Fall 2018 Hardlines Strategies

THE PRESIDENT’S REPORT

Investing In Your Business

Contents Ask the Expert .4 Customer Feature .8 Triple O’s Building Supply Customer Feature 14 Hermitage Lumber Smart-Tech Products 20 Fall Market Preview 24 John H. Mize Retirement 32 Protecting Employees From Harassment 34 Communicating With Millennial Employees 36 NRHA Scholarship Program 38 Hardware House 40 News. 42 On the Cover: Triple O’s Building Supply’s assistant manager Sean Doyle and store manager Tim O’Connell.

I n our industry lately, there is a lot of talk about investments—the when, where, why and how of making them. As you go through the year, you should think carefully about who is making an investment in you—or, more specifically, in you and your business. At Blish-Mize, we pride ourselves on being involved with and invested in our customers. We are a family-owned and -operated company that’s been

part of the industry for five generations. Unlike other distributors, we don’t ask for money up front, or hold money until you spend a certain amount with us. We believe in simple principles of success and trust, and we invest in your progress and growth. We support our customers in whatever way they need, whenever they need it, however they need it, and in a way that makes them profitable. Just as we at Blish-Mize are investing in you, we’re excited to see our customers investing in expansion. For example, Triple O’s Building Supply in Sidney, Nebraska, recently moved from a 2,800-square-foot store to a 10,000-square-foot facility. They are adding more jobs and more product offerings, and most importantly, investing in the people of their community. Read more about their success on Page 8. Another customer, Hermitage Lumber in Hermitage, Missouri, opened a new store in their community in March. Larry Lightfoot, who has been managing that store since 1995 and has been coming to the Blish-Mize Buying Markets for just as long, knew that making an investment in improvements was a sure path to success. Read more on Page 14. We hope you will join us at our Fall Buying Market, Sept. 20-22, in Overland Park, Kansas. We will celebrate our customers two nights in a row, with a special MVP Buying Event on Thursday night and a tailgate extravaganza on Friday night. As always, Blish-Mize will offer amazing pricing for this buying weekend. We also will be holding some top-notch educational seminars in partnership with industry experts on retail accounting, Google AdWords and social media basics for your store. And, of course, we will have BBQ. As we like to say about this event: “Fall Has It All!” We look forward to seeing you there and showing you how we invest our time, energy and resources into helping your business be the success it should be. If I can ever be of any assistance, or if you have any comments on how we can improve our service to your business, please feel free to reach me at 1-800-995-0525, ext. 138, or jonathan@blishmize.com. 

Advertising Information Hardlines Strategies is published twice every year by Blish-Mize. Copyright 2018. For advertising rates and deadlines, please contact:

Blish Connor Blish-Mize

223 S. Fifth St., Box 249 Atchison, Kansas 66002 Toll free: (800) 995-0525 (913) 367-1250

Jonathan D. Mize CEO and President

(913) 375-2505 (cell) (913) 367-0667 (fax) e-mail: blish.connor@blishmize.com

Blish-Mize isamember-owner ofDistributionAmerica

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