Ellwood City Based T&M Hardware & Rental Honored With Beacon Award

T&M Hardware and Rental was one of 14 retailers honored with a Beacon Award during the Beacon Awards banquet held last week in Marco Island, Florida.

The hardware store was presented with the 2020 Beacon Award, which is the industry’s equivalent of a life-time achievement award.

“While Tim & Mary were the 2020 recipients, the award ceremony did not occur until this year once it was safe to gather and celebrate in-person with our industry,” said Samantha Post, daughter of Tim & Mary, when reached for comment.

“We have been very blessed to be able to do business and call Ellwood City our home for 30 years,” adds Mary Post. “No award comes solely because of an individual but comes from the efforts of many. Our employees and the support of our communities were the main contributors to the success of our family and business growth.”

The Beacon Awards are a premier national industry awards program developed by The Hardware Connection magazine and The Hardware Conference to recognize the “best of the best” independent hardware/home improvement retailers.

“None of this would be possible without the support of our loyal customers, dedicated staff, and the support of countless suppliers, vendors, and other hardware store owners,” says T&M Hardware on their Facebook Business Page. “Thank you from the bottom of our hearts, for believing in us, for supporting our dreams along the way, and for allowing us to be the change that we wanted to see in the home improvement industry.”

The Beacon Awards are sponsored by Epicor Software Corp. and Ettore Products Company, with wholesaler sponsorship support from Do it Best Corp. and other wholesalers. The Beacon Awards, now in their ninth year, honored the Retail Beacon Award winners for each of the two participating wholesalers, plus eight winners of the Beacon Award for Community Service. T&M Hardware and Rental was honored as Do it Best’s Retail Beacon Award winner.

“Tim and Mary Post are more than worthy of their inclusion in the 2020 class of honorees,” stated Chris Jensen, editor/founder/principal of The Hardware Connection, the hardware industry’s leading digital publication. “Their passion for the industry is matched only by their love of the six distinct communities they serve with stores. They define what it means to be a beacon of hope during challenging times.”

Below is an overview of T&M Hardware and Rental (MORE: www.thehardwareconnection.com/2020-retail-beacon/)

Tim and Mary Post operate six T&M Hardware and Rental stores in Pennsylvania and Ohio. In 1991, Tim and Mary invested their entire $65,000 retirement savings to buy a distressed hardware store in Ellwood City. However, Tim had proved he was adept at turning around distressed branches for a commercial supply distributor in his previous job, and Mary had faith they could live out the American Dream as entrepreneurs.

In 1996, they added 2,500 square feet for rental to go with their 5,000-square-foot store. In 2000, they got into party rental.

“I said we’re creating a three-legged stool: hardware, rental and commercial/industrial. If one segment goes down, another goes up,” Tim explains.

In 2001, they switched their co-op affiliation to Do it Best and renamed their store T & M Hardware & Rental Inc. They felt it was a good reflection of their partnership.

After 13 years of growing their single store, Tim and Mary took on another turnaround project. The store they purchased in Harmony, Pa., was close to bankruptcy, but they were confident they could build it up.

Their third store in East Palestine, Ohio, followed in 2008, which was not a turnaround situation. A family tragedy forced the owners to sell a store in pristine condition that had only been operating for 11 months.

Their fourth store came about in 2010 when the Posts realized the two hardware stores in New Castle had gone out of business and left the town without a hardware store. It would be their first ground-up location.

Years later, the Posts found themselves evaluating the purchase of a hardware store that was one of the stores they had considered for their first purchase 25 years earlier. The first time they considered this store, their sales were around $450,000 annually. In the ensuing years, their company-wide sales had reached nearly $7 million. They closed on the deal for their sixth store and haven’t looked back since. Adding the extra stores also gave enough opportunity to convince their children Samantha and Scott to return to the business.

Tim serves on the board of directors for Do it Best Corp. In 1998, Tim spearheaded the development of the Kids Created Kingdom playground in Ellwood City, rallying the entire community and school kids behind a meaningful project that has left a lasting impact.

Tim states that he is humbled to be considered for the Beacon Award. “This award does not define the end of our industry careers, but gives us a platform to look back and reflect on being part of a great industry where you can live out your dream,” he says.

Mary seconded her husband’s thoughts, saying, “We truly feel we have been blessed with the American Dream. The life we have led for the last three decades, taking a risk and investing in ourselves, our community and our family. We have been able to achieve this success with the help of so many employees, our co-op and bankers, who allowed us to do what we really love doing.”