May 12, 2017, MILAN, ILLINOIS – RJ McDaniel, vice president and co-owner of B&B Hardware in Milan, Illinois was recently named one of the hardware industry’s 2017 Young Retailer of the Year Award recipients by the North American Retail Hardware Association (NRHA).
The award, established to identify and promote the next generation of aspiring independent home improvement retailers, recognizes individual achievement by industry retailers 35 years and younger throughout the United States and Canada. Selected from different retail categories, eight winners were chosen based on a number of criteria, including professional activities and highlights in areas such as career and community involvement, hardware industry education and extracurricular activities. McDaniel was honored at an event May 8 in Las Vegas as part of the National Hardware Show and NRHA All-Industry Conference.
RJ started working in the family’s hardware store when he was 15. Now, as the fourth generation to step into ownership, he’s been taking the business in new directions, showing he’s not afraid to look for opportunities outside the boundaries of typical hardware categories.
After he graduated college in 2005, RJ began looking for ways to modernize the business and prepare it for future growth. He replaced the cash register with a computerized system. Then, realizing that the store’s existing location had outlived its usefulness, he spearheaded the move to a new location, which gave him three times the square footage of the old building. RJ utilized the additional space to expand his product offerings in nearly every department to better serve his customers. One of the biggest successes was the addition of a rental department.
RJ also used the extra space and growing product mix to broaden his store’s customer base. At the previous location, the overwhelming majority of customers were contractors and remodelers. Today, the new store offers more products for DIY customers, which now make up approximately 40 percent of sales.
“Customer feedback totally drives our product mix,” he says. “I know more than half of my customers by their first name, and most of them have my cell number, so they call and text me often with feedback. I want to know why they go elsewhere for what I don’t have. If it’s something I can get, I start carrying it.”
Perhaps one of the more unusual items customers can buy at B&B is also one of RJ’s most successful. RJ had discovered the sport of disc golf in college, and as a retailer, he saw an opportunity. Realizing no one in his area sold the supplies disc golfers needed to play the game, he decided to try selling a few discs and accessories. It was an instant success, soon outperforming traditional hardware categories.
RJ’s involvement in disc golfing has also gone beyond just selling the product. He has sponsored local tournaments, including the USDG Pro Tournament, one of the largest in the country, as well as several professional disc golfers. He has also been instrumental in helping local residents find a place to play disc golf. He worked with the Village of Milan to covert an unused wooded area next to an amateur disc course in a local park into a professional level course. He helped raise money for the project and since then the course has hosted several major disc golfing events.
RJ also found ways to leverage the store’s Federal Firearms License (FFL) to attract more customers. He listed his store’s information with all of the major online gun retailers, and then lowered his license fee to be more competitive. The number of customers coming into his store for his FFL service increased 20 times.
With more gun owners coming into the store, RJ has increased his selection of firearms and other related items, such as ammo. He has also raised the store’s profile in the local hunting and outdoorsmen community by volunteering at banquets for the local chapters of Ducks Unlimited, the National Wild Turkey Federation and Whitetails Unlimited.
In the community, RJ looks for ways to donate his resources and his time, often using his love of disc golfing. He has volunteered at Arrowhead Ranch, a local facility that works with at-risk youth. One of his favorite charitable events is the annual Disc’n for Dogs, which brings 150 disc golfers to raise money for a local no-kill animal shelter. As a father, he has volunteered his time coaching basketball, softball and t-ball at his children’s school.
“The Young Retailer of the Year program highlights the best of the best in the retailing industry. Manufacturers, retailers and wholesalers all anticipate the selection and celebration of the extraordinary accomplishments of the honorees,” says Bill Lee, NRHA president and CEO. “To be selected as a Young Retailer of the Year is a high honor. There’s no doubt RJ McDaniel has the kind of entrepreneurial spirit that will help move our industry forward.”
B&B Hardware is backed by the strength of its status as a member-owner of Do it Best Corp., a US-based hardware, lumber and building materials co-op with thousands of independently owned locations in the United States and 52 other countries.
About the North American Retail Hardware Association
Founded in 1900 by a group of retailers, the North American Retail Hardware Association is a not-for-profit trade association whose mission is to help hardware stores, home center and lumberyards in the U.S. and Canada become better and more profitable retailers. Governed by a board of independent hardware retailers, NRHA fulfills its mission by providing information, communication, training programs and networking opportunities for the industry it serves. Each month NRHA publishes Hardware Retailing magazine, which reaches over 34,000 stores in the U.S. and Canada. NRHA also provides a wealth of online training and educational resources to thousands of retailers on www.nrha.org.
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