In 1959, the original Cole Hardware® was purchased by Dave Karp. He was a one man band: open every day but Monday at 9:00 am. Every morning before work he would pick up merchandise at the supply houses. On Mondays, and in the evening, he would do all of his paper work. Dave ordered the merchandise, marked the merchandise, stocked the merchandise, helped the customer, rang up the sale, paid the bills, went to the bank, cleaned the bathroom .... he did everything by himself.
Soon, his business began to grow. His wife, Margie, started coming down to help out in the afternoons and to work all day on Saturday, as this was the big day. She would cashier, make keys and point out merchandise to customers while they waited for Dave. In order to earn extra dollars Marge (my mother) would watch the store while my father expanded into "outside work". During quiet periods, at night and on Sunday afternoons (the store closed at 2:00 pm on Sundays), Dave would fix broken windows, repair toilets and faucets, install water heaters, fix doorbells and switches .... he would do anything that was relatively quick, profitable, and that would help him sell some of his merchandise.
Happily, Dave could no longer keep up with the outside work. Business, both within the store and outside of the store, had grown large enough to where he just could not handle it by himself. He had to hire someone to help him in the store, and he began contracting handymen for the outside work. Business was growing stronger and stronger because Dave offered friendly and knowledgeable service, a complete inventory (he tried to have "one of everything made"), and he had a strong desire to succeed. He would do anything that he could to help a customer. The success of Dave's business can be summed up in the following motto that he had posted on a large sign over the register:
"There Are No Strangers Here, Just Friends We Haven't Met!"
Using this as the guiding principle of his business, Dave went on to build Cole Street Hardware into one of the busiest hardware stores in San Francisco.
The Floor Sweeper
In 1963, at the age of 13, I began working with my father in the family business, as the official Floor Sweeper. Never in a million years would I have dreamed that, ten years later, I would choose hardware as my career. Yet, after college graduation I became my father's partner. At that same time, the opportunity arose to expand into our current Cole Street location. My first project, as partner, was to spearhead the development and move into 956 Cole Street. When we opened the doors, the Cole Hardware® Team grew from two and one half people, to seven full time people. At the end of that first year in the 956 location, business had more than doubled, and our staff continued to grow.
Ace Hardware
One year prior to the opening of the new location, I convinced my father that we should become an Ace Hardware Store. Ace was reluctant to let us join, as we were so small. However, when they came out and watched my father sell, they signed us up immediately and we became the smallest Ace Hardware store in the nation! Ace has been one of the many keys to our success. Ace is a buying cooperative, so along with more than 5,000 other hardware stores nationwide, we purchase merchandise directly from manufacturers. This enables us to have competitive pricing and gives us access to almost anything manufactured. This new buying power, coupled with our larger location, had a very positive public impact. Today, Ace supplies us with over 75% of our total inventory!
Triad Comes to Cole Hardware®
In 1981, we became one of the first hardware stores in the nation to computerize. Our Triad Computer System helps us control our inventory, manage our accounts payable and receivables, does our general ledger and, most important, provides us with a sophisticated, efficient Point-of-Sale system.
Cole Hardware® Reproduces ... Twice!
Armed with our Triad Computer, Ace Hardware, a dedicated staff and my father's guiding principles, we continued to grow by dedicating our organization to sales and the needs of our customers. Our reputation grew, as did our customer base and our volume. Our staff was at twenty-five people. Our systems were intact. We could no longer grow physically at Cole Street. It was at this time, in the fall of 1984, that we opened our second location.
Cole Hardware® #2 opened on October 25th, 1984 at 3312 Mission Street. It has a 3800 square foot sales floor, also a 3800' basement which has become the prime receiving warehouse for both locations. Some of the Cole Street staff joined new recruits to open the Mission store. These individuals, along with the support of the entire business, set out to become the neighborhood hardware store of the outer Mission District and Bernal Heights. Also, for some of our current customers, the new location was a more conveniently located branch of the original store.
Cole Hardware® #3 opened officially on February 15, 1996 when we acquired Fox Hardware in downtown San Francisco. Fox was in business for about 40 years before their second owners, Parrott Investments, asked us to acquire the store. The new location, renamed Cole Fox Hardware, is the largest of the three stores at about 6,500 square feet. The retail sales floor is split between two floors. The Fox location specialized in serving the needs of commercial entities as well as individuals who work downtown. When the store changed hands, most of the Fox sales and floor management staff stayed to become Cole Hardware® employees.
Our terrific staff and our loyal customers have made Cole Hardware® a success. Thank you!
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Rick Karp, President
aka Keeper of the Karma |
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