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Commercial business drives Campbell-based mom and pop hardware shop
CAMPBELL
Anthony Tsikouris started Campbell Hardware at 21 years old at a small facility on McCartney Road. He wanted something small and simple.
But with time, it grew into something a little less simplistic. The business added more products to the shop, and it expanded into two facilities in the quaint strip mall over the past 20 years.
Though Campbell Hardware had no specials or promotions for its 20th anniversary this year, it does have plans to further expand its building physically by the new year.
Tsikouris said the current shop measures 5,700 square feet, taking up about a third of the plaza at 765 McCartney Road. He said the shop’s size works great for the store’s local business, but he said numbers have been increasing in bulk, commercial orders. He said 60 percent of his business now comes from commercial orders.
Commercial business is key to Tsikouris. He said it keeps Campbell Hardware afloat as a mom-and-pop shop on the border of Youngstown and Campbell.
Items from Tsikouris’ shop have been purchased by local contractors who use them on industrial jobs in Washington, Louisiana, Oregon, Michigan, Florida and Connecticut to name a few.
“That’s how we grow more aggressively — having a commercial side of things,” Tsikouris said. “The contractors who come here are mostly based in Campbell, though, ordering the supplies. They realize I’m here, and instead of shopping for items in states they’re unfamiliar with, they go to us.”
He said by the new year, he hopes the shop can expand business into a 6,400-square-foot warehouse behind the main store. Tsikouris said the warehouse used to house the Airport Tavern. “Parts of that warehouse will be used for repair, some will be a help-desk area and then a lot of it will be for storage,” he said.
Despite the shop’s growth, Kevin Nye, a manager at the store, said he doesn’t think Tsikouris will ever open another store.
“I have well-educated, quality workers at my one shop,” Tsikouris said. “They know a lot about hardware. If I were to expand to a new store, we might start to lose the quality of our workers.”
Tom Volpe, a Campbell Hardware employee for 12 years, said many returning customers come to the shop because employees are highly educated on hardware and home improvement. He said they love returning for advice and conversation.
“The customer just doesn’t get that kind of service if they go to” a large-chain hardware store, Volpe said. “Here, we’re always talking to the customers. People come here, and we show them how to do things.”