Welcome to the lab
Hardware Innovators
Mastermind Group
Are you a leader at a local hardware store? Are you looking to innovate your store’s technology and learn new tools for improving employee productivity and company culture? If that sounds like you then you’ve arrived to the right place. Here, you will find likeminded hardware retail leaders offering collaboration, inspiration, and access, so your store can not only grow, but thrive in today’s world.
Get the spark of connection with Hardware Innovators now!
Who are Innovators?
We are a collective group of hardware retail industry Business Owners, General Managers, Marketing Specialists, and OSR. Beyond wanting to innovate our stores, we all share a common bond of owning and operating local home grown stores and that have similar challenges and needs. For this reason, we are dedicated to creating meaningful connections, elevating our professional skills, and sharing information to grow our businesses.
Why Join Hardware Innovators?
Elevate Your Hardware Store
Learn and test new and useful technology to help you run a tighter ship and focus on better ways to provide for your customers and employees.
Experience Real-time Connection
Learn innovative ways to foster new and authentic relationships with the local community and employees that nurtures a strong and durable culture.
Unlock Business Growth
Use shared information & processes from a hive of knowledgeable business owners to help grow your business with proven strategies to adapt and fit the culture of your store.
Attend A Mastermind Event
Your Monthly Mastermind is the third Wednesday of every month on Zoom. The roundtable-style meetups are 40-45 minutes, so feel free to join multiple! The line-up will remain the same but the topics will change.
Member Wisdom & Insights
September 2025 Mastermind Recap
This month, our innovators dug into one of the most powerful tools local hardware stores have at their disposal: events. From contractor nights and block parties that pull in hundreds of pros, to community contests that bring neighbors together, the message was clear—events build more than sales, they build loyalty, culture, and connection.
August 2025 Mastermind Recap
This month, our innovators reminded each other that innovation isn’t always about technology or new systems, it’s often about relationships. Whether it was B2B teams finding new “ins” with local schools and hospitals, marketers experimenting with ways to celebrate employees (both on social and in-store), or GMs wrestling with the challenges of hiring the right people and paying them what they deserve, the theme was clear: when you focus on people, you build stronger stores. Let’s dig in!
July 2025 Mastermind Recap
Each month, Hardware Innovators come together to talk shop, solve problems, and share what’s actually working in their stores. In July, our innovators focused on building the perfect scorecard, but the conversations went far beyond metrics.
Get Connected!
The process is simple, but the commitment is real. Are you ready to become an innovator??
1
APPLY
2
CONNECT
3
INNOVATE!