Page 6 - LBMAO - Reporter - Mar-Apr 2024 - web optimized

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

HOW NOT TO BE A TARGET

TREVOR SMALL
LBMAO President

have just returned from a visit to the largest hardware and building So, what is the secret to having a large store be successful? The
I centre in North America (maybe the world’s largest at 305,000 magic is in people. You need to hire people who are smart, attentive
square feet). I have grown up around lumber and building centres and and want to help serve the needs of the customer. At Hartsville
whenever I have a chance to see how others are operating, I take the Hardware, every staff member that I spoke to or interacted with
opportunity to do so. Visiting the largest store (you must wait until greeted me and was interested in looking after my needs. When you
next issue for the complete story – a bit of a teaser) in North America are hiring from a town with a population base of 3,408 people, it
was high on my list of things I wanted to see. can get tricky. The person that needs washers for a faucet today may
The visit also got me thinking about what they have done at the want to spend $20,000 on their kitchen tomorrow if they feel they
Hartsville Hardware to be successful when others in much larger are looked after. Good staff can be trained on the details of plumbing,
trading areas have missed. The town this store is in has a population electrical or deck construction but it is almost impossible to train staff
of 3,408 people and includes 1,493 households. It was traditionally on how to be nice.
thought that a box store needed a population base of 50,000 people In today’s marketplace, people can find anything they want to buy
to be successful. Some of the success may come from other areas. A online. Retailers need to be doing whatever they can to find, hire and
regional centre will draw from a larger area – typically no more than a train staff to look after customers. That way when customers come into
one-hour drive. the store, they will feel like they are important and valued.
This store has a larger population base that they draw from, Canton, Are your customers willing to drive past the competition to get to
Ohio is 15 minutes (21km) away and Akron, Ohio is 20 minutes (26 km) your store? Are they willing to drive 15, 20, 30 minutes or more to get
from the store, while Cleveland, Ohio is a one-hour drive (94km). These to your location? If they are that probably means you have succeeded
larger areas only work if you can draw them to your store and make in hiring and training a good staff. If not, you need to go to work. Do
sure they return. We have seen many large stores fail because they you have some grouchy staff who are not customer friendly? Those
could not get customers to try them and return on a regular basis. staff may be costing you business. Read the reviews posted about your
We could look at Target stores in Canada, who opened to great store. No one is perfect and the customer is not always right BUT they
fanfare but failed to convince the customers that the products Target must always be respected. If the reviews sound like you could improve,
had were needed and they should switch from the retailers they were get to work.
currently using. Target had a strong following of Canadian customers You may not end up operating a 305,000 square foot store but you
that would drive across the border to make purchases, often driving want to be sure that you are not the Target store in your market.
long distances and spending precious shopping time in their border
town stores. The problem was they failed to entice additional shoppers
to visit and come back regularly. They had the wrong people running
their Canadian operations.

6 LBMAO Reporter - March-April 2024 www.lbmao.on.ca