10
Fall 2013 •
Hardlines
Strategies
RETAILER FEATURE
Shining Endorsement
Retailer Recommendation Leads to Partnership
Between Blish-Mize and J.P. Lumber
Thanks to the suggestion of a nearby
retailer, the Pierces called Blish-Mize and
discovered the company would be able to
get them started in their new store quickly.
Ask them today why Blish-Mize was a
perfect fit for their business, and they’ll
likely list reasons ranging from the value
they find from biannual Blish-Mize Buying
Markets to a wide selection of products
from the catalog and the ease of ordering.
An Unexpected Venture
It all started when the Pierces decided
to buy a building left vacant by a lumber-
yard that went out of business in 2011. At
that time, opening a hardware store and
lumberyard might have been the furthest
thing from Jerry’s mind. Rather, he thought
the vacant building would be a more con-
venient location for his business, Pierce
Pump, a commercial plumbing company he
has operated in Oakland, Iowa, for more
than 30 years.
The community, however, had a
different idea of what he should do. There
had been a lumberyard in that building
for nearly 100 years, and it was the only
lumberyard in town. Now that it had
closed, they were anxious to have it back.
“People kept telling us they’d really like
to have a lumberyard and hardware store
here again,” he says. “So that’s what we
decided to do.”
Jerry says he had already purchased
the remaining inventory from the outgo-
ing owner of the store, who belonged to a
national co-op. But when he began investi-
gating who could be a regular supplier for
his own store, the co-op wasn’t a good fit.
“I didn’t like the idea of having someone
else in charge of what I was buying,” he
says. “I’ve run a successful business for 30
years and I like making my own decisions.”
Pierce also says the co-op wanted him
to make a lot of expensive changes to the
building and place a large initial inventory
order, which was more inventory than he
wanted to have all at once.
“Basically, I felt like the co-op didn’t
want to sell to me,” he says.
So, the Pierces decided to talk to their
friends, Larry and Janis Fajen at Fajen
Lumber in nearby Elk Horn, Iowa. Jerry
was a frequent customer at Fajen Lumber,
often stopping in for supplies when he was
out on a job. “They recommended we talk
to Blish-Mize and call their sales represen-
tative, Chris Helget,” Jerry says.
Off to Market
After that recommendation and a few
conversations with Helget, the Pierces began
moving full speed ahead to open their new
store, J.P. Lumber. Helget helped them form
a plan for setting the sales space. Then
they visited the Blish-Mize Spring Buying
Market. Instead of using their first Market
as a way to learn more about Blish-Mize
and its vendors, the Pierces were there to
buy. They used the Market to purchase their
entire initial inventory.
“Chris met with us at the Market and
made recommendations of product lines
Sales Representative Chris Helget (back) helped Jerry and Suzanne Pierce navigate their first Blish-Mize
Buying Market, where they made the initial inventory order for their new store.
O
ne of the highest
compliments a
customer can give a
business is to recommend it
to another customer.
That’s
exactly what happened
when Jerry and Suzanne
Pierce began looking for
a hardware distributor
to supply their store in
Oakland, Iowa.
