Tag Archives: small town life

Hardware Store Life

The Chicken Hat

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Earlier this week Richard told me that we had a visit from a local hardware store owner, out of our county. As Richard put it, he wanted to see that Chicken hat that everyone was talking about. Wow! I was blown away!!!

Working towards a great logo can be daunting for a new business. A great logo is one of the biggest marketing tools that can connect your customers to your store/brand.

As new business owners, we did get some great advice from fellow business owners to be very purposeful when selecting colors and a logo to connect to our customers and our store. We have tried to heed this great advice, and have used our great neighbors down the street, Cook’s Inc to help us through the process.

Over the last few years, we have really stuck with a classic gray color for a branding color. Why??? Many reasons actually—-our store has concrete floors, which has served many purposes in our building- chicken processing plant, & as a hardware store. I think that the gray is a great compliment to that old rustic hardware store feel as well, so the color is ours to stay.

Back to the chicken hat… The story of the Chicken Hat is a journey of logo selection over the last few years. We have been working diligently with our neighbors down the street- Cook’s Inc, to select a great logo for a baseball cap 🧢. Our initial designs were very simple with the gray cap and a patch logo with our store name.

Brooke, who works for Cook’s, always challenges me to keep taking our logo to the next level. So as we were meeting one afternoon, we came up with a new design… a chicken, with red, white, blue flag inside it. The hat is of course that dark classic gray… (our best seller)

How did we arrive at this? We were trying to connect our logo hat to our store history. In the end, Richard and I have been super pleased with this new hat. I think we have achieved success with this new logo hat.

As I write this, we have chicken hats that have traveled all over the United States, and Australia. Even our local state legislator wears his to Raleigh and has gotten several great compliments on his hat. Of course, I keep telling him— tell the story about your hat… Our legacy of our store can be told and shared.

Here is our story…

Our building dates back to the early 1900’s. The building was used as a poultry processing plant for turkeys, chickens, etc. These animals were literally herded down the mountain and pushed into our store and processed. They were then loaded up on the railroad, which is just down the street and taken out of town. High estimates are close to 1 million chickens & turkeys were processed in our building in a years time at the height of production.

Maybe it is sometimes the story that helps you brand yourself, maybe it is the story that folks will remember… it could be a little bit of both.

I’m not sure if our neighbor hardware store really found what he needed the other day…. what the deal is with that chicken hat, but we sure love it here at Wilkes County Hardware. I hope his curiosity was satisfied.

Hardware Store Life

15

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Our lives changed dramatically 15 years ago. Our son came into the world 🌎 and Richard & I were transformed into parents overnight. We haven’t looked back ever since, his presence in our lives has been our greatest blessing.

As he begins another year, I am amazed to see how much change has occurred in the last few years… I am also drawn to reflect on how on earth did we get here??? Seriously, time does fly by!!!

The physical changes are ongoing. This young man is now his mom’s height… and truth be told, he will probably surpass me and head towards 6 feet sooner than later 😳. Those of you with teenage boys know how much food they inhale.., and of course we have gone through at least three buying sprees of clothing so far this year— in order to keep up with the growth process.

I can still remember the sweet little guy who sat on the bench out front of the hardware store and smiled for a first photo. Fast forward to Summer 2018, he made keys 🔑 with Wayne, helped customers in the store, and even helped his dad get some of the local neighborhood pools open for the season.

I am sure that more changes will come for our big 15 year old in the next year, and we will continue to face them as a family. We love you dearly big guy!!! 💕

Family is central to our everything isn’t it? Come to think of it… This is very similar to how we approach our business ownership, we make decisions as co-owners, working together for a common goal- serving our local community. The essence of #thehardwarelife 😉

Happy Birthday!!! 🎂

Hardware Store Hours, Uncategorized

Store Hours

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When we purchased Wilkes County Hardware in 2015, the store hours were different from what we observe now. The hours were like they say “banker hours”. We were open everyday at 7:30am to catch the early birds and closed at 5:00pm on most days…the exception being Wednesday afternoon and Saturday. Both Wednesday and Saturday, the store always closed at 12:00pm. It was hard to believe that in 2015, that stores were closing at 12:00 in the middle of the workday, observing that old “banker” tradition.

What was the “bank hours tradition” that I am speaking of? Well, when I was growing up in North Wilkesboro as a young child, I can remember that banks always closed early on Wednesdays. It was just done that way here in the South. Why? You may ask, because the banks used that afternoon to do paperwork. Other people say it was to catch Southern farmers coming into town on Saturday because in the middle of the week, they were always too busy to be in the midst of downtown North Wilkesboro, NC. So the former owners of Wilkes County Hardware, carried on the tradition for years, keeping up those old bankers hours. Many local folks knew and anticipated our closing every Wednesday, and would make sure they came in the store before 12:00.

Richard kept the hours the same for a few months and he began to notice a significant trend. People were coming up to our doors and it appeared that shopping after 12:00 was necessary for lots of folks in town! Richard would often still be there working on paperwork and was seeing a trend that we needed to address quickly.  After discussion with me,  we formulated a plan on how to move forward. We would launch a massive social media campaign in order to let people know our new store hours for Wednesday afternoon. Richard also planned to update the store hours on the doors as our customers enter our historic building. The Wednesday “banker” hours are long gone now and seem to be just a memory. Occasionally, even now, we do have a few people to call the store and ask what time we close on Wednesdays, and they are pleasantly surprised when we say 5:00pm.

Saturdays was another one of those oddball 12:00 days for closing time for Wilkes County Hardware. The store was always busy in the late mornings and often the 12:00 push for customers to get in and out before closing…  well I’m just going to say it—- it was hard to close the store and not let our customers shop and do what they needed to do, and many Saturdays we did hold closing until our customers were finished with shopping- after 12:00pm. So Richard and I talked about this one too and we decided upon 2:00pm to close. That has been a good change for our store. Out of town customers can make it to us in plenty of time, shop with leisure, & ask questions about the history of our store. We did the same ads, social media launch with changing store hours as we did with the Wednesday hours and got the word out to our community. Our regular store customers can purchase what they need before they get too deep into a weekend project, seek advice, purchase that speciality nail or screw,  or even have pool water tested.

Richard and I are currently in discussion about  store hours for our future, extending shopping hours to 5:30 or 6:00. We posed a question to social media followers and fellow customers a few weeks ago to survey their interests in the extension of shopping hours to 5:30 or 6:00pm. I am just going to say our customers are absolutely awesome!!! They gave us great feedback. They said 5:30, not 6:00. Our feedback was positive & very honest. Many customers stated, “you guys need your family time too”.  Let me just tell you, our customers are super!!!! What an honor it is to work in such a fabulous community! I am anticipating that we will be making an announcement in a few weeks about our new updated store hours.

What I have found in the trend of store hours is flexibility is the upmost importance. Observing customers and how they are interacting with our store, looking for patterns for when they seem to be coming into to our store… early? late in day??? and of course the “old school” method we love to use at our store- just to simply ask our customers what they need. Happy Hardware Shopping Yall!!!!:)

Summer

Sounds of Summer

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August is already here on the calendar 📆 and time is flying by so quickly it seems. Where has the lazy days of summer gone? Ahhhh… the sounds of summer are always fresh in my mind.

I can hear the constant sounds of nature outside in my backyard- birds chirping, crickets, lawnmowers going in the neighborhood, children playing in yards. I can hear the sound of the river flowing as I walk on the greenway. Fellow walkers wishing us well as we pass by them bidding us a good day.

The sounds of the barista busy working on the next order of coffee, the laughter of the “coffee crew” who gather every morning to start the day with friends and a hit of caffeine motivation…

Then off to the hardware store to hear the key machine working to make yet another key for a customer. The sound of the cash register opening and closing, heavy footsteps on the stairs, the freight elevator cranks up-belts in movement… the quiet sounds of the ceiling fan… tools busy at work, money clanking in the snack jar… then I hear “thank you for coming by today” 😊… yes, it makes my heart sing !!!

Morning Coffee, Uncategorized

Morning Coffee

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Ahhh… the smell of a fresh pot of coffee brewing in the morning is the best wake up call ever. The coffee beans are freshly ground, the aroma fills the kitchen.

The house is still quietly asleep, with the exception of our dogs. They are always eager to greet me in those quiet times of early morning. I grab one of my favorite pottery mugs (bought at a local shop down the street from our hardware store- Taupe) and then pour the first cup of freshly brewed coffee.

That first cup of coffee is part of my daily ritual, I must confess. One that brings time for me to reflect on the previous day, & to set goals for the new day. I guess I am not unique in that aspect, but I think I enjoy that first cup the most for many different reasons.

One of the best reasons why enjoy the first cup of coffee has to be the sweetness of my husband Richard. He makes the coffee every morning. It has become part of his routine after taking the dogs out early in the morning hours.

(Photo caption information: Rest in Elvis & Gigi we loved you dearly – these two pups were always up early morning to get day started and breakfast eaten… then it was 😴 nap time.)

(Photo caption information: Our sweet Bella… she lost complete eyesight after she was adopted into our family, such a blessing she is to all of us💕)

All I have to do is get up & pour the coffee, no effort involved on my part except to relax and enjoy it. Whether he realizes it or not, he has just added a small joy to my day by doing this little thing- making the coffee.

We do buy our fresh coffee beans at a local downtown coffee shop, Talia. Actually, we are regulars there. It is truly a great coffee experience. The owners & baristas make an effort to get to know you and what you like. So, yes, I love a great cup of coffee each and every morning. Talia has made that a little easier for me to cherish that first cup each day, just like my husband.

Well, lingering around the house is not something that usually happens in the midst of my life. Most days I’m off to school to teach, and out the door no later than 6:30am! Summer, brings a shift in schedule with more time to focus exclusively on the other job title I hold, co-owner of Wilkes County Hardware.

Upon arriving at Wilkes County Hardware, you can easily spot the coffee pot. It is currently stashed behind the wood stove. Richard and I are now in conversation about possibly moving it to a new location within the store, in order to create more floor space for merchandise. This would be a significant change for our staff and locals who frequent our store. Sometimes these decisions are an easy fix, and other times not so easy when routines are changed. But….

The morning coffee is brewed and ready for our first customers of the day at 7:30am. Of course the coffee is always free. That is just common Southern hospitality.

We have regular customers who even have their own cup/mug they keep stashed to use each day as they drink a cup of coffee with us and sit down for a quick visit before resuming their daily activities.

Coffee at the hardware store is a social event. The staff can gather together in the stillness of early morning hours before it gets too busy to do so and just enjoy a casual conversation, laughter, or even share a funny story.

But as the day progresses, others begin to wander in, picking up essentials they need for a job, or to complete a “to do” list at home. Many folks will find that morning coffee pot filled with freshly brewed coffee and just sit down for a few minutes to give themselves a moment of quiet reflection. Just like I have at home each morning 🙂