“You need things that are completely unique and different, that you can’t replicate online,” he said.
It’s a strategy that seems to be working. Taylor, 38, opened his first Trust Hardware in 2012 along Pendleton Pike in Lawrence. His second store, at East 71st Street and Binford Boulevard, opened in October. His newest store opened this month at 911 Massachusetts Ave., right across from the new Bottleworks District development.
In 2019, Trust Hardware brought in $350,000 in revenue. Last year, that figure ballooned to nearly $1 million. Part of the growth came from the pandemic-fueled home improvement boom, Taylor said. Part came from the opening of the 71st Street store. And part came from a dramatic rise in sales at the Pendleton Pike store, which moved down the street in the fall of 2019.