Tag Archives: profiles

When Fred Nelson was ready to retire from retail ownership of the store he had owned and operated since 1954, he didn’t want to see the business come to an end. In his search for a new owner, he wanted …

A part-time job in high school often lays the foundation for the work ethic an individual brings with them in their future endeavors. For Jeff Johnson, working at Del’s Building Supply, now known as MSK Building Supply, in Myrtle Creek, …

For young adults who have grown up in their parents’ independent home improvement businesses, deciding on their future might feel like reaching a fork in the road. They may want to become the next in line to run the operation, …

For 20 years, Pete Erickson’s job was selling and servicing forestry equipment, which required him to travel all across New England. Yet four years ago he decided to change his career path drastically. From spending his days outside in the …

When the Fowler Clark Epstein Farm was first built in the late 1700s, its owners contributed to the everyday life of the colonial community by farming the then-rural area. Now, more than 200 years later, it is once again a …

Click the picture to download a PDF of this story. By Renee Changnon, rchangnon@nrha.org Brewing New Ideas Walking into Hepler’s Hardware, located in New Stanton, Pennsylvania, you’re bound to see customers browsing the store with a cup of coffee in hand. Owner Rob …

Click the picture to download a PDF of this story. By Renee Changnon, rchangnon@nrha.org Hardware Heritage For the Dyson family, Dyson Building Center in Great Mills, Maryland, is more than a place of work—it’s a home full of memories. The operation began in …

Even before the signing of the Declaration of Independence, retail began establishing its roots in the U.S. Impressively, some of those early businesses are still in operation, having survived by evolving for more than two centuries. The July issue of Hardware …