Spring 2019 Hardlines Strategies

Finding Your Path While the outside appearance of the store fits in well with the same façade you’d expect from a cornerstone retailer selling fashionable clothing or furniture, the location is all business when it comes to being a full-service lumberyard. Behind the mall signage is a large yard of about four acres that has plenty of room for storage, and makes it convenient for large trucks to enter, load up with materials and head back out on the job. The store offers core hardware categories on its salesfloor as well as a window, door and cabinetry showroom. About three years ago, there was talk of resetting the store, and determining what to do with that showroom was a major decision, says Tom Monckton, purchasing manager for Star Lumber & Supply. builder, especially in lumber,” Monckton says. “We had our windows and doors prominently displayed on the first floor of the store, but that didn’t leave us any room to expand our other categories when we decided to remake the salesfloor.” “We had always catered to the remodeler, the contractor and the

When Stuhlsatz, Monckton and the rest of the Star Lumber & Supply team began putting major thought into updating Star Lumber Greenwich Road, particularly its hardware selection, it was with an eye toward reshaping the types of products available. In the past, products had been selected on the tried-and-true method of offering “good-better-best” options to cover all price points. Star Lumber & Supply wanted to expand those offerings, but in a smart manner. The location had strong sales in paint, especially sundries, as well as fasteners, locksets, tools and tool accessories, but the business was looking for a more curated approach. “We knew we were targeting a certain customer with our retail locations. These are customers taking on larger projects, whether it’s a remodeler hired to build out a kitchen or a homeowner looking to build their own deck,” Stuhlsatz says. “For them, we wanted to have better and best options, and to have more of those options to really show we were well-stocked in quality products.” In pursuit of that focus, the windows, doors and cabinet displays were moved to

the balcony that overlooks the salesfloor on the first floor. Now, Star Lumber & Supply can continue to offer those vital building materials while allowing for room to expand its hardware offerings. The first floor now had room for full lines of power tools, an expanded sundries collection, more paint options and a reshaped fastener department. Finding a Partner When Randy Chippeaux, senior vice president of the building materials division at Star Lumber & Supply, directed his team to explore the professional contractor market in a more direct way, research included visiting other independent hardware stores, as well as studying Star Lumber & Supply’s own customer base. After about two years, the team knew what kind of alterations it wanted to make in product selection and diversity, but it still needed a partner more familiar with store resets. “Last March, we met with Blish-Mize to let them know what we were thinking and the direction we wanted to take this location,” Spurgeon says. “They committed to helping us find the right model,

Blish-Mize representatives helped Star Lumber & Supply reconfigure its salesfloor to better represent its targetedmarket—professional contractors and builders. This meant moving departments and remerchandising products, such as power tools, to better suit the tastes of these customers.

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