As with most large cities my current home of Stamford, Connecticut is comprised of a multitude of neighborhoods, each leaving their own impression. Connecticut’s second largest city, Stamford is a mosaic of more than 40 such neighborhoods spanning its 52 square miles.
Among them, my home-turf– Springdale. A small town nestled between the Sound and the woods, on the host city’s east side.
There’s Hope!
Bisecting Springdale is Hope Street, a four-mile laceration which divides Springdale into its residential west side, and it's east side filled with body shops and dispensaries.
In between the two lays the Hope Street corridor, a piston in the engine which is Stamford’s economy: Hope Street is lined with small businesses providing jobs to the neighborhood's blue collar demographic, while funding a growing city's investments in infrastructure and schools.
Businesses which are overwhelmingly independent, and locally-owned.
Take a Walk!
Recently, when a last-minute ditching left me alone for dinner, I took my hunger to Hope Street. THE array of restaurants just steps from my driveway impressing a small-town friend on the benefits of city living.
Within range of my feet along the sidewalks of Hope Street were 15 restaurants offering fare across the spectrum of the American palate! Though it's hard not to notice the skew towards Italian cuisine, common amongst most of the coastal cities between Baltimore and Boston.
Knowing the wings would be crispy, I took a stool at Vinny’s Backyard Barbecue. Walking any further would not have gotten me better wings! And just a few more steps would have walked me passed one of Stamford’s two Sherwin-Williams stores.
And my mother taught me not to spit!
They're Dealing!
Another dealer I heard from along my saunter shared that they had recently received a $60,000 order for traffic paint, via an inquiry to the store’s web site. The order shipping to a new customer more than 1,000-miles away.
This dealer going on to share that not long after that order left the dock, they received a second windfall; this one a $20,000 sale via the Benjamin Moore National Accounts program.
Their sixth “natty” of the month!
And while few I speak with are matching this dealer’s good fortune, most dealers continue to share that while the party of the last three-years may have come to an end, they’re still #MakingDanRich!
On my podcast this week, I was joined by independent hardware retailer Matt Rogers of Papenhausen Hardware in San Francisco.
A store owner since the age of 23, Matt and I discuss insurance–which unfortunately he is an an expert in after a fire destroyed Matt’s store.
Twice!
And while no discussion of insurance could ever be considered interesting, Matt does a great job explaining why a look at your insurance is relevant. Because as he shares; it's too late once the fire out!
Matt is also the co-founder of the CRHWA or California Retail Hardware Association, a grassroots regional trade organization and, “community of independent hardware stores, home centers and lumberyards dedicated to helping each other succeed.”
Which sure seems like a good idea!
As usual, you can watch or listen in all the right places: my YouTube channel, Soundcloud, Amazon Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and obvs my own site.
Here’s Comes the Weekend!
A weekend spent honing my droning skills and enjoying the arts left little time to prepare a blog for Monday causing me to pull THE switcheroo and publishing a podcast in its place.
THE change immediately exposed other advantages of publishing my blog mid-week, though more time to fly my drone and take my fiancéeic to enjoy the arts would have been enough.
So I’ll be blogging on Thursdays for the foreseeable future, beginning next week with news of earnings from Sherwin-Williams, PPG and Masco!
