Trust Hardware owner Adam Taylor says supply-chain and labor issues made it too tough to operate, so he closed two of his three stores last month. The landlord at his former Binford Shoppes store is suing Taylor for back rent.
“You need things that are completely unique and different, that you can’t replicate online,” he said.
It’s a strategy that seems to be working. Taylor, 38, opened his first Trust Hardware in 2012 along Pendleton Pike in Lawrence. His second store, at East 71st Street and Binford Boulevard, opened in October. His newest store opened this month at 911 Massachusetts Ave., right across from the new Bottleworks District development.
In 2019, Trust Hardware brought in $350,000 in revenue. Last year, that figure ballooned to nearly $1 million. Part of the growth came from the pandemic-fueled home improvement boom, Taylor said. Part came from the opening of the 71st Street store. And part came from a dramatic rise in sales at the Pendleton Pike store, which moved down the street in the fall of 2019.
With pups and personal service, Trust Hardware invests in brick and mortar
FREE NEWSLETTERS Nine-year-old yellow Labrador Roscoe accompanies Trust Hardware owner Adam Taylor as he visits his stores. (IBJ photo/Eric Learned)
In a year in which the pandemic has shifted more and more retail activity online, Indianapolis-based Trust Hardware has found success by embracing a brick-and-mortar approach.
The company’s three stores are open 24/7. Each has a resident dog. You can also pick up everything from power tools to local honey to live bait. What you can’t do, at least for now, is order online. If you need plumbing supplies, a wheelbarrow or mulch, you’ll have to visit the store.
Apr 21, 2021 / 11:05 PM EST
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH)– Adam Taylor says when Trust Hardware went from being an idea to being a business, they wanted to build a reputation on one thing: community first.
Now, with the opening of its third 24-hour store, that reputation is growing in Indianapolis.
Even in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, they’ve been able to serve the needs of customers.
“It was a blessing and a curse,” Taylor’s friend and director of operations, Kevin Bates, said. “A blessing because we were open 24 hours so it helped people.”
“Honestly, we never closed a single hour during the whole pandemic,” Taylor added. “We were there for the community and it really made a big difference.”