A Better Pace of Life and a Growing Business led the Blodgett’s to “Get Hooked for Life” in Lake of the Woods.
Rick and Joyce Blodgett’s decision to move back home was an easy one. After leaving the community and living in the Twin Cities for 5 years, the Blodgett’s soon found themselves using all their vacation time to come back to Lake of the Woods to get away from the hassles of living in the metro. Looking for a better pace of life and to be closer to their families, the Blodgett’s moved back to the family farm.
“We enjoyed living in the county and having the opportunity to fish and snowmobile. Most importantly we had the opportunity to raise our kids in small town near our families.”
Upon moving home, the couple worked a number of jobs in addition to farming. It was during this time that Rick and Joyce saw the potential to meet unmet needs in the community and purchased Hometown Hardware in 2008. Because of their long hours and excellent service, the Blodgett’s were so successful that they found themselves bursting at the seams of their 4,800 square foot downtown location. Due to their space restrictions, Rick had to limit his inventory although his research showed the demand for more was there.
“We got to the point where we had no space to add any new items, we ended up having to hang some items from the ceiling.”
Rick and Joyce saw an opportunity to grow their hardware store and fill a recently vacated building and moved their hardware store to the former Ben Franklin building on Highway 11. The new building was nearly five times their space allowing them to expanded their hardware inventory, and add items such as more lawn & garden items, patio furniture, and a variety section, which was lost from the community with the Ben Franklin closing.
Coming up on 10 years of owning Hometown Hardware, the Blodgett’s noted the community’s support for their store was tremendous. Loyal customers, a commitment by other area businesses to purchase locally, and even help moving to the new location by the Lake of the Woods High School’s athletic teams made the transition seamless.
Hometown Hardware will be celebrating a 10 Year Anniversary on June 9th, 2018. They are located at 804 Main Street West, Baudette, MN. Check out their website at https://hometownhardwarebdt.com/ or their Facebook page by searching Hometown Hardware.
