Strategies_Spring_2025

CUSTOMER PROFILE

Spring Hill is a modest town in eastern Kansas, and for over 50 years, it didn’t have a hardware store. The closest place residents could shop for nuts, bolts and anything else needed for home renovations was a big-box store 20 minutes away, an inconvenience Moody’s Hardware owner Shiloh Little dealt with herself. During 2020, as the world shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic and people were stuck in their homes, Little, an elementary school teacher at the time, and her husband spent most of their free time renovating their home. “We got tired of driving 20 minutes each way when we needed something,” she says. “It took a lot of time driving there, spending time combing the aisles and driving back. Not only that, the employees weren’t all that helpful.” Little told her husband they should open a hardware store during their renovation troubles. “After we talked, I ran with it,” Little says. “I posted a five-question survey on a local Facebook page, and within minutes we had an overwhelmingly positive response. The idea snowballed from there.” Little spent time reading people’s comments, noting the products respondents said they would look for in a hardware store. “It was partially selfishly motivated because I was tired of driving to the next town for hardware products,” Little says. “Saving people time and having the staff who could actually help people find what they’re looking for were two big aspects of the business we focused on.”

When building her store, owner Shiloh Little wanted to carry products she needed as a DIYer.

Hardlines Strategies • Spring 2025 25