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Reinvention Sustains Andrews Shopping Center
HOWLAND, Ohio -- Just a few miles north of the Route 422 Strip on state Route 46 is a store you’d expect to find in a more rural environment or to have visited in the 1950s. It couldn’t be more different from the 422 Strip that’s always renewing itself.
But don’t be deceived by the rustic, weathered exterior of the Andrews Shopping Center that offers nostalgia candies and antique phones and lets you see the steam cars on display. This variety store has remained in business since 1937 because it has successfully adapted and changed with the times.
Second-generation owner Harmon Andrews tells how his father, Harmon Jr. and uncle David started the enterprise on land their father, Harmon Sr., owned where East Market Street and Route 46 intersect.
“They sold gasoline, candy and cigarettes, and that was the start,” he relates. The store closed four years while the brothers served in World War II.
Upon their return, the brothers “turned it into kind of a fast-food restaurant” as they also kept selling gasoline, candy and cigarettes. “They did that ‘til ’58 when they got into hardware,” Harmon Andrews III says.
Andrews III took over as owner in 1986, after his uncle retired.
Although hardware remains a staple of the business, the emergence of the Home Depot and Lowe’s chains necessitated a change in strategy. “We can’t sell power tools, for instance,” he explains. “We pay more than [the chain retailers] sell them for so you just have to adapt and sell what you can.” The store still features an array of basic human-powered hand tools, fasteners and other items.
“We’re not going to sell the expensive faucets or toilets. We sell the repair kits for them and basic hardware needs,” Andrews says. “We’re kind of like the convenience store of the hardware business. People can get in and get out quick.”
The advent of the big-box chains meant a need to diversify. Around 1990, with the departure of the nearby Trumbull Camera and Hobby Shop, Andrews successfully pursued acquiring the Lionel train franchise. That led to an entirely new market – hobbyists.
A couple of aisles are packed with trains – Lionel and other models – and accessories such as track, tunnels and miniature buildings and people, along with plastic model kits and slot car sets. The hobby segment has grown to become 30% to 35% of the store’s business, Andrews reports.
“It’s done very well for us,” he remarks. “Christmas is a very good time of year for us with the train sets, be it parents or grandparents. We sell lots of sets, lots of track.” A few years back, Lionel contacted him about becoming a repair center, which required him to spend three days of training in Canfield.
The hobbies “brought in new faces,” says John Simcox, Bristolville, who has worked at Andrews Shopping Center 24 years, one of two employees aside from the owner. “I’m a laid-back kind of guy and he’s pretty laid-back,” he says of his boss. Since both have families, they work with each other to accommodate days off when needed, he says.
The nostalgia candies – items like BB Bats, marshmallow cones, candy buttons, and wax fangs and lips – sell very well, although Andrews admits “there’s no money” in carrying them and he does it more for fun than anything.
“I love it when people come in and say, ‘I haven’t seen that in years,’ ” he remarks. “Like I said, there’s no profit margin but it’s fun and it fits right in. Our whole business is nostalgia, so it fits.”
Visitors to the store can also see the antique phones and steam cars – one a Dayton, the other a Stanley – that his father restored. “My parents loved antiques,” he recalls. “My dad was what I would call a binger” – getting into a particular interest, such as restoring the old phones, and then moving on to the next thing. “A real passion of his was to take something old and bring it back to life,” the son says.
Customers like coming into the store and finding what they want. John Gates of Southington reports he comes in a couple of times each week. “I do heating and air-conditioning work so I’m always needing something” and Andrews “has hard-to-find items and the little hardware items you might need,” he says. He is satisfied with the prices the store charges.
Another frequent customer, Dave Hilditch of Howland, says he comes in once or twice a week. He has patronized the store for 46 years, he relates, buying everything from bolts, nuts and shovels to sump pumps for his daughter’s house a couple years ago.
“Everybody thinks that they may be a little more expensive here, but if you start looking around at things you want, they’re competitively priced with Home Depot and Lowe’s, and I like to give the local people my business,” he says.
Andrews won’t predict how much longer the store will remain open. His children show little enthusiasm about continuing to operate the store.
“I’m not sure I’d put them in the direction of retail sales anyway because it’s a tough living,” Andrews says. “You work a lot of hours and you’re not always rewarded for those hours. But I was brought up in the business and it just became second nature to me. So I can’t give you a timeframe for how long we’re going to be here.
“I think the economy will dictate that. I’m too young to retire, though, and I don’t want to go work for someone else. So we’re here for the time being.”
Editor's Note: This story was first published in the MidMarch edition of The Business Journal.
Copyright 2014 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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