Fuller & Son Hardware

It is possible in the age of Wal-Mart and Home Depot for a mom-and-pop retailer to flourish, and Fuller & Son Hardware is proof.

In 1921, Walter “Pop” Fuller founded the business with just one location that served as a feed and farm supply store. Pop’s son, Walter “Happy” Fuller, came into the fold in 1946 after serving in World War II.

The original location, on the corner of 28th and Arch streets, is no longer in business, but the Fullers still are. Happy’s son, Bobby Fuller, and Bobby’s two sons, Jeff and J.R., run five Fuller & Son stores in Little Rock, North Little Rock and Maumelle, and they are scouting locations for a sixth.

As a David in the world of Goliath hardware, lumber and building materials stores, Fuller & Son has managed to not only survive but prosper, Bobby Fuller said, because it buys inventory through a national cooperative that allows Fuller & Son to match the prices of its competitors while offering superior service.

A Memphis company tracks the prices of all of Fuller & Son’s major competitors so that the company can assure its prices are just as low.

“We’re constantly working on inventory,” Bobby Fuller said. “We play hardball.”

The company has a policy that any customer who walks into the store and is not offered help within 60 seconds gets a 5 percent discount. Bobby Fuller brags he has never had to make good on the offer.

He also brags that the company’s staff of 50 is full of workers who can build a house starting from its concrete slab and a wooden frame, put in a sprinkler system and then help get rid of termites.

He said, “You can’t come in here and ask something and not get an answer — not only that, the right answer.”

It’s important, Bobby Fuller said, that the company maintains such a reputation. “It makes a difference when your name’s on the store.”