In the June issue of Hardware Retailing, we published a feature story highlighting the challenges and opportunities associated with running a home improvement business in an urban environment. In the story, we profiled a retailer from New York and gave you a taste from retailers in Seattle, Chicago and San Francisco. To elaborate, we sat down with David Karp, inventory manager and assistant director of operations at Cole Hardware, who operates six stores in the San Francisco area with his family. In the blurbs below, Karp addresses several elements of doing business and how he and the rest of the staff at Cole Hardware overcome adversities and creatively find ways to set their business a part.
