Wearin' the hardware hat
He walks the show looking, chatting, and confirming what he knows in his mind.
“I like what I see here,” he said to this HBSDealer editor, pausing to chat on the expansive, and crowded, convention floor at the recent Ace spring show in Dallas.
“Also, I like what I hear,” said Gregory Meeske, wearing a badge that identified him in big letters as simply “Guest” and nothing else but his name, in smaller lettering below.
He’s looking to open a hardware store in a small town next door to Colorado Springs, his own hometown.
“The town doesn’t have an Ace hardware right now,” he said to me. “I’ll change that.”
Noticing his cowboy hat, as it stood out in the crowd even in this Dallas convention hall, I stopped to say hello and speak with him.
“Isn’t it funny that I’m wearing my cowboy hat here in Texas, thinking I’ll fit in with all the probably hundreds of others, and here I’m practically the only one,” he smiled.
He had a weathered face that looked like he could be in a movie with the likes of Tommy Lee Jones.
So you like what you were hearing, when the Ace VP of retail strategy said that there are thousands of open development areas for new stores?
“Oh yes,” he said. “And that’s just what I want – to open my own new store, not buy an existing store.”
Many hardware shows prominently feature their longtime dealers who have been around for years, maybe decades, and have built up a name – and a loyal following. That’s understandable.
But let’s not overlook the new owners who have come into retail hardware – and the ones about to enter the business.
Betty West, the paint manager from Hawkins Ace Hardware in Hawkins, Texas, is here at the show too, and not far from where Gregory is standing.
“We’re located just a couple hours down the road from Dallas,” she said.
“We have Ben Moore paints as well as Magnolia. Our owners, a husband and wife, are new owners,” said West.
New owners – new blood you might say – are always a sign of a flourishing industry. They see opportunity.
Back to Colorado Gregory.
“I already decided I’m going into the hardware business,” said Meeske.
“I’ve spent my life in the Springs. We’ve got growth, we’ve got the Air Force back now, and in that area I feel like I know everybody, or I will once I open my hardware store doors,” he said.
It was time to go our separate ways. “Best of luck,” I said.
He touched the brim of his cowboy hat saying, “hardware is right for me.”
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