Success Continues At the Old-Fashioned Hardware Store

Kevin Ryan didn't celebrate his store's 90th birthday. There were no 50 percent off sales or balloons hanging from 654 Main Street. It's not that Kevin and his son Andrew don't take pride in their store's success. They do. But celebrations don't lead to retail success in 2017.

Fells True Value Hardware opened when Calvin Coolidge occupied the White House in 1927 and is Winchester's oldest business. In comparison, Home is the town's newest store, opening on Mt. Vernon Street during the first months of the Trump administration.

So if sales and celebrations don't lead to retail success, what does? The answer starts with a number.

"Ninety-six," said Kevin, when asked if 100 customers came into the store, how many of their names would he know. "Most everybody who comes in here has been in here before. We know most of them by first name, we know probably some of their children's names. It's just the way it works in a little, teeny store like this. You can't get lost in here. You're here. It's all right there. You get to know everybody."

The Fells story is very much the Ryan family story.

The original store, opened 90 years ago by Kevin's grandfather Pierce, was a partnership that included stores in Kennebunkport and Portsmouth. It was Fells Plumbing and Heating back in 1927. The partnership eventually ended and Pierce handed the store over to Kevin's father, John, right after World War II. John had a partner, Jim Chisolm, and two changed the name to Fells Hardware and ran the store together until approximately 1970, when John bought out Chisolm, who at the time was 92 years old.

Kevin graduated from Reading Memorial High School in 1969 and by 1972 had taken over the day-to-day running of the store, the same year that Fells Hardware entered into an agreement with True Value to become Fells True Value Hardware. When Kevin's older brother, Bruce, returned from the Vietnam War, he too joined the business and worked at the store for 30 years.

Today Kevin shares duties with Andrew, who graduated from Reading High in 2006 and later from Salem State. Andrew is getting married next September so a fifth generation could be on the way.

Walk into Fells and you're immediately surrounded by stuff. Lots of it. Kevin estimates that at any one time there are between 15,000 and 17,000 items in the store. The most expensive might be $1,000 gas grills. The last expensive a penny or two for nuts-n-bolts. In between it seems like there's one of each, with a Dudley softball sitting on one shelf between hand warmers and Christmas replacement bulbs. Call it organized chaos.

Whatever the reason, the formula works. Fells is surrounded by Lowe's and Home Depot, hardware giants with more products and, as Kevin admits, better prices. So how does Fells survive and thrive?

"I'd say it's the zip code, No. 1. Winchester is a fabulous place to own a business. The people are very concerned about the small business here. I hear all day long people saying 'I would much rather pay you more money than go to Lowe's.' I hear it all day long. And obviously they are paying more money here than they pay at Lowe's but not for everything. A lot of stuff ya, but not for everything. You'd be surprised how it's not hard to compete with Lowe's on a thing like a tube of caulking compound or something like that. There's only so much money you can make on a tube of caulking compound. The fact that somebody would drive all the way over there, even if it was 12 cents cheaper, would be crazy. So they come here."

He's right. That tube of Dap acrylic latex caulk is $2.79 at Fells. The same tube is $2.48 at Lowe's. Driving to the Lowe's in Woburn to save 31 cents hardly makes sense.

About those loyal customers, Kevin estimates that 55 percent of them are women, destroying a cliché that hardware stores are a man's place.

"They like shopping here," said Kevin of his female customers. "No one ever laughs at them. We can help them out with most things."

But he'll only go so far.

"It is a guys place, there's no question. My wife Carol always says it's like a beauty salon for men because they can go down there and talk all the time."

Loyal customers are one reason Fells holds off Lowe's, finances are another.

"We don't have any mortgages here. We own the property so we're in it for the taxes alone. If I had to pay today's retail price for this building and this property, we wouldn't be in business. There's no way that the business could support that, plus us."

If you want proof that Fells is old school, ask for a gift certificate. That's certificate and not gift card.

"Like you would have had in the '30s and '40s," said Kevin. "We do have the ability to give out gift cards but I like [certificates] better because it's old. It just reminds me of what we are. We are not the internet browsing people, we're just an old-fashioned hardware store."

And that means ignoring the post-Thanksgiving shopping hype.

"Black Friday really means nothing for us," said Kevin. "Cyber Monday, once again, nothing for us. We have a few things that are ordered online. True Value does have an online set-up and people can buy and have it shipped here for free. We got three items in this week. It really doesn't do much for us."

On concession that the family made was tapping the buying power of True Value.

"In the old days we were an independent hardware store. It got to the point where we were fighting Sears in those days and usually a lot more hardware stores. When I came to work there were five hardware stores in this town. Every town had quite a few. So we needed, I thought, some help.

"My father was not really all for any of these franchises. I had a good friend who had a hardware store in Billerica. He convinced me that we should go True Value and we did. I don't think we would have survived without True Value or something like it. We can buy at very reasonable prices because they're a $3 billion-a-year business. It's not like little Fells Hardware buying, it's True Value buying."

With son Andrew beside him, the future of Fells looks good. But if Andrew had said "I want to be a lawyer," dad would have been ok with that.

"I'd would have been proud of him if he wanted to be a lawyer but it was kinda neat that he wanted to stay here. I thought it was anyway."

Andrew admits at least thinking about other areas for his future.

"I flip-flopped back-n-forth. I always knew that I would have a place here in some aspect. I always thought I might branch off into other avenues, but right now this is where it's at and I don't mind that at all."

As a millennial, Andrew understands the pressure a small store like Fells is under, both from the hardware giants and online shopping, which puts pressure on brick-n-mortar businesses.

"It's kind of difficult to think about because a lot of people do rely on computers today, and a lot of people don't think of a small local hardware store, they think of a big box or a Target, Wal-Mart. Everybody sells lightbulbs now and everybody can get a shovel, even at a grocery store," said Andrew, who was on the wrestling team at RMHS. "The only way it's going to truly survive is if the customer service is there and the knowledge is there. You have to build a rapport with people, you have to remember people's names, their kids, it's got to get personal very fast. I think that's how a small business like this would survive. As long as that formula holds I think this place will still continue to do what we do best."

Another thing Fells does well involves the Mission of Deeds. Last year Fells and its customers contributed $30,000 to the Mission of Deeds. Their work hasn't gone unnoticed and in 2010 the Chamber of Commerce honored the entire Ryan family as its Citizens of the Year.

There was no party to celebrate 90 years, but according to Kevin, 100 is another story. Until then ... let's have Andrew explain.

"We have one priority, one goal and that is to get you in here, make you happy, get what you need, and get you out the door. If we can build great relationships thru that then it's great. We have one common goal, to keep going."

And it's going to be a great party in 2027.

Photos by Bob Holmes