Category Archives: Hardware Store Life

Hardware Store Life

🇺🇸 American Flags, “we remember…”

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September 11th a day that many of us who are old enough, will always remember where you were located the moment you learned the news of what transpired that morning.

This post is not about the history of the September 11th attacks but the days & months after September 11th. “We remember…”

I remember with clarity in the days following the events of September 11th, a huge surge in American flag sales skyrocketed. People just wanted to show support for those who had lost so much in this awful tragedy. The trickle down was felt into all small towns within our nation. Our small town was absolutely experiencing the same…

September 2001 was well before we were hardware store owners. Richard was working for another company during this time. He would often see folks buying up American flags as fast as they were arriving inside the store. One day Richard was able to purchase one of those American flags for our new home. I was excited to have one coming! Richard had just texted me the news, he was finishing up an errand and would be home shortly. He was in town, and he left the flag in the car… the American flag was stolen out of his car while he was gone. Absolutely nothing else had been taken out of the car, just the flag was missing.

We didn’t get the fly a beautiful American flag at that time to honor those who had lost so much. I do believe that we as Americans all carry that patriotic spirit/sense of remembrance every day since the events of September 11th.

This experience with the loss of the American flag left an impression on both of us. Upon buying a hardware store in 2015, one of the first things we noticed was the American Flag flying outside the store everyday. We wanted to make sure that our customers could always find a high quality American flag in our store for purchase. So when we arrived in New Orleans (our first hardware show) we made sure to order from Valley Forge Flags to keep that tradition alive.

In 2018, we added another service for our customers- drop off old American flags for proper disposal. Our customers can leave an old American flag and we will make sure the Flag Code of the US in observed in the discarding of the American flag. Our community received this service well and plan to continue to do this well into our future.

American Flags… “we remember”…

Hardware Store Life

Summer of 2019- A New Chapter in the hardware life…

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Labor Day is over and this year the end of summer feels very different. I think you will be able to see as you read along today. It has been a life altering kinda summer for me and our business.

I officially retired as a teacher this summer. My “work” focus is now focusing on being a business owner in our community, which has opened up new avenues for creating change in our town and community.

Many people don’t fully understand why I would leave a state job early, so here is the deal—-It had become increasingly difficult to do both, teach & help with the business effectively, and be a Mom.

Honestly, Mom is my most important “job title” and I need to be there for the “big stuff.” This is the first year ever in his entire school career that I have the ability to pick him up/ drop him off at school. Of course I know it won’t be for long, because his drivers license is coming around the corner.

Before my retirement, I had struggled with my decision for quite sometime whether to continue to work and do both, but now I am at peace with my decision to leave my life’s work. In essence, I have just added a new passion to my life- hardware store life. Don’t get me wrong, I miss that look when students learn something new. I’m just turning the page on a new chapter…

Speaking of new chapters… Richard and I both turned 50 this year!!! A milestone birthday 🎂 So far 50 is great!!!!

So enough about all that personal stuff!!! Here is what we have been working on inside the store…

Below is a top 10 list of some of the wonderful things that has been going on inside our store:

1. Pool season has been in full swing and will be winding down soon for most pool owners in the next few weeks. Richard and Luke have kept a few neighborhood pools cleaned, & chemically safe for swimming. I can not tell y’all how much work and time this requires of these two!!!! Pool owners, I bet you understand. The fellas have worked every day to keep these pools clean 7 days a week!!! 😎

2. Richard and I spent some time at the Chicago Orgill Hardware Show this August looking at new products to offer up to our customers. Hardware shows are lots of fun and I may do a different post on that later.

3. This summer we also added several new locally made products to our store! These items have been received well by our customers and people keep coming back to purchase these items. We are very proud to offer these to our customers.

4. Some of our readers maybe aware that we made some staffing changes this summer. We are consistently heading in a positive direction to move into a new level sales, services, & great customer satisfaction for our community. Thank you for your patience and support as we all learn new skills😉

5. The first annual Harry’s Hotdogs was a huge success!!!! This was a absolutely amazing event to see people pouring into our store to eat a hotdog and remember Harry on his birthday. The funds raised went to North Wilkesboro Rotary Club- serving our local community

6. Wilkes County Hardware teamed up with Keegan Watson – local woodworking craftsman, during the Wilkes Art Gallery Art Walk Event this summer. It was great to see so many people in downtown North Wilkesboro

7. I’m still trying to figure out where my skill set fits best inside the store… I mostly work on merchandising, new product acquisitions, social media, and I have just started out learning some of the financial end of the business. My husband is invaluable in this business!!! He is a super busy guy😉.

8. Since we are a small hardware store, when new products arrive, we have to make “space” for new items. It is a challenge!!! We have been trying to find places for these new items and clearance items that are not moving. Inventory is always on our mind🧐 By the way , Eddie did a great job this summer moving some key products to new locations. It looks awesome!!!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

9. Our office space upstairs is coming along!!! We are so happy to have this quite space to work! We have more shelves and walls to paint, but our work areas are clearly defined👍🏻

10. FYI: we have a few new projects that we are seriously looking at, I have spent some serious time with these ideas this summer so stay posted for more details later this fall!!!

Here’s to the new chapter in the hardware life!!! 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉Richard and I are working together as a team now to make hardware happen every day for our customers. Y’all, I am just gonna say, that is a very satisfying feeling!

Hardware Store Life

Customer Service and a new tv…

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Ok, I have a bit of a story to share, so this maybe a long one folks. A few weeks ago we decided to switch our tv service up, & in the process of learning about this new system we were looking at, the discovery was made that our tv HDMI ports were not working😩. A new tv was on the horizon for us to purchase sooner than later.

Richard checked prices online and then we decided to “store shop” and make a purchase. This was not supposed to take weeks!!!! Well, it has….

Our first big box store shopping experience was shocking. Only 5 of the TVs were on in the electronics section of the store. We asked about a specific model, could they turn it on- the response was “no”and a way far out tale of why they couldn’t turn them on… A manager complaint soon followed after we left the store.

After the first store experience, we decided to wait until after we returned from the Chicago Hardware Show before we made the tv purchase… to be continued

Big box store number 2 the service was lackadaisical. We asked about a specific tv, he went to see if they had it and returned and said “no we don’t have it” and pretty much walked away. 😳

Big Box Store 3 we never saw a sales person… tv we thought we might like was not in stock, left this store our options were quickly running out! 😩

Our final redemption of good customer service came at the last store we visited. Thank you Noah!!! He walked right up after we had looked around for a few minutes, asked us what we were looking for, price range, brand preferences… you name it, he covered it all! He was so helpful. Y’all, this young man got it right!!! The great customer service didn’t end there. Our tv was not carried by us to our car… no way- these folks placed inside the vehicle and did it with a smile. Amazing experience!!!!!

Before we arrived at the last store, we were dismayed at quality of service at every store we had been to, really this should not be a hard task!!! 😳

So what is the point? I’m not really sure why people are flocking to the box stores to get service that is substandard. We often hear from our customers that, “I can never get anyone to help me at …., I know you guys can help me”. At Wilkes County Hardware our customers are valued, we wish to meet their needs or try to find alternative solutions if we cannot help them out with a specific product.

Carry out to car is a great way help our customers with larger items that maybe heavy or bulky. We never want our customers to feel the way we felt as we shopped for a that new tv.

Our goal at Wilkes County Hardware is to follow the pattern of great customer service that Noah beautifully modeled: listen, ask questions, offer solutions, wait time for decision making, & follow through on purchase (carry out- if needed or requested) all in a polite manner.

Thank you for shopping local!!!! We appreciate your support 😊😉.,

family fun, Hardware Store Life, memories, supper

Supper vs. Dinner

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Sometimes in conversation as I remember talking to my Granny at the end of the day, I would ask her what they both had for dinner. As she began to talk about her meal, I soon realized that she was referring to her mid-day meal, not her evening meal. My vocabulary was not the same as hers. I quickly learned that her view of supper/dinner was different from mine. Does it matter? Well, I guess it is all about perspective.

A major NC magazine in our state just recently published an article about Sunday Suppers. It was well done. I’m not going to rehash the intent of that article. But, it did bring back up all those supper/dinner conversations that I had with my granny came to my mind when I read the article.

So upon reflection, I began to ponder my usage of “dinner”. I use the term “dinner” all the time to gather my family to the table, but the reality is that we really are seated for “supper” instead.

Why supper??? The word supper is less formal. Dinner can be a full fledged event with fancy dinner napkins, china, etc. But, when we gather at home, it is not a formal affair. Our family is blessed to have passed down to us, the antique farm table that was in my mother-in-law’s kitchen. The table is definitely not formal by any means, and it is the only table around which we gather to eat. At this farm table we engage in the conversations about the day, hold discussions about local events/news, and let the puns roll. (Our form of making our son roll his eyes 👀 at us.). Supper at our house is a time to simply gather, eat together & unwind from the day.

This was modeled well in my family as a young child growing up. All four of us always ate together at the table in the kitchen. As they say, “old habits die hard”. Meals gathered as our family unit or shared with friends are a strong part of my memories of home.

Now in present day, the weekends are probably the most relaxing suppers we get to have as a family unit. Saturday evening supper is probably one of my favorite times. This tends to be the meal when we can relax, kick back at the end of the day. Saturday supper tends to be one of our Traeger nights- smoking a good piece of meat, or grilling up fish, or whatever is on sale at the grocery store! Do you guys do that too???

Saturday supper doesn’t have to be all fancy, high dollar meals that breaks your budget 💵. Sometimes supper is quite simple at our house–homemade chili beans, or biscuits in a Lodge skillet & country ham, maybe even soup and Traeger grilled cheese sandwich, or lastly, a crockpot meal that we all love.

So I guess when I call my family to say, “dinner is ready”, I really mean supper because that equates to family time. 😊

Happy Supper Saturday y’all !!!

Hardware Store Life

Shop Local

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Friday evening our local community was humming with activities. Downtown North Wilkesboro hosted the Art Gallery Walk. People were everywhere in the downtown area visiting the gallery, & the downtown stores were full of great artists. Many good friends and customers took time to stop into our store to say hello to us & watch Keegan Watson work wonders with wood!!! Thank you!!!! Richard & I had fun visiting with everyone & thank you for shopping local.

A significant trend that I noticed as people were shopping in our store Friday night, most folks purchased locally made products!!! Wow!!!! I know that our local artisans/entrepreneurs will be thrilled to hear this news. Thank you for building up our community with your purchase.

Community… yes, when we shop local we directly impact our economic growth in our local community. Did you know that when you buy from an independent, locally owned business, rather than a nationally owned business, significantly more of your money is used to make purchases from other local businesses, service providers, and farms — further strengthening the economic base of the whole community? What a difference that makes!!!!

As I drove home late Friday evening, I came through Wilkesboro. My heart was full already, the day had been good… then I turned and looked… more community in action… in the Wilkesboro Commons was an outdoor movie playing, games,& other family fun activities. My smile widened, community building in action in both towns in the same night. Let’s keep this momentum going strong. Thanks for shopping local & building our community into a fabulous place to live.