Orgill Case Study | 7 “I knew from all the years of experience I had working in hardware stores that Orgill was well established,” he says. “When we came here, we knew we had a lot of holes to fill, and we just felt Orgill could help us along that path.” The couple also discovered the K&C Supply brand carried a bit of weight in the community. While they had already registered Outlaw Lumber as their corporate name, they decided to continue operating as K&C Supply for the immediate future. K&C Supply was known as a solid supplier of items such as fencing, construction pipe, trailer supplies, hand tools, paint, electrical and plumbing supplies. And while the selection was neither deep nor broad, the community had an affinity for the brand. The store’s customer mix was roughly 45% farm and ranch; 25% plumbers, electricians, fence builders and other tradesmen; and the balance was walk-in traffic. Its walk-in customers sought supplies for typical home improvement projects and more lifestyle-focused items, such as hunting gear or wild animal traps. “When we took over, there was a lot of concern from the community about whether we were going to change everything up,” Jim says. “The owner and the K&C Supply name meant a lot to the community, and they had been really good supporters of the community in the past. So, at least for right now, that’s something we decided to keep.” Jim says they wanted to be careful to look for ways to augment their product offering for the community and keep the items the store was known for, even if those products didn’t fit neatly into the definition of a traditional hardware store. “This store sold, and still sells, a lot of pipe that is used for fencing and other purposes. We stock new pipe, used pipe and a lot of the items you need for these kinds of things, and we knew we weren’t going to change that,” Jim says. “That’s another reason we knew Orgill was going to be a good fit for us, because they would take those things into account as we were developing a plan to round out our assortments.” Before After
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