bowling green scene

T h e B o w l i n g G r e e n S c e n e

Happening Hamlet in the Heart of Caroline Co.

By amy bayne

In small towns across America, one often finds a local hardware store that serves its community. In the best of cases, these stores also serve as an integral resource for projects and creativity. A&M Home Center, a member of the Do It Best building cooperative, in downtown Bowling Green is such a store.

Situated on Main Street in the center of town, A&M is managed by longtime Bowling Green resident and Class A contractor Randy Hageman. His level of knowledge and building expertise keeps locals coming back and regularly brings customers in from farther distances like Fredericksburg and Hanover. That level of experience is hard to find at big box hardware stores that tend to have high staff turnover.

When Hageman took over management of A&M in 2019, he immediately saw room for improvement. The store had been without a manager for two years. It also has a small retail footprint that he noticed was not being utilized to its full potential. He reconfigured the store to be more customer friendly and expanded his SKUs to 16,000 items, making it a compact but well-stocked space. He buys items that move steadily, and he stores necessary but seldom purchased items high on top shelves. Hageman changed the store hours to accommodate his customer's needs, and he added hours on Sundays so they could stay close to home during COVID. This attention to customer service is what keeps people coming back.

Hageman says that Fredericksburg folks will appreciate A&M Home Center, especially if they have memories of the old Fredericksburg Hardware which closed in 2004.

"You could go into Fredericksburg Hardware, and they would have it; if they didn't have it, they could get it. We get told that all the time. Even though I may only have 16,000 SKUs in here, I have a Do It Best warehouse in South Carolina that if I place an order by Wednesday, I can get it here by Friday. That warehouse has 67,000 more SKUs than what I carry here. We can get just about anything."

A&M Home Improvement has been under Hageman family management for decades. He says, "My son managed this store for 20 years before I did. Many people have been coming through here for years, and I know a lot of them by name having lived here for so long. Any success we've had goes back to customer service. You can get the stuff put away and make sure it's priced right, but if you don't have friendly people to give you that extra attention and go out of the way to help you, you're not going to have great success." Randy Hageman at A&M Home Center Photo by Lacey Mills Photography Amy Bayne is a writer, artist, and educator living in Bowling Green with her wife and family.

That customer service has earned Hageman the respect of his neighbors, as well as visitors to town. A customer from Florida was so impressed by his willingness to go out of his way to ship items to her that she commissioned a sandwich at local deli The Corner Store in his honor. The Italian cold cut delicacy is right up Hageman's alley.

Don't let the size of A&M Home Center fool you; it's got a true craftsman at the helm who sincerely loves what he does. Hageman remarks, "Dynamite comes in small packages."

A&M Home Center is open Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.; and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Follow them on Facebook @A&M Home Center or call during business hours at (804) 6335370.

Events in Bowling Green in October: Farmers Market Saturdays 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., 211 N. Main Street Freestyle Fridays at The Painted Horse Gallery - Studio time at The Gallery to collaborate with fellow artists. Bring your own supplies. Walk-ins welcome. 2 p.m. - 4 p.m., $10. Succulents and Pumpkins (sip and create) at The Painted Horse Gallery, October 9 - 1 p.m. - 3 p.m. $ Flea Market October 9, -9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Chase Street and N. Main Street Bowling Green Harvest Festival, October 16, Main Street and around town Ladies Night Out - Boho Market - an evening of shopping with your besties. Vendors will fill Dainty Chic Roadside Stand with all the things ladies love! October 22, -5 to 8 p.m., 116 Chase Street Let' s Paint Pumpkins (sip and paint) at The Painted Horse Gallery, October 23 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. $45 / Supplies included