VERMONT STORE OUTLASTS HOME DEPOT
This is such an inspiring story!
In Brattleboro, Vermont, a Home Depot set up shop across the street from the Fireside True Value hardware store. Owner Wayne St. John knew it would probably take some of his customers away.
He and his brothers, who have operated their store for 35 years, had heard the stories about big box stores and their low prices driving competitors into the ground.
Four years later, it is Fireside True Value that is still standing and the Home Depot store that is closing.
How did this local small business outlast the big box store?
THEY DID WHAT THEY DO BEST
Fireside True Value stuck to doing what it does best. And it paid off.
PUBLIC ENEMY
Home Depot was a public enemy before it even opened the store in a former Ames' department store one and a half miles from downtown.
BrattPower, a citizens' group, fought to keep the home improvement retailer out, saying its bargain prices and sheer size would take business away from local businesses.
Small by Home Depot standards at 60,000 square feet, it was sandwiched in between two other Home Depots - one across the river in Keene, N.H., the other in nearby Greenfield, Mass. - within a 30-minute drive.
Fireside True Value store owner Wayne St. John said:
"I've heard a lot of customers come in and say: "You guys put them under."
"We have seen big box stores defeated in over 200 communities in the last two years," said Stacy Mitchell, author of Big-Box Swindle: The True Cost of Mega-Retailers and the Fight for America's Independent Businesses.
HOW TO WIN AGAINST THE COMPETITION
So, what did Fireside True Value do best?
* Good Customer Service (something that is hard to find at a big box store.)
* Competitive Prices
* A willingness to stock that hard-to-find part customers never seemed to find at the big building with the orange roof.
ANOTHER FAMILY OPERATED BUSINESS
Outlasting Home Depot
Brown & Roberts, a family-operated Ace Hardware downtown in Brattleboro, beloved by locals for its creaky wooden floors, peg-board displays and attentive personal service, could not compete with Home Depot's prices on some products, but many customers continued going there anyway.
PERSONAL SERVICE
"Last week, I had to get a part for my kitchen overhead vent," said Dan Rubchinuk, 26, shopping for gloves and a coffee press at Brown & Roberts.
"I call here and they spend five minutes on the phone with me. I call Home Depot and spend 15 minutes on hold while the person tries to figure out what I'm talking about."
That says it all.
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