Do it Best Corp.
Bob Taylor
6502 Nelson Road
Fort Wayne, IN  46803

Do it Best Corp. began with very humble beginnings. In 1925 Arnold H. Gerberding was impressed by the growing power of the dealer owned cooperatives that had been cropping up across the country. From 1925 to 1945 Gerberding pursued his dream and vision of creating a dealer owned cooperative for hardware and lumber dealers. At 9:00 a.m. on June 28, 1945 in the office of the Fort Wayne Builders' Supply Company the corporation Hardware Wholesalers Incorporated was formed. What began in the solarium of the Geberding home, which was used as the first offices of HWI, ended at Nelson Road in 1948.   When HWI moved into the Nelson Road location it was a family affair. All the workers, their spouses, and children worked long hours with almost no pay. Meals were provided by the spouses. Merchandise was moved in car trunks and in a 47 Dodge Pickup. When the employees finished moving into the "spacious" new facility, they thought that they had enough space to last a lifetime. This warehouse is still located on Nelson Road just a little East of Do it Best Corp.'s current location.

Little did that staff know that their "spacious" new warehouse would be woefully inadequate in only four short years. Beginning in 1952 HWI began expanding. By 1966 their warehousing facility had expanded from 30,000 ft. to 400,000 ft. by building a new building in their current location.  Shortly thereafter, in 1967 Arnold Gerberding the corporation's founder retired. The directors carried out an extensive search, but finally turned to one of their own employees when they appointed Don Wolf to succeed Arnold Gerberding.

In order to continue growing, HWI had to adopt a sound planning process based on solid, well articulated concepts. It was clear to Wolf it was important to develop an overriding concept or motto. After considerable discussion, the company adopted its basic operating philosophy the concept of "Serving others as we would like to be served."

This mission of serving others led to the building of a number of distribution centers throughout the United States. The Cape Gerardeau distribution center was built in Missouri. From the time this distribution center was built in 1971 up to the end of 1991, five additional distribution centers were built throughout the United States. These centers made it possible for HWI to grow from a small two-garage company to a national concern with six large distribution complexes serving more than 3500 members throughout the United States.

In 1978 HWI officials heard merchandising expert Don Watt make a presentation at an industry convention. The following year, Wolf persuaded Watt to attend all 27 of the HWI district meetings. Six months later, Watt returned to HWI with a 2 hour slide presentation. He presented pictures of Sears, Ace, HWI, and True Value stores, but left the names off. His point was clearly illustrated by the slides. Without their signs all of the stores looked alike - nothing set them apart. What HWI needed, he pronounced, was an innovative marketing concept that would set them apart from all of their competitors. The result was the Do it Center program.

Entering the decade of the 1980's HWI was committed to creating a total retail marketing strategy for its members, one that would differentiate HWI dealers from the competition, enhance their existing image and create dominance in their market.

HWI members and staff are proud of the Do it Center concept. It has been recognized as the most effective merchandising tool in the industry as even the big chain retail stores have copied the program. In order to make sure that those dealers that wish to become a Do it Center understand the concept a mock store is located within the headquarters of Do it Best Corp. The Do it Center concept centered around bright, aggressive colors and signage to create a warm and exciting atmosphere. The arrangement of "power aisles" allowed the customer to take a short walk and look into all the store's departments to find what they wanted - and at the same time, expose them to many other items that might trigger impulse buying. This also aided the employees as they could circulate in the power aisle and see who needed help. Finally, the "end caps" facing the "power aisles" were ideal spots to display seasonal and new items for the customer's convenience and, again, to take advantage of impulse buying habits.

In August, 1985, the National Home Center News reported that "HWI can legitimately lay claim to igniting the resurgence in hardware retailing, and even its co-op competitors concede its Do it Center program has been a rousing success."

Community involvement has always been a big part of the Do it Best Corp. Don Wolf was one of the co-founders of Ft. Wayne and Northeastern Indiana chapter of Big Brothers/Big Sisters. He also was the founder of the Study Connection Program. Wolf's personal commitment to volunteerism in the community has been made a part of the corporate culture of HWI and is shared by the employees.

The company expanded to become a national operation reaching across America and boasted well over $1 billion in sales before the end of the decade. In 1990 HWI became one of the leading dealer-owned firms in the formation of Interlink, a global association of dealer-owned companies. Today Do it Best Corp. has locations in 46 other countries throughout the world.

 Wolf stepped down as CEO in October of 1992 completing 46 years of service to HWI, 25 as CEO. His Vice-President Mike McClelland took his place creating a smooth leadership transition.

 In 1993, HWI was recognized for its leadership in the industry when it and CEO Don Wolf were inducted into the National Home Center Hall of Fame on March 20. This marked the first time a wholesale executive had been recognized since the Leadership Council was formed in 1983.

 McClelland looked on his role at HWI as the person that kept the focus. As HWI continued to grow and as more staff members developed programs and systems to help members grow, McClelland worked to bring it all together into one single package for the members. He commented that, "HWI is no longer a distributor, but in fact, is a retail system for independent retailers."

 McClelland implemented a mission statement to be added to the well known HWI philosophy of "serving others as you would like to be served." That new mission statement was, "making the best even better." Both the philosophy and the mission statement are written in bold wording on a wall in the lobby along with the Do it Best Corp. goal which is "helping our members grow". Kim Gonzalez, Communications Manager told me during my tour of the facility, that those three statements make it into almost every speech and written document that is presented by Do it Best Corp. or one of it's staff.

In 1998 HWI changed their corporate name to Do it Best Corp. The change was made in order to build a stronger brand image by linking the corporate name to the retail identities. Also, the name Hardware Wholesalers, Inc. or HWI no longer entirely represented the business as a significant portion of the membership consisted of home centers and lumberyards, not just traditional hardware stores.

In 2002 Mike McClelland retired and Bob Taylor became the president and CEO and remains so today. Taylor stated in the 2009 annual report, "Helping our members grow is our number one goal at Do it Best Corp., and we have never been more focused on that than we are today. In the year ahead we'll continue working with both our members and our vendors to maximize the opportunities and eliminate the obstacles as we strive to achieve our mission of making the best even better."

As I talked with Kim Gonzalez it became very clear that Do it Best Corp. has the welfare of it's members, employees, and communities at heart. The Do it Best Corp. serves it's community by involving itself in efforts like Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Habitat for Humanity, and their current donation for the Aboite New Trails project. They also help the community with simple efforts, like storing the large Santa Claus light display that we all enjoy every year at Christmas time and supporting the New Haven Chamber of Commerce.

Do it Best Corp. has been a member of the Chamber of Commerce since 1986.  Bob Taylor stated, "While our business reach extends far beyond New Haven, we appreciate the great job the Chamber does of connecting and supporting the local business community. Building and maintaining a vibrant business environment is important for our local members, our staff and the many visitors we have coming here from across the country and around the world."