Kelly Bundt knows that, if she were to take the perspective of a child walking through her store, there are a lot of colorful and interesting items to see and touch in Sac City Hardware. Parents have the challenge of …

Not all store fixtures have to be expensive to be effective. For Leigh Ann Akard, some of the most eye-catching displays she has are pieces of furniture repurposed to hold merchandise. Akard uses the center section of Akard True Value …

Birdseed and fire prevention typically don’t have much in common. But for one weekend in October at Reineman’s True Value in Burlington, Wisconsin, the two categories worked side by side at the store’s annual truckload birdseed sale. Jeffrey Koenen, co-owner …

One way to keep loyal customers coming back is a rewards or loyalty program. But with so many companies offering loyalty programs today, you want to make sure yours stands out. Customers at Family Farm & Home, which has more …

When it was time to plan the grand re-opening of Russell Do it Center in Clanton, Alabama, store manager Mickey Atkins knew inviting a local chainsaw artist to work on a sculpture would be sure to draw a crowd. But he …

When Megan and Brent Melby, co-owners of Melby’s Home Center in Scandia, Kansas, wanted to get rid of some old inventory, they found a creative way to use several pieces at once: by building a busy board for kids. Busy …

Yes, Santa will write you back—just ask any child who dropped off a letter in the big red mailbox at Berger Hardware last December. The Letters for Santa mailbox in the middle of the Hawthorne, New York, store is the …

Some stores get rid of dead inventory by having liquidation sales, or putting products in a dump bin or on a clearance table at the front of the store. Woods Hardware doesn’t have room for that. With a 1,500-square-foot salesfloor, …