Fall 2019 Hardlines Strategies

OPERATIONS

A ‘Holy Cow’ Moment The new space meant more than just a new distributor. DePung and the Light Bulb Express crew was excited about all the different kinds of products they could bring into the store. However, nothing could prepare them for their first Blish-Mize Buying Market, he says. “We had only been a customer with Blish-Mize for about a month before the Spring Market, so we didn’t really know what we were in for,” DePung says. “We got there and it’s just a ‘holy cow’ moment. We were used to just dealing with one manufacturer at a time, and we were kind of locked in on our selection. The Market had everything you could possibly need at a hardware store, all under one roof. It was all at our fingertips.” It wasn’t just the product selection that drew the crew in. DePung says the opportunity to talk with other retailers

This grew Light Bulb Express from 8,000 square feet of salesfloor to 30,000 square feet. The former storage building was cut in half and the store portion refreshed to suit retail needs, while the other half remains 30,000 square feet of storage. With so much space, DePung and the Light Bulb Express staff had to come up with ideas for what products to fill their new store with. Previously, DePung had ordered items through individual manufacturers, sometimes calling dozens of companies to get everything he needed. That routine became unfeasible, he says.

By reaching out to other retailers in the home improvement industry, DePung became familiar with several distributors. Eventually, the simplicity of Blish-Mize’s ordering process and the price points available to Light Bulb Express through the distributor won him over. “It’s been an absolute win for us. Blish-Mize has been great about straightening up our ordering. It makes our job easier,” DePung says. “What I really like about Blish-Mize is they’ve laid out all the tools we need to run the business and got us set up, and now they let us decide how best to use them.”

“We learned so much in just a few days, and we’re going to make sure to take full advantage of our time at the next Market.” —Tony DePung, owner

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12 Fall 2019 • Hardlines Strategies