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Industry’s Top Guns 2015 – Bonus Coverage

The North American Retail Hardware Association (NRHA), Hardware Retailing magazine and the National Hardware Show®, have named four outstanding independent home improvement retail leaders as their 2015 Industry Top Guns.

This year’s class includes:

  • Bobby Fuller of Fuller & Son Hardware in Arkansas.
  • Michael Fujimoto of HPM Building Supply in Hawaii.
  • Jason Haley of Great Lakes Ace Hardware in Michigan.
  • Rolando Robles of Anawalt Lumber in California.

We featured these retailers as part of our Top Gun coverage in the May issue of Hardware Retailing (click here). Below, we are providing some bonus coverage from the interviews as well as links to their company websites and other interesting information from this year’s class.

Fuller Headshot Bobby Fuller

Representing Fuller & Son Hardware
6 retail locations in Arkansas
www.FullerandSon.com

In addition to Fuller & Son gaining recognition for their aggressive price-matching polices and now-famous Triple Guarantee (price, service, in-stock), the retail chain is also well-known for its innovative and creative advertising.

These ads air throughout the Little Rock area and have gained the business a great deal of buzz in the local community.

Below are some links to the most popular spots:

Fujimoto Headshot Michael Fujimoto

Representing HPM Building Supply
5 retail locations in Hawaii
www.HPMHawaii.com

HR: What would you say is the greatest asset that independent retailers have at their disposal?
MF: I think the greatest asset an independent operator has is his own personal passion and quest for excellence. As an independent operator, this can become an even greater advantage if you can instill this same passion and drive within your management team and associates.

Also, as an independent you can move more quickly because you have full control over your destiny and are not hampered with layers of bureaucracy and decision making.

HR: What would you say is your favorite part of your job?
MF: I personally enjoy meeting with our customers and time with our teams. I enjoy witnessing our people growing and achieving success in their endeavors both on an individual level and as fully functioning teams.

HR: What would you say is the most challenging part of your job?
MF: The most challenging part of the job is strategizing the path to the future because the future has become less clear and uncertainty continues to be on everyone’s mind. There are a lot of variables out there that can change our future very quickly.

Nevertheless, planning for the future is one of the most important but most challenging parts of the job. Compared to 10 years ago, when we felt we could comfortably adopt a 5-year plan, today, we look forward strategically 12-24 months and make quarterly adjustments. We also budget and forecast annually and update our forecasts quarterly.

HR: If you could wave a magic wand and change one thing about the home improvement industry, what would it be?
MF: This is a difficult question and one I can’t answer. I believe we have chosen to be in this industry and it’s up to each of us to optimize our businesses within our markets. In reality, we have little control of our future but we do have the ability to impact our customers, our employees and our communities every day.

HR: Where would you like to see your business in five years?
MF: I would like to see HPM exceeding the expectations of our customers in all communities in the state of Hawaii.

HR: Where do you see the home improvement industry in five years?
MF: One thing we know for sure is that people will always need shelter and will always be interested in improving their homes. However, the way they go about securing or obtaining shelter or improving their homes will continue to evolve. Looking forward, I think we need to keep our eye on what happens with the Amazons of the world because they have truly set the bar at many different levels. Just in order fulfillment, for example, it was totally unheard of 20 years ago that you could place an order for an item and track it on the web at every step along the way to your house.

HR: What advice would you give to someone considering entering the home improvement retailing industry today?
MF: Spend time looking at great retail businesses in our space and understand how these successful operators made this happen. Then answer the key question, do you have the capital, time, energy and passion to devote to this endeavor?

HR: HPM is involved in a number of philanthropic efforts. Why do you feel this is such an important part of your operation?
MF: We’ve had the privilege of serving our community for over 94 years and we firmly believe we have a responsibility to give back to the community. We believe that a strong and vibrant community will provide more opportunities and possibilities for our youth, community members and ultimately, our business.

Hayley Headshot Jason Haley

Representing Great Lakes Ace Hardware
47 retail locations in Michigan
www.greatlakesace.com

HR: Over the last five years, what would you say have been the most dramatic changes for your business? What about the most dramatic changes for the home improvement industry at large?
JH: Well for us, it was obviously changing our brand and offering from ACO to Great Lakes Ace. ACO served the market well for many years. But in the last few years, we had become more of a variety and bargain store than a hardware store; we were very promotional, and people liked to shop us for our deals versus shopping us as a true destination hardware store. In the last 13 months, the folks in our stores have liquidated old inventory, received new Ace inventory, rebranded, learned a new computer system and changed suppliers, marketing, store layouts, you name it. We embraced this change, and look forward to continued change in the future to always stay ahead.

As far as the industry—well, the boxes have pretty well slowed down for now, which has helped, but we are seeing so many other players fighting for the consumers’ dollars, and I think that will keep us on our toes. We must fight to maintain and create even more of a “frictionless” shopping experience for our neighbors. That is a battle we all will face, big or small. Amazon and others are figuring out how to make things simple and play in our sandbox, and we simply will not let that continue—we are a high touch, high-service model, and no one will take that away from us as independent hardware retailers.

HR: What would you say is the greatest asset that independent retailers have at their disposal?
JH: Their co-op. The amount of support and guidance available to us from Ace is phenomenal—this is our business and we run it, but by Ace supporting and sometimes challenging us, it makes us better. It keeps us from operating in a vacuum.

HR: What would you say is your favorite part of your job?
JH: Developing our people. I love to challenge our folks. It’s not always well received, but when I can tell a manager I will buy their store lunch when they are No. 1 in the chain in sales for a day and then they do it three days later, it is very rewarding. We are working hard to develop a career ladder here at GLA so that our existing folks have a real path, and as we start recruiting millennials, we can work to develop them as well.

HR: What would you say is the most challenging part of your job?
JH: Balancing both the management of the day-to-day operations along with taking the time to build the strategy for the next 12 to 18 months. Although we are nearly 70 years old, with the conversion, we are like a new organization. If we don’t manage the business today, we won’t have the capital to grow tomorrow, and if we don’t build a sound strategy for the future, we will have the capital but no plan.

HR: You are involved in a lot of organizations in your local communities and outside the business. Talk a little bit about why this is important to you and how you find time for these kinds of commitments.
JH: We are a neighborhood business and need to support those who support us. It does take time, but the rewards are awesome. Our stores raised over $40,000 last November for Beaumont Children’s Hospital through the Children’s Miracle Network. Mark and I were able to go to the hospital to present the check and see where the funds go—it was very rewarding to see the types of things that our dollars support.

HR: If you could wave a magic wand and change one thing about the home improvement industry, what would it be?
JH: For independents—get us to work better together. We duplicate so many costs and contracts, but by banding together, we could really improve efficiency and increase market share, and that would let us grow faster.

HR: Where do you see the home improvement industry in five years?
JH: (Continued) consolidation. When you look at the amount of duplication of players, the continued consolidation of both retailers and wholesalers will become not only smart but necessary for our segment to remain strong.

HR: What advice would you give to someone considering entering the home improvement retailing industry today?
JH: Don’t get in a rut. Change your role every three years. Gain experience in every area of the organization. Don’t be typecast as the marketing guy, or the cashier. Be well rounded and open doors. I have been selling hardware for 27 years and suspect I will always be in this business—it is a good industry that has brought me many blessings, and it is probably hard to find something more rewarding.

Robles Headshot Rolando Robles

Representing Anawalt Lumber
4 retail locations in Southern California
www.anawaltlumber.com

HR: What unique challenges do you think independent retailers such as yourself face in today’s market?
RR: I was talking with my executive VP about this, and I think the biggest challenge is price awareness. With the advent of smartphones, consumers have the ability to be much more aware of what a certain item’s retail is from a multitude of retailers. It requires us to be diligent in pricing our products correctly.

Another issue for us is how to effectively reach online customers. Where do we put our advertising dollars? Presently, we have budgeted more toward online marketing with keyword advertising. We have always allocated the majority of our advertising budget toward our Anawalt paper circular. While we still distribute our circular, we have cut back on the number of circulars. In the future, I see more investment in digital advertising.

HR: What would you say is the greatest asset that independent retailers have at their disposal?
RR: We have the ability to change more quickly than most big-box retailers. We are able to see changes earlier in our market. We have deeper merchandise sets and are able to carry the products our customers are requesting. We have a stronger connection with our customers, employees and community.

HR: How would you respond to the statement “Independent retailers just can’t compete against the big boxes or Internet?”
RR: False. We aren’t just competing—we are thriving. We have many ways of competing with the big boxes of the world. We have the convenience factor. We can get our customer in and out the door quicker than a big-box store. We offer a stronger value to the customer and can positively affect their total shopping experience. We also have the ability to variable price like they do. With the help of our co-op, Do it Best, we can see the sensitivity of the items and price accordingly. With the Epicor Mobile Shopper, we are also able to shop competitors and instantaneously upload their retails and make any price modifications up or down. All of these tools allow us to be priced right. We can also use the community-based angle. The current trend is to “shop local”. We have the ability to create niche departments where the boxes don’t compete. We added a Decorator department many years ago to differentiate ourselves from the other home centers/hardware stores and also to bring the female shopper into our stores. We now hear from our shoppers that they come in every once in a while just to see what is new in Decorator.

HR: Where would you like to see your business in five years?
RR: In the next five years, I would like to see continued growth in sales and profitability. We could accomplish this by adding new locations and having the advantage of economies of scale. I would also like to work on having a bigger online presence and possibly explore the side of e-commerce.

HR: Where do you see the home improvement industry in five years?
RR: This industry is ever-changing. I do see a bigger push to be online. As far as how to attract the millennials (Gen Y), social media will be a bigger part of the equation. The younger generation enjoys shopping on their phones and they like to see reviews prior to shopping at your location. All these issues will become an important part to succeeding in this economy.

About Dan Tratensek

In his position as publisher of Hardware Retailing magazine, Dan has the opportunity to visit with independent retailers of all types and sizes and use these visits to shape the editorial direction of the magazine to meet the needs of the independent hardware retail market. Dan also oversees NRHA’s other publishing projects, which include a range of special interest publications, contract publishing titles, online content and more. Dan formerly worked as an editor and reporter for Hardware Retailing and has been involved in business journalism and news reporting for the past two decades

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