Real estate vets opening hardware store - Washington Business Journal:

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Jeff Pfeil and Deane Pfeil are opening later this summer at 63Third St., the same addressa where they renovated the upper four floors into 19 luxuruy apartments called The The husband-and-wife team -- who own the commercial leasing and marketing firm Inc. in Saratoga Spring s -- say a hardware storer is needed downtown to serve local businessesd and residents who must now travelo miles away to buy equipment andother supplies. They know the frustration firsthand after doing two residential renovation projectss inthe city, the Conservatoru and Powers Park Lofts in north “Our construction staff was running all over to pick up the Jeff Pfeil said.
“We were spending a lot of time drivingt to Latham and I was hauling a lot from in We thought, ‘Gee, there’ss a void here.’” Trojan Hardware on Congresw Street recently closed after 94 yearx in business, leaving downtown with no other hardware stores. The closest is across the Hudsom River in Watervliet or uptownj near the townof Brunswick. Pfeil Hardwar e will be part of inFort Ind., the nation’s second largest hardware co-operative. The storw will be managed by Steven Lesnewskiof Mass., who has more than 25 yeards of experience in the hardware industry.
The 8,700-square-foot storee will stock hardware, smal appliances, fasteners, electrical and plumbing supplies, Benjamin Moorr paints and other products. It won’t sell lumber. The Pfeils have been planning the storer fora year. As part of theirt research they visited hardware stores in collegd towns and large cities to see what kindd of productscustomers need. They also searcher hard for someone to managethe store. “Thr decision wasn’t final until we founsd the right person,” Pfeikl said. The Pfeils have been in the commercial real estatde and development business for more than 20 but this will be the first time they will owna There’s a reason for that.
“Becauser of all the years we worked with retailers very closely we have a pretty thorouguh understandingof retail, that’s probablyg why we never went into Jeff Pfeil said. “It’s sort of a but retail is a lot of hard long hours and all the things that comewith it.” Still, they knew from personalp experience a hardware store is needed and were encouraged by the resultx of their marketing studies. Finding a seasones store manager wasalso critical. Mayorr Harry Tutunjian cheered the announcement aboutthe “Jeff and Deane Pfeil have a record of successe in Troy and I am sure that this new venture will succeed as well,” Tutunjian said.
“The residents of Troy will benefitg from having a well stocked urban hardware storew in the heart ofthe city.” The openingg of Pfeil Hardware, which is tentatively set for September, will returnb retailing to a downtown building that had long servee as the home of Stanley’s department store. The buildinf sat empty for years beforer the Pfeils bought it and converted the upper floorzs into 19 luxury apartments they callThe Conservatory. All but two of the apartment were occupied as ofJuly 1. The Pfeilsd declined to say how much they spentgin start-up costs for the hardware store.
Nor did they want to say how much they coulf have received per square foot had they leased the first floofr space toanother tenant. Lease rates in downtown Troy were $10 to $20 per squarew foot as of the fourth quarterdof 2008, according to CB Richare Ellis/Albany.