COMPETITIVE Intelligence By Carla Waldemar
Hoosier hero H held a Grand Opening for its new location in 2016, 2,000 people lined up at the doors... not bad for a town of 2,500 in the middle of nowhere, Indiana. It’s a far cry—and a far distance—from Indianapolis, which owners Dennis and Sherry Bishop were looking to leave in order to raise their kids in a less-hectic environment. “They got a call from a relative, saying that a hardware store in Petersburg was for sale,” recalls Robin Smith, their middle child. “Dad never had hardware on his radar; he was no handyman”—still trying to live down the day he drilled a hole in his own hand. Yet he did his due diligence and bought the outfit in . ehind its charming vintage brick façade, however, the place was dark, dusty and crowded— not inviting folks to linger. “My parents turned it around,” says Robin, who’d graduated high school in and headed off to college to pursue a degree in accounting. Along the way, she married ric mith in and joined him in a cellphone operation—which, they came to realize, had but a limited future in the face of the growing Internet. “By 2015, we realized everybody was going online. Meanwhile, the Petersburg store, although it lacked parking, was doing well, so we approached my parents about teaming up and growing it more aggressively.” Robin—a young lady who makes the Energizer Bunny look like a slacker—undertook research to guide their decision on the expansion necessary to support two families: add on, build a new store, or buy a bigger existing
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PETERSBURG HARDWARE leadership (left to right): VP/co-owner Eric Smith, president/co-owner Robin Smith, Robin’s parents Sherry and Dennis Bishop.
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Building Products Digest August 2021
building? “We had a 9 a.m. meeting scheduled to make our decision and move ahead; at 8 a.m., I received call that our foster baby was ready to be picked up.” (She’s been called “The Hardware Baby” ever since and grew up in the store.) The decision, by the way, was to move into a fourtimes-larger, 28,000-sq. ft. modern building on the market and nearer the highway. And it was Robin s job to fill it, beyond the usual plumbing, electrical and such. “Horse feed, lumber, plants, toys, clothing—the sky’s the limit. It was a whirlwind!” Customer surveys, their co-op’s feasibility study, and financial projections had all pointed to e pansion in si e and depth of offerings. And they turned out to be right on the money. Says Robin, “We did well above estimates, reaching the five-year goal in three years. And now, we need to expand even more—to move our lumber outdoors. There are not a lot of new homes going up at present, but a study indicates the town could support new houses. Meanwhile, it’s decks, add-ons, remodels, and barns, with contractors supplying 15-20% of Petersburg’s trade. Competition? There isn’t any, Robin declares. “It’s 20, 30 miles to the boxes. Here, we offer a small-town mentality, where we greet people, help them, walk them through their projects. (As an astute five-year-old critic advised her mother, ‘This is better than Lowe’s!) “Our 2016 Grand Opening brought in lots of new customers, saying ‘I can’t believe this!’ and ‘Great store; I’ll be back.’ “Still, we didn’t know what to expect with this year’s April anniversary celebration because of COVID, but people felt revived and ready to shop again. Our sales that day—$200,000—were more than the previous owner had in his entire life; 24 high-end Scag riding mowers. I walked around passing out water bottles to keep our staff going. Building-Products.com
