Fort Wayne, Ind.—Rob Szafraniec, vice president of operations for Cragin Industrial Supply Co. in Chicago, was recently named a 2006 National Retail Hardware Association (NRHA) Young Retailer of the Year Award recipient. Szafraniec, 34 years old, was one of six winners nationwide and was selected in the Single Store with Retail Sales Above $2 Million category. The NRHA chooses its Young Retailer of the Year Award recipients based on their aptitude as retailers and their commitment to community service and education.

Rob says that he was delighted upon hearing the news, especially since his store is relatively new to the retail side of the business. “I was really surprised that I was selected. I’m sure that everyone nominated was very deserving of the honor.”

Rob was nominated by Rick Walz, a retail development specialist with Do it Best Corp. Walz says he nominated Szafraniec because of Rob’s foresight in seeing changes on the horizon in his marketplace, and his aggressiveness in responding to those changes. “Rob has adapted his business in response to changing trends in both the industrial side and the consumer side of his trade area. Not only has he been the force behind the development of a long-term strategic plan for Cragin, but he is also the one directing the tactical implementation of their plan and vision.”

The changes Walz refers to were no small matter to Cragin Industrial Supply, which has a history dating back four generations. Founded in 1927 as Cragin Hardware by Rob’s great-grandfather, John Szafraniec, the business has been a leading contractor supplier in the Chicago marketplace for nearly 80 years. Rob started his career outside the family business: after receiving a degree in mechanical engineering from Marquette University, he took sales positions with Sugino Corp. and Machinery Systems, Inc., where he handled multi-million dollar accounts like Caterpillar and Case-New Holland. Back home, Cragin was facing more competition than ever before from big box retailers and Grainger, while most of Chicago’s manufacturing customer base was leaving the city. Times were tough, and Rob’s parents were considering selling the business. But in 1999, Rob returned to Cragin to help rejuvenate the store that still operated in the same corner location he had grown up with.

Along with his brother, his uncle, and his parents, Rob outlined strategies they could implement to more aggressively and profitably grow sales volume and market share. Under Rob’s direction, they developed and implemented a five-year strategic plan focused on streamlining procedures, repositioning the business in the marketplace, developing a brand and organizing a strong outside sales force. Rob implemented bar code scanning, tighter inventory controls, and automated reordering and consolidated vendors to streamline operations. Rob also worked to develop the Cragin brand by aggressively targeting the structural steel and welding markets, utilizing the Do it Best Corp. INCOM Distributor Supply™ program to leverage vendor relationships and access inventory. Then, in 2001, Rob directed Cragin’s first major showroom redesign, expanding its showroom by 1,000 square feet and giving the store a more contractor-oriented look and feel. He also focused on helping rebuild the outside sales staff by interviewing and hiring new staff, developing a new compensation program, and training new salespeople.  As a result of these changes, Cragin’s business grew by 10 percent by the end of 2001, while the industry average showed a loss for the same time period.

The following year met with similar success as Cragin’s contractor business grew and its industrial segment stabilized. Rob, however, saw the opportunity for even more retail walk–in business. During its history, Cragin’s focus on contractors had made the store less appealing to retail customers, but this was acceptable in a neighborhood that had not been conducive to consumer trade. Rob saw, however, that this was changing as development plans in the area started to focus on middle-class housing. Rob contacted his Do it Best Corp. representative to see what programs were available to help him respond to these changes. Cragin’s decided to move forward with a comprehensive retail store design and utilize the Do it Best RetailPLUS!® program, which assists growth-oriented members in expanding their product offerings. Rob worked with the Do it Best Corp. design team to tailor the floor plan to fit the specific needs of his customers, which included his existing industrial/contractor customers and prospective retail traffic. Rob and his brother C.J. oversaw the project, working 12-hour days, seven days a week, for several months. The interior portion was completed early this year, with a 4,000-square-foot expansion nearly tripling the size of the existing 2,500-square-foot showroom, and with 7,000 new SKUs added to inventory.  A new exterior, developed with the new Do it Best Corp. Signature™ Store Design Program, will be implemented this summer. 

Of all of his accomplishments, Rob is most proud of the store redesign, although he is quick to share the credit for the project’s success. “My brother C.J. and my parents were instrumental in the project. We had a mental image of how we wanted the store to look and the message that a customer would receive when walking in the door. Based on customer response, we got it right.”

Even with all of his hard work on behalf of the family business, Rob still finds time to support his industry and his community. He is a member of the INCOM Distributor Supply Advisory Council, where he makes decisions that help make the program stronger for his fellow Do it Best Corp. members. Rob also has continued his life-long association with the Boy Scouts, for whom he served as scoutmaster for two years. Rob is a member of the Triangle fraternity, a fraternity of engineers, architects and scientists that he joined while at Marquette. For 10 years he served as an elected board member of KSR, the Triangle alumni association for Marquette. Rob is also a scratch golfer and he custom-builds golf clubs and teaches golf in his spare time.

About Do it Best Corp.

Based in Fort Wayne, Ind., Do it Best Corp. is the only U.S.-based full-line, full-service, member-owned distributor of lumber, hardware, and building materials products in the home improvement industry. With annual sales approaching $3 billion, Do it Best Corp. is the second largest co-op in the industry, serving 4,100 member-retailers in the United States and in 45 foreign countries.