Nelson Ace Hardware Weathers the Ups and Downs of Retail

Bob Nelson has been in the hardware business for over four decades, and during that time he has learned that having a strong relationship with your vendors is one of the best ways to ride the highs and lows of the seasons. Nelson and his wife Linda own Nelson Ace Hardware located in Barre, Vermont, and when it comes time to order seasonal items, they rely on the multiple deliveries in a week to stay in stock and on top of the weather.

In the past, Nelson says he relied on the 30-day extended forecast when ordering, but now that the store receives several deliveries a week, he can utilize the more-accurate seven-day forecast.

“By getting multiple orders, you can plan to make sure you have the right stock on hand at the right time,” Nelson says. “We always want to be sure we’re taking care of our customers, so we are constantly looking toward weather forecasts and working with our wholesaler to be sure we can get the products we need when we need them. If we’re down to half a pallet of ice melt in March and get a surprise late-season snowstorm, we need to make sure we get more ice melt in for our customers but also for us to use on our sidewalks and steps.”

For large seasonal items, like snowblowers, Nelson says because the store doesn’t have a large warehouse, he doesn’t buy all the snowblowers they will need for that season at one time.

“We might pre-buy 20 units and then pull whatever additional inventory we need through our wholesaler’s warehouse,” Nelson says. “This doesn’t necessarily mitigate the possibility of carryover but it certainly helps.”

Nelson uses social media to push certain items during specific seasons, mentally preparing customers for what is to come and encouraging them to purchase early.

Nelson says they employ a third party to post on their social media channels, which includes a mix of organic posts and posts from the company’s wholesaler.

“Our social media company does a great job using content that is timely and has content prepared so we can get it out and in front of our people,” Nelson says.

Regaining Footing After a Flood

No matter how many times disaster strikes, nothing can fully prepare you for handling an extreme weather incident. However, you can learn from the past and use that knowledge to weather through the best you can. Such was the case for Nelson Ace Hardware, which experienced a massive flood in the summer of 2023.

“We had a very wet spring so the ground was saturated,” Bob says. “We were supposed to get a fairly heavy rain, they thought maybe we’d get three to four inches of rain, but it just kept raining. By that afternoon, water in the street was lapping up over the edge of the sidewalk.”

The Nelsons had been through a similar situation when the area flooded in 2011, so Bob knew what to expect—or so he thought.

“I had my employees get the items outside off the street and got them home, but by 5 p.m. the water was over the sidewalk and lapping at the doors,” Bob says. “It was just 15 minutes later, as I was leaving, that water was pouring into the basement. I went home and told Linda, ‘We may lose everything.’”

Watching and listening to the news the next morning, Bob and Linda stayed in contact with emergency responders. When they were able to return to the store, they opened up the door to the basement to find water all the way to the top step and between $200,000 and $300,000 worth of inventory destroyed. The Nelsons and their employees immediately began shoveling mud out of the first floor of the store, running the carpet cleaners and pumping water out of the basement with only power in one of the store’s three buildings.

“As much as it pained me, we stayed closed all day that Tuesday while we tried to get ourselves together,” Bob says. “I called the Ace Hardware in Wilton in the middle of Tuesday and told them we needed product. They said they would have it to us in the morning, and true to their word, they were here at 7 a.m. the next morning with what we needed.”

That Tuesday, the crew was able to pump out all but a foot of the water from the basement, but overnight the sprinkler pipes were repressurized, bursting a sprinkler pipe and flooding the basement for a second time. While pumping the water out again, the water stopped receding because of a broken water pipe—three floods in 24 hours.

“I knew we were limping, but I also knew people needed product, they needed us to be their hardware store,” Bob says. “We were helping people with flashlights in two of the buildings because there was no power. I didn’t advertise that we were open because our phones didn’t work, so we couldn’t answer them. But we did our best, and I think we helped a lot of people.”

After about a week of handwriting receipts and having no access to the POS, the internet was restored and after around six weeks, Bob says the operation was back to operating at almost 100%.

Through it all, Bob gives all the credit to his staff for getting the store up and running.

“Our staff is regularly the highest scoring customer engagement team within the Northeast, and that showed through during this time,” Bob says. “I’m extraordinarily proud of my staff.”

No matter how many times it happens to you, Bob says you can never fully prepare for a weather disaster like this. But there are several steps retailers can take to be as prepared as possible.

For Nelson’s Ace, which prides itself on having a large selection of inventory, preparation looks like reducing inventory in some areas and taking more frequent deliveries from the operation’s wholesaler.

“Nelson’s has excelled at making sure we have inventory and our customers can count on us having what they need,” Bob says. “But we’ll continue to make changes to prepare for what might come down the line.”

After the catastrophic flood in 2011 and then again in the summer of 2023, the Nelsons put together a playbook to guide them for the next time disaster struck. They had a plan for prepping for weather, but lacked a solid plan for what happens after a weather event. The playbook includes tips like ordering a dumpster right away for any debris or damaged goods, having plenty of rubber gloves and mask in stock and establishing where you’ll store product temporarily if your store or warehouse is damaged.

“It’s all about having a plan in place so when or if a major weather event happens, you’re prepared for yourself but also prepared to serve your community,” Nelson says.