Operations

If you want a good strategy for growing your business, you should always be searching for new products. New products help differentiate your business from your competitors, they often offer high margins, they get your customers excited about shopping and …

One way to improve impulse sales and an effective way to cross-merchandise is to create displays according to seasons or holidays. While Christmas and Halloween make for popular, eye-catching merchandising opportunities, be sure to also highlight general seasons and other, …

In many communities throughout the U.S., there are bastions of preservation, from community parks to certified historical sites. No matter their form, these places require care from experts and support from their local communities to continue operating. Sometimes, caretakers are …

By Todd Taber, ttaber@nrha.org Coming Into Focus If you have a website, but no one can find it, do you even have a website? Many business owners today know that having a web presence is a necessity. Studies show even …

Understanding search engine optimization (SEO) can be a powerful way to boost your website—and your company’s—visibility. With SEO, independent home improvement operators can solidify their online presence and expand their customer base day by day, click by click. Learn more …

By Jesse Carleton, jcarleton@nrha.org Back to School How can home improvement stores appeal to the next generation of shoppers? That was the topic of discussion at Everson’s Hardware Hank, in Waconia, Minnesota, on a Monday morning in February. Five students …

Every retailer faces their own set of challenges. Suburban retailers may worry development is heating up away from the place they’ve called home for years. Urban retailers may fret over where to store a high-volume shipment without sacrificing space. No …

Gourmet foods, local gifts, unique home goods, custom cabinets, firearms, live bait, microbrew beer, even frozen pizzas— there’s no shortage of variety alongside the core hardware categories at Solon Springs Mercantile. Owners Meg and Ken Thoreson have built up a …