Young Retailer Insights: The Future of Retail

Cody Goeppner grew up in his family’s True Value Hardware store and returned to the family operations after spending an extended period of time performing and directing musical theater after college. In 2018, he moved across the country to join the Bleyhl Co-op team in Yakima Valley, Washington where he was honored with the 2020 Young Retailer of the Year Award by the NHPA for his efforts of developing the multi-store Retail operations. Cody spends a majority of his time developing the store and market analysis that drives the company culture and customer experience within the retail stores.

Jonathan South began working at Teghtmeyer Ace when he was 17, but after he finished college and started pursuing a career as a police officer, he realized his primary goal was to serve people. The store already allowed him to do that. After he was promoted to store manager, he overhauled the store’s policies and procedures and employee training program. He added offsite training opportunities for the team and improved the company’s scheduling system. He also added key product brands, developed alliances with other businesses and grew sales. Four years after Jonathan became store manager, he had grown sales by 24 percent. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the store continues to serve its community and sales have increased another 25 percent.

Robin Smith joined her family’s business in 2009 after she graduated from college and began focusing heavily on expanding the hardware store in 2014. She negotiated a deal to buy a 28,000-square-foot building that allowed her to reorganize the store, rethink the product mix and improve merchandising. She expanded all of the store’s existing product categories and added new departments over time. Under Robin’s leadership, store sales grew to $3.15 million in 2020—growth of 384 percent in five years. The operation is now the largest retail business in the county.