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This year marks the 20th anniversary of the North American Retail Hardware Association’s (NRHA) Young Retailer of the Year awards program. To celebrate, we’re checking in with a few past winners to see what they’ve been up to, both personally and professionally, since receiving their awards.
Megan Menzer, 2005 Young Retailer of the Year
Menzer, of Newton’s True Value in Cherryvale, Kansas, was a 2005 NRHA Young Retailer of the Year. She’s now worked full-time in the industry for 18 years. Read on to find out what she’s done since winning that award.
Q: What have you been up to since you received the Young Retailer of the Year award in 2005?
A: Today I am on the True Value Marketing council and the NRHA Board of Directors. We’ve also added a second store location and grown our business as well.
After receiving the Young Retailer of the Year award, many opportunities became available, and I was able to get my name out in the industry. Different committees called me, and I even got the chance to shoot a national commercial for True Value. I really attribute all of this to winning the Young Retailer of the Year award. My career has grown a lot since then.
Q: What’s been the biggest change for you, personally or professionally, since you won this award?
A: Opening our second location was the biggest change from a career standpoint. I’ve transitioned from more of a managing role to an owner role. Instead of being on the floor managing, I’m behind the scenes, which is a huge change for me. Becoming a grandma was the biggest change in my personal life.
Q: Who in the industry has inspired you?
A: My dad has definitely inspired me, as well as my great-grandmother, who started our business. The things she did were so unheard of at the time and were a big inspiration to me. Until recently, the hardware industry was more of a man’s world. However, I never felt out of place, and a lot of that came from my dad and great-grandma. Growing up working with my great-grandma, I never looked at it as a men or women industry—I looked at it as a hardware industry.
I always treat everybody fairly. That’s a trait I learned from my great-grandmother. I try to treat employees the same way I would want to be treated and respected. For example, I pay 100 percent of health insurance and family health insurance for our employees. It all stems back from my great-grandmother.
To learn more about the Young Retail of the Year program and the NRHA All-Industry Conference, visit the conference website.
