On a brilliant spring Saturday, Our Hardware held its grand opening earlier this month in the old Overpass Cleaners building at 2929 Perkins Road, and the community came together to support it, writes Business Report Editor Stephanie Riegel in her latest column.
“Henry Bingham, the store’s owner, will need that support in the months to come,” Riegel writes.
“On paper, the odds are stacked against him. Roughly 80% of all small businesses fail within their first 18 months of operation. For a retailer in the hardware sector, it’s particularly tough to make the numbers work.”
Big box chains like Home Depot and Lowe’s, with their volume discount model and razor-thin margins, have driven many independent operators out of business, Riegel writes. Bingham, a native of Baker and lifelong resident of the Capital Region, knows making a go of Our Hardware won’t be easy, she writes.
Bingham has never owned his own business, but he did manage Government Street True Value Hardware for nine of its 15 years in operation. He understands the realities of the industry, and it’s a risk he’s willing to take, Riegel says.
“There are four things you need in a town: a church, a school, a saloon and a hardware store,” says Bingham, chuckling as he recites an adage someone told him long ago. “Everybody needs a hardware store.”
Riegel says that what Bingham really means is that everyone needs a hardware store “that’s convenient—one you can walk or drive to easily, without having to battle interstate gridlock and massive asphalt parking lots. He might be onto something. Time will tell.”
Bingham decided to open Our Hardware when Tom Theriot, the longtime owner of the Government Street True Value hardware, retired in January and sold the building. The new owners offered to lease Bingham the space, but they want to renovate and he couldn’t afford the higher rent, she writes.
“He bought what inventory Theriot had left over after the clearance sale and relocated to the Perkins Road overpass area. It seems like a long shot—even longer when you find out Bingham wanted to be a True Value dealer but couldn’t afford to buy into the co-op,” she writes.
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