Herrick Hardware Delivers In Tough Times

Since 1865, Herrick Hardware has been a fixture on Main Street in Southampton Village, fully stocked with tools and housewares to help busy residents complete both big and little jobs around their home.

But it’s likely the staff at Herrick Hardware hasn’t seen anything quite like what the past year has brought in the time of pandemic.

“Our inventory has doubled and the demands have doubled,” said store manager Stefan Grigoras in a recent phone interview. “Also the way we address the customers’ needs. We have to make sure we have everything they need.”

In a typical year, he notes that Herrick Hardware would start its busy season in mid-April. That’s when the weather begins to warm a bit and people dive into spring cleaning, repair jobs, gardening and new projects around the home.

“But last year, around March 1, it just hit like a wave, and we weren’t ready,” Mr. Grigoras said. “It took us maybe a month or so to figure out what we were up against.”

What they were up against, of course, was the exodus — thousands of New Yorkers who fled Manhattan and the outer boroughs and settled into their second homes on the East End. These are homes that may have only been used on weekends or an occasional summer month in the past and yet suddenly, they were transformed into primary residences complete with home offices for parents and remote classrooms for the kids. To say nothing of the new victory gardens.

“At the beginning of the pandemic, it was impossible to get essential products like masks and cleaning supplies,” Mr. Grigoras said. “We had waiting lists. We were able to fulfill a lot of them. We make sure the customers come first and get what they need.

“From the middle of March to April, I kind of didn’t even try to get things. Then I managed to find different suppliers and hunt these products down, and I got a good amount in my inventory,” he added. “Then you also think about spring and all the stuff you want to do around the house.

“This past year, demand has tripled,” he said. “We had customers praising our inventory in terms of our capacity in stocking products.”

Early in the pandemic, besides helping customers find much needed items like those you’d expect in such a scenario — cleaning supplies, masks, tools for repairs and home improvement — Herrick Hardware also saw an uptick in demand for some unusual items that Mr. Grigoras could never have imagined would be high on the list.

“There was a shortage on canning supplies in the beginning,” said Mr. Grigoras. “It was nuts. These are things nobody would’ve normally bought.”

While COVID-19 turned out to be a difficult period for many businesses, for Herrick Hardware, it proved instrumental in shifting consumers attention away from online shopping and toward their hometown hardware store.

“We were fortunate when it came to the pandemic. It actually helped us a lot because we suffered in the past with online shopping,” Mr. Grigoras said. “Last year was different.”

One of the biggest selling points, and something new that his customers learned about Herrick Hardware in the past year, is the fact that they deliver — just like Amazon.

“We have delivered in the past, but no one took us into consideration because they didn’t know about us in terms of delivery,” Mr. Grigoras said. “So I didn’t do too many.

“Deliveries is the biggest thing that changed for us,” he added. “I didn’t know how to create the mentality of us as a delivery service. People think of Amazon, and we don’t become an option. But we offer free delivery and provide whatever they need. We’ll show people how the product works, give them what they wouldn’t be able to get online — the personal touch.”

Now, with vaccines getting into arms and an easing of COVID-19 restrictions on the horizon, Mr. Grigoras doesn’t envision that 2021 will bring the same level of business to Herrick Hardware as he saw in 2020. But he’s still ready to be the full-service hardware provider he’s always been.

“I don’t think this summer will be as crazy for us,” he said. “People want to get out. They want to leave their houses and hang out. In terms of social life and businesses that thrive on social life, they will have a boost I think.

“But we’re here and can provide delivery, guidance and help with projects — whatever people need.”