New store expects to hire 60 people

Friday, March 19, 2004
Chic Wallace, stands at the counter where a pot of coffee will be waiting to welcome customers to the new Sutherlands when it opens in early May. He plans to carry everything needed for any type of home improvement.

By Ralph Pokorny

Beginning in early May anyone looking to do home repairs or to build or remodel a house should be able to find anything they will need in Nevada with prices that are competitive with those in Kansas City or Joplin.

That is one of Chic Wallace's goals as the manager of the new Sutherlands store that will open in May in the old Wal-Mart building at 2101 east Austin Boulevard.

He also wants it to be known as the friendliest store in town, complete with a pot of hot coffee awaiting customers on the service counter.

"Customers will find a friendly hometown atmosphere with competitive prices where they can hopefully complete all their home improvement needs in one stop," Wallace, who has worked for Sutherlands for 25 years, said.

"We'll have everything from start to finish to build a house," he said.

He said that he does not want area residents to have to drive anywhere for what they need adding that he expects to take some of the business back that currently goes to Joplin.

In addition to lumber and carpet the store will also carry a wide variety of hardware, plumbing and electrical supplies.

The store will also carry Frigidaire appliances and a wide assortment of lawn and garden supplies.

The Branding and Positioning Report that the city and Vision 2020 commissioned in 2002 estimated that in 2001 Nevada missed out on $3 million in sales of building materials, hardware and garden equipment.

The report said that was a "very good" potential for adding two or three stores selling this type of merchandise to reclaim the sales that were going to other towns.

The store will be set up as a warehouse with all of the reserve stock on the top of the shelving where it can be seen.

Hardware will be displayed in bulk, which means you can buy one piece or 100.

"That's the way it should be," he said.

This will be the third store that Wallace, who comes here from Alexandria, La., has opened for Sutherlands.

In 1985 he opened a store in Lincoln, Neb., and in 1997 one in Alexandria, La.

Wallace said that the store, which right now is an empty shell with a couple of new holes in the south wall for a new customer entrance and a door large enough for a forklift to bring merchandise in and out, will be open seven days a week.

He said that he also plans to replace one of the existing front doors with a new automatic sliding door that is large enough for customers to easily get through with large items.

He plans to be open between May 1 and May 15 with around $2.5 million in inventory.

The store is expected to employ about 60 people, of whom all but three will be hired locally.

He said that customers should not have any trouble finding someone to help them, since he expects his employees to greet customers when they come in the store as well as talk to any customer they make eye contact with, even if they are clear across the store.

If you still need help just look for someone in a yellow Sutherlands shirt or go beat on the glass windows of the new office Wallace is having built next to the front door, if he is actually in his office.

A lot of the time Wallace said that he will personally greet customers at the front door and direct them to the department they want, as well as call ahead on a radio to alert the department of the customers needs.

Talking to people is how Wallace plans to find out just what people want to find in the store so he can adjust the initial inventory, which is based on several other stores including Liberty and Sedalia.

"I like being with the public. That's my favorite part of the business," he said.

"I just hope they will like us," he said. In addition to being busy with overseeing remodeling the new store, he's also having to take time to find a new house and making the trip to Louisiana for the weekend to see his wife, Denise and two daughters, Amber, 12, and Audrey, 14.

Amber is involved in dance and Audrey plays softball. Last summer Audrey played on a traveling softball team that made the semifinals in a tournament at Disneyworld.

He is currently planning to be open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. on Sunday.

"I think this will a be real big benefit to Nevada," he said.

Respond to this story

Posting a comment requires free registration: