One thing that others have not mentioned here, and that is trying to
establish exactly what kind of market this store has established, and
how it was cultivated.

If you are going to sell exotics, then I certainly have nothing of
value to add to all the advice and opinions here. And of course, if
you are selling to the general public, they won't pay enough of your
bills on a regular and routine basis to stay in business long.
Contractors, professional woodworkers, cabinets shops that buy from you
once/twice a week with a few hundred dollars an order will keep you in
good shape monetarily; a guy that ties a few boards a month to the ski
rails on top of his Yukon won't do much for your bottom line. In fact,
our biggest local hardwood dealer here hates hobby/DIY guys, and
doesn't like orders under $100.

But if you are going to sell the stuff that contractors and cabinet
makers use on a daily basis - maple, birch, poplar, oak(s), walnut,
etc., I have a word or three on that. You need to look closely at the
nature of the relationship between the supplier and his clients, and
determine if you can continue those relationship.

A lumberyard down the road from my house (less than two miles!) and I
have been doing business for about 10 years together. I knew everyone
in the joint. They bought me lunch about once a year, and I took out
their manager three or four times a year. This is certainly the opposite of normal, but they gave me great service and made sure my materials were ready for me when my guys (or me) got there to pick them up so we didn't have any skylarking around in the yard. Everything was peachy, and me and the other contractors that were there were really happy. I purchased about 5 - 10K a month there, so I was bigger than most of their accts. (it IS a small yard) and smaller than others.

So the last manager went to greener pastures. The owner decided that
it was time for him to "pick up the flag" and get back in the middle of
things. He hired a man to help him co-manage the store that had little
experience in hardware (which isn't that big of a deal). I believe all
things can be learned, certainly the basics of hardware supply isn't as
hard as many jobs.

But dealing with contractors is different. He was a quality control
specialist in the computer chip manufacturing business, and specialized
in "clean manufacturing environment controls". He bought a pair of Red
Wing boots and some stone washed jeans, and quit wearing a tie to work.
So topped with a plaid shirt and adding a little rough language here
and there, he thought he was right in the mix.

Nope.

He is unable to carry on a conversation over a plate of barbeque which
is where we usually resolve our problems. We all know what it is like
to be in business for years, and all of us have wrestled the same
monsters of employees, all manner of taxes, litigation, market trends,
hard times, good times, etc. We all know that everyone's time is
important, not just ours.

So we all speak the same language and even though the age differences
in my group of compadres is about 25 years from top to bottom, we all
get along with each other because we DO speak the same language. The
new manager does not. As a successful clean environment manager, he
was apparently successful so he believes himself to be a good manager.
Maybe in his old life, he was. But now he is struggling, and wants to
run the yard like he thinks it should be run, which is not the way it
was run to make it successful.

Here's an example: He told me that although he didn't have his own
company, he had plenty of responsibilities so I shouldn't take him for
granted or expect him to come to the phone when I called. He was after
all, the manager. So if I wanted to know the status of a delivery of
shingles that was two hours late I should call him as he didn't have
the time for every little detail of the day (a macro manager?) and he
would come to the phone when he could. $2700 worth of shingles being
delivered to $70 an hour of waiting labor was more than a small detail
to me, but clearly not to him.) I spoke to him about this incident
once my shingle were found and delivered, but he clearly didn't see why
there was a problem. He felt like all contractors built a large amount
of "fudge" into their bids, so eating a couple of hours of time
shouldn't be that big of a deal.

The problem is that when you meet this guy he is as nice as can be, and
really sharp. But he is wrong headed, and thinks the rest of the world
thinks like him and should see the brilliance of his management
training. And after reading all of his marketing books, he has decided
that the thing they need to do at the yard is to "develop a new
clientele". Yeah, right. It's working well for them, to be sure.
When I drive by during the day, the yard is usually empty (but really
clean!). I personally bought only $126 of material from them last
month, and nothing at all the month before, same for the month before
that. Bet they are missing that steady 5K a month now.

But the new manager has been unable to resolve any of his issues with
any of us contractors because he knows he is right about things.
Consequently, we have all gone somewhere else to buy materials. They
have had a 60 - 65% loss in total contractor sales, and the store may
not survive. 30 years to build it into a profitable center, and just
10 months to tear it down.

The moral is this: be careful of what you are getting into, and know
your market well. Just because you do a good job organizing and have
good merchandise doesn't mean anyone will like you or do business with
you. It is more complicated than that. You should not take for
granted that simply buying the business will be good for it, not even
with your laundry list of improvements. You need to learn your
clientele and see if you are a good fit. I am now driving further and
paying more to get what I want, and so are the rest of my fellow
contractors. And unless one of the contractors goes back to the store
for a while and has some successful transactions and can give us "the
all clear" sign, none of us will be back.

Robert