 1940s fire truck with an array of toys for a parade to a local Shrine Club. Boland said, “the children come in and select their toys amidst giant smiles and shrieks of pure golden happiness.”
South Dakota
During the pandemic, fourth generation Heisler’s heard an area food pantry needed help keeping up with increased demand. In an example of all-star service, they partnered with a local radio host to raise emergency funds. Sadly, owner Todd Heisler passed away last year, leaving his wife Pam, who’d never run the store, at a crossroads. But she dove in with a complete store reset and remodel. She brought in sporting goods like guns and ammo with a focus on female customers, and she sponsors women’s gun safety classes.
Tennessee
Owner of Tennessee Ace Hardware in Gallatin, Jimmy Kisner, has a large STIHL display, “a store within a store,” as it’s been described. The store was founded in 1977. Kisner said they are proud to be a retailer of the STIHL product line, and added, “as an independent STIHL dealer, we can provide many services that the big box chain stores just can’t match.”
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Special thanks to STIHL for its support of the ALL-STAR project. (Note: Not all honorees are STIHL dealers.)