Welcome to Taylor's Do It Centers, and Fireworks!
Taylor's Do-it centers® are members of Do it Best Corp.®, a 4500 member worldwide cooperative of independent hardware retailers who band their purchases together to bring their customers the widest selection of products at the lowest possible prices. Together, they combine for over $2.5 Billion in buying power, and operate 7 regional distribution centers to get goods to their stores quickly and efficiently.
One family helping others, since 1927.
The Year Is 1927. The first talking movies hold cinema audiences enthralled. "Lucky Lindy" has soared to celebrity after making the first solo flight across the Atlantic. With much of the nation's economy "roaring," everything seems possible.
Even the sleepy little resort town of Virginia Beach shows signs of stirring. The grand Cavalier Hotel has just rolled out the welcome mat for its first guests and the oceanfront sports a new concrete boardwalk. Also new to the community - a promising little business located just one block from the beach. . . Fuel, Feed and Building Supplies.
With a grand total of $1750 in capital and an old Ford truck between them, a few men have decided to stake their futures on their belief that by offering excellent products at value prices (with superb customer service thrown in for good measure), they can make a place for themselves in the business community.
Celebrating 81 Years of Business
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To the Taylors, running a successful, well-established business is a worthy accomplishment, but, one of their greatest legacies is 81 years worth of friendships, built one customer at a time.          |
81 years later, that original coal yard and small warehouse has become Taylor's Do-It centers, one of the region's biggest home-grown success stories, with stores in 7 locations and a very impressive sales volume. As one of Virginia Beach's oldest retail businesses, this family-owned and run enterprise continues to be the destination of choice for homeowners who come to Taylor's expecting to find the same things customers have found for 81 years now: uncommon customer service, quality merchandise, cheerful expertise, excellent selection and competitive pricing.
At Taylor's, doing business the old-fashioned way has never gone out of style. You can trace Taylor's current policies straight back to the principles of the original founders - James Jordan, Audie Fisher, Edward Hardy, and Willard Ashburn, joined in short order by Robert Taylor.
Robert Taylor's son, Dawson Taylor, now Chairman of Taylor's Do-It centers, often reflects on the values they handed down: "I am so very proud of what our fathers accomplished in establishing and continuing this business, through very difficult times. Many businesses tout their customer service, but these gentlemen lived it every day, and built their business on it." Dawson remembers his father as a man of warmth and gentleness. Robert Taylor came from a poor family in Portsmouth, but despite stopping school after the elementary grades he managed through sheer determination to graduate from a business college. A stint as a secretary/assistant to a railway executive gave him an insider's education on how to make a business work. It was a lesson that all the founders excelled at: hard work, honest dealings and the willingness to go the extra mile for a customer.
A Family Business
From the beginning, it's been a family affair. Dawson has fond boyhood memories of the times he spent hanging around the warehouse and coal yard, then later the 17th Street hardware store when it opened in the early 30s. "I'm sure my friends and I often made pests of ourselves as we played hide and seek behind stacks of roofing and cement," he admits. The fact is, a boy growing up in the 20s and 30s would have been hard pressed to find a more fascinating place in all of Virginia Beach to spend his growing years than Fuel, Feed and Building Supplies, Dawson believes.
"In those days a railroad track ran right down Pacific Avenue and a siding branched off adjacent to our warehouse," Dawson remembers. "We had no conveyors then, so an entire carload of coal was unloaded by shovels in the hands of some very strong men. My friends and I would on occasion give up a precious penny, putting it on the tracks to be smashed paper thin by the rail cars."
Dawson often managed to hitch a ride during delivery runs. "We always had trucks, but some of the early deliveries of coal and wood were made by horse and cart, possibly where access was made difficult by sand dunes a block and a half from the ocean."
"The best times were when they let me ride in the trucks as they made deliveries to the Coast Guard stations and communities down the beach to False Cape and beyond. They had to time the deliveries at low tide of course, and let the air out of the tires. You could access the beach then through Camp Pendleton, or, as it was called in those days, the rifle range."
Weathering the Storms
The Depression brought hard times, but the business was able to weather the lean years, even expanding into fuel oil during this time. They were ideally located. "17th Street was where all the village commerce took place," recalls Dawson. "On this one street there were three grocery stores, three drug stores, a movie theatre, a barbershop, two hardware stores, a sports shop, a great hot dog stand, a restaurant, and a bank around the comer." The hardware store's old pot-bellied stove served as the neighborhood gathering spot during the wintertime.
After graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy and serving in WWII, Dawson officially joined the business, along with Mr. Jordan's and Mr. Fisher's sons. Fuel, Feed and Building Supplies had survived the Depression and wartime scarcities - now with the second generation on board, bringing new energy and ideas to the company, it was time to expand. The 17th Street hardware store was closed so that it could be enlarged and consolidated with the 19th Street warehouse in 1953, and new product lines introduced.
In 1965, the first of the "home center" hardware stores was opened at Princess Anne Plaza, followed soon by additional stores. This new "home center" style of merchandising introduced an innovative retailing concept to Virginia Beach, allowing shoppers to purchase a wide range of products - from lumber to garden supplies to traditional hardware -- all under one roof.
This "supermarket" approach to buying hardware and building materials was a response to the growing numbers and needs of "do-it-yourselfers."
Today, even though projects and materials have changed dramatically, the do-it-yourself market shows no sign of slowing. Taylor's simply makes sure their stores stay at the forefront of a constantly evolving marketplace. And they've brought in creative, young minds to help ensure just that.
The Third Generation Takes the Wheel
All three of Dawson's sons have followed in their father's footsteps. Joe Taylor is currently President of the company, while Russ Taylor serves as Vice President/Operations Manager. Oldest son Bob left the helm of Taylor's to head Do It Best Corp., the member-owned hardware cooperative Taylor's Do-It centers belongs to. Talbott Jordan, granddaughter of founder James Jordan, is the firm's Chief Financial Officer.
Like their fathers before them, this third generation all grew up in and around the stores, learning the business, and more importantly, learning Taylor's Golden Rule: "To serve our customers as we ourselves would like to be served." It's a business philosophy that's worked remarkably well.
Above and Beyond: Customer Service the Taylor's Way
In the early days, the original partners knew that customer service was going to be key to building a successful business. But customer service came easily to them. These men knew most of their clients - they were friends and neighbors. The extra service that Fuel, Feed and Building Supplies quickly became known for was just simply doing right by folks as far as they were concerned. There was the time a young mother from the North End called the store. "If my little girl comes by after school, will you give her streetcar fare and charge it to my account?" she asked. Of course - this was Fuel, Feed after all.
Lock yourself out of the house? Call Fuel, Feed - they'll send someone over with a handful of keys. Want to know the temperature, or how to "undo" your latest improvement project? - call Fuel, Feed. Word quickly spread - if someone at Fuel, Feed and Building Supplies didn't know what a customer needed to know, they'd find out. If they didn't have what a customer wanted, they'd get it.
81 Years of Friendships
Today, customers still expect and readily find that same kind of "beyond the call of duty" service. Earlier this year, a man at wit's end trying to find a way to fix his flat, aging roof visited all the big hardware giants. He grew frustrated when no one seemed interested in helping him tackle his unusual fix-it project. Then he came to Taylor's, where a sales associate immediately went to work for him.
"She did some checking and found. . . my new roof solution with the right materials at a good price. I am tired, but happy!" he writes.
In the corporate office, files bulge with letters just like that one, from shoppers delightedly acknowledging Taylor's oldfashioned way of serving customers. To the Taylors, running a successful, well-established business is a worthy accomplishment, but, one of their greatest legacies is 81 years worth of friendships, built one customer at a time.
- It's Always Been About Giving Back to the Community
When the founding partners made that initial $1750 outlay in their fledgling coal yard and warehouse, it was more than just an investment in a new business -- it was an investment in the community as well.
The founders and each succeeding generation have always been integrally involved in their neighborhoods, and their region. Among them they have served terms in office as vice-mayor and on the school board, helped establish hospitals and healthcare facilities, sponsored community events, headed fundraising drives for charities and community groups, garnered recognition awards from civic groups, given generously to worthy causes, and employed 100s of local residents over the years.
The Greatest Challenge
A Depression, a world war, and numerous recessions -- not one of these would impact. Taylor's with the same force as the arrival in the 80s of the "big boxes." After decades of competing successfully with local businesses on the strength of their customer service, product selection and price, Taylor's now faced deep-pocketed hardware giants who purposefully set up shop right next door to Taylor's locations.
Dawson Taylor acknowledged the problem in a forthright way, writing in The Virginian-Pilot, "Certainly we wish that they had not chosen to move quite so close. But, I have been in this business for many years, and being a strong advocate of our precious free enterprise system, I know that Virginia Beach residents will be the winners, as they will be better served with more choices."
Then he, and his sons, along with Talbott Jordan, went about making sure that Taylor's customers continued to choose them.
They closed some stores, relocating them right in their customers' neighborhoods. They also fine-tuned their product line, greatly expanding their lawn and garden departments. Their sales associates received greater indepth training. It was no longer good enough to be better than the competition - instead they turned their focus to areas where they could be best.
One thing that remained unchanged: their much-heralded customer service, which continues to remain a potent weapon.
The Taylor's Advantage
The strategy paid off and Taylor's remains a strong presence in the local market, even continuing to grow.
Despite the continuing challenge, Taylor's has proved it has several advantages over the competition. When something changes quickly, or unforeseen events happen in the area, their management can respond rapidly -- no decision has to be sent off to a distant headquarters and run up the corporate chain. Instead they meet, they discuss, they decide, it's done. This ability makes Taylor's extremely fast at responding to sudden local needs and changes.
In addition, as natives of the area, Taylor's corporate officers know the market inside and out and have proven unusually successful in picking product lines and items that will appeal to locals.
One new product area that Taylor's is seeing a definite regional interest in is grills and outdoor cookers, and gas logs enough so that they've opened FireWorks!, a new store under the Taylor's mantle. It specializes in upscale gas grills with the latest in new features, unusual outdoor cookers and pots, gourmet rubs, fireplace furnishings, and the incredibly realistic vented and vent-free gas logs.
check out FireWorks! online >>
So Many Changes
Were any of the original founders to walk into a Taylor's Do-It center today, the changes would amaze them. They'd search in vain for much of the inventory that once stocked their shelves. Gone are the horse collars, the hog vittles, the drawing knives and the coal.
To this day Dawson remembers the pungent odor of linseed oil and turpentine that clerks once drew from 50-gallon drums in the rear of the store. Instead, they'd be dazzled by new inventions and technology everywhere they looked, and by the size and scope of a hardware store today.
One thing that would make them feel instantly at home, however, would be the friendly way they'd be greeted and the courteous way they'd be served.
Most of all, they'd likely be pleased. Pleased that the modest little business they began 81 years ago more than fulfilled the promise of their dreams - that if you work hard, treat people well and give back to your community, you can indeed make a lasting place for yourself.
By today's standards, 81 years is a long time to remain in the same area, doing the same thing. But the Taylors wouldn't have it any other way. This is their home, and they count as priceless the opportunity to do the thing they love best, in the place they most want to be, for a community of people they respect and appreciate. From everyone at Taylor's- Thank You