Sign of the times: A hardware-houseware metamorphosis
The recent closings of large marquee housewares stores has upended shopping habits for consumers and has led some hardware stores to expand their housewares offerings to meet a new shopper boom.
In Chicago’s northern suburb of Glenview sits Weiss Ace Hardware. Here, customers find a sprawling footprint containing everything ‘hardware’ along with a massive parking lot, of which about a third is converted into a lawn and garden mecca to meet seasonal needs of customers.
But there’s another customer migrating to this hardware store these days: The housewares shopper.
This is because just a stone’s throw away, the Bed Bath and Beyond store has gone under. The houseware brand’s closing created a void – and an opportunity.
“I have added a gift wrap section, and we have three lines of everyday greeting cards and soon we will have a new line of paper goods,” said Lynne Rine, co-owner, with her brother JT Weiss and sister Colleen Reardon, of Weiss Ace.
“We are looking to expand our national brand presence in gadgets, food storage and cookware. We have seen a big uptick in SodaStream exchanges and purchases,” said the co-owner.
Their family business started in 1931 when her grandfather opened one of the first Ace stores in the nearby town of Evanston. Her dad, Jon Weiss, helped with the business until his dad passed.
“He moved the business to Glenview in 1960, and we have been at our current location since 1983,” she said. “Our dad passed away this January, and now we are third generation owners of our family business. We love our growing town of Glenview and our loyal customers love us.”
With the recent closing of stores in their area, she said, they have added new products and continue to listen to their customers as to other products to search for.
She said, “we are able to expand our store way beyond a typical hardware store. We have an expanded lawn and garden area; grills, BBQ, seasoning and spices area; and expanded cleaning and housewares departments.”
In housewares, said Rine, “we have all your basic kitchen needs with a good assortment of kitchen gadgets, kitchen towels, tablecloths, bakeware, cookware, kitchen and food storage, and also closet storage. We have added a few new accessories to the bath department as well.”
Housewares trend
The International Housewares Association (IHA), headquartered in Rosemont, Illinois, a northwest suburb of Chicago, recently published their 2023 Market Watch Report, which provided data about, “consumer trends that drive home and housewares success,” said the IHA.
Surging home goods sales during the pandemic, shortages, inflation, and recessionary fears have changed how consumers spend money, said the IHA, but that doesn’t mean they’ve snapped shut their purses.
“Rather, consumers responding to the IHA 2023 consumer outlook survey had a continuing interest in spending on their homes, though not at quite the same level as last year. That being said, survey results showed spending decreases year over year were generally rather small,” the association said.
Some key findings from the IHA report:
According to the report, “81% of survey respondents said wellness was ‘very’ or ‘somewhat’ important to their daily lives at home,” and, 70% of survey respondents said they wished they had more time or more resources to save time.”
While consumers might not be as cramped for space as they were during the height of pandemic shutdowns, said the report, space challenges remain, now that some consumers have permanent work-from-home arrangements every workday or on some workdays.
“Now that consumers have spent so much time at home – and have come to understand the incredible impact that their living space has on their well-being – they are craving affordable and easy ways to update, change or improve their living areas,” said IHA.
According to the report, 60% of survey respondents said they experience some kind of space-related challenge at home.
And people are craving experiences, after the pandemic limited so many of them. The report concludes, “now is the perfect time to promote home-based experiences.”
Lastly, the category of ‘responsibility’ has historically focused on environmental issues, “but in recent years consumers have become increasingly concerned about social responsibility,” said the IHA.
According to the report, 67% of survey respondents said they’re socially and environmentally conscious at home.
Many respondents said they expect the companies they buy from to be committed to both environmental and social solutions. “This is partly due to the sense of global community created during the COVID-19 pandemic, but also a result of consumers becoming more educated and informed,” the report concluded.
At a Glenview hardware store, houseware thrives – and categories have expanded accordingly.
“I think with stores closing and the changes in consumer shopping, we really need to pay attention to the needs of the consumers,” said the co-owner. “We need to have the right product and the right price at the right time.”
Rine said: “Consumers will let you know what they are looking for, that they may have bought elsewhere.”
