FROM THE EDITOR Speak up for growth Ken Clark Editor-in-Chief You can hear a lot just by listening. Case in point: the first-ever HBSDeal- er multi-city man-in-the-street in- terview project, during which roving reporters in Anaheim and New Orle- ans asked dealers for details on their 2017 growth plans. The answers varied widely, and you can read them all at HBSDealer.com. For instance, we heard of oppor- tunities in pet food, sporting goods, housewares, cannabis-related hydro- ponics and old-time cleaning supplies that you can’t get at the supermarket — all from a single dealer. One of the most jaw-dropping revelations came from Kelly Johnson of Cape Electrical Supply in Cape Gi- rardeau, Mo., who thinks they might be onto something in the growth area of e-commerce (with a little help from their distributor): “We were able to take Orgill’s product offering and throw it onto our e-commerce site, which is 80,000 SKUs. It just blew up. A quarter million in one month.” Many dealers pointed to niche cate- gories as pathways to growth. Paint is a popular area of optimism, with sev- eral dealers describing hopes for new brands or renovated departments. The pet category is the fast- est-growing niche for Steve Spradlin 8 HARDWARE + BUILDING SUPPLY of Lake Isabella (California) True Value, which has doubled its pet de- partment sales to about $25,000 per month in the past two years. Spradlin hopes to be on the leading end of an- other growth area: hydroponics. “It’s going to be a huge business, whether you agree with it in principle or you don’t,” he said. Ackerman True Value in rural Beloit, Kan., is building successful growth categories in giftware, housewares and toys. “We’ve had success with core products for years and years,” Tristan Long said. “That’s what we’re built on. But when things are chang- ing and the internet is taking over families left and right, you gotta figure out a way in a little town of 1,500 people how you’re going to get them to come into your store. There’s a saying: The men come in with the to-do list and the women come back with the checkbook.” There’s another old saying: Retail is a punch-in-the-mouth business. To grow, you’ve got to take market share from someone else. And there’s a few national home improvement giants with growth plans of their own. There’s a Home Depot four blocks away from Thomas Building Center in Sequim, Wash., and Tony Steinman is not intimidated. He believes he can grow margins while employing a kind of retail judo on the competition. “Everyone says ‘Oh, Home Depot’s really going to hurt you,’” he said. “In some areas, yes. But one thing they do very well is advertise. And in our community, most people are not do- it-yourselfers. They’re going to hire a contractor, and the contractor is going to come to us.” [Editor’s note: Thanks to Steph Koy- fman for reporting from New Orleans.] connect with us MARCH 2017 HARDWARE + BUILDING SUPPLY DEALER HBS DEALER Hardware + Building Supply Dealer A LEBHAR-FRIEDMAN® PUBLICATION 150 W. 30th St., New York, N.Y. 10001 hbsdealer.com HBSDealer On The Web • HBSDealer Info Services • Lebhar-Friedman Creative Solutions EDITORIAL OFFICES Headquarters 150 W 30th St., New York, N.Y. 10001 Editor in Chief — Ken Clark, [email protected] (212-756-5139) Associate Editor — Steph Koyfman, [email protected] (212-756-5244) Desk Editor — Zachary Wiley, [email protected] (212-756-5140) Editorial Inquiries: Direct questions to Editor in Chief Ken Clark. 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