The Grit Blueprint

Transforming Hardware Stores: How Nation's Best Creates Retail Magic with Chris Miller

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Chris Miller of Nation's Best shares how the company has grown from zero to 64 stores across 18 states by immediately investing in store renovations that transform mom-and-pop hardware stores into professional retail environments. Their strategy centers on honoring retail legacies while modernizing operations through strategic investments, technology integration, and talent development.

• Started Nation's Best in 2019 to solve succession planning challenges for hardware retailers
• Grown to 64 locations across 18 states with more acquisitions planned
• Invests heavily in store renovations to create professional shopping environments that attract high-end customers
• Previous owners typically stay with the business post-acquisition to maintain community relationships
• Focuses on attracting younger talent through career pathing, training platforms, and technology integration
• Implementing AI for targeted marketing, electronic pricing, and blueprint takeoffs
• Acquisition sweet spot is hardware stores doing $3M in sales and lumberyards/home centers doing $10-20M
• Created unique customer experiences like the "new customer goodie bag" at Halls Hardware

Our growth is boundless because there will always be thousands of locations facing succession challenges, and we can continue honoring these legacies for a long, long time.


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Stefanie Couch:

That mom-and-pop look. It doesn't show people that you're in the game, that you're really a serious competitor With higher-end buyers. They want to come into a place to shop where they feel comfortable. They can bring their clients in.

Chris Miller:

You know there's a lot of angst and anxiety as you do a store remodel. Once it's all done and everyone you know finally can take a breath after it's done and the customers start coming in, wow, this is amazing. Just showing the community, showing the employees that we are in it for the long term. It means everything to a small community.

Stefanie Couch:

You've told a story that I'm compelled by, and that is really what this business should be thinking of. It's how do we tell stories and build brands that people are compelled and magnetized to. It does not have to be fancy, but it just has to be something with heart. Welcome to the Grit Blueprint Podcast, the show for bold builders, brand leaders and legacy makers in the construction and building industry. I'm your host, stephanie Couch, and I've been in this industry my entire life. Whether we're breaking down what's working in sales and marketing, new advances in AI and automation, or interviewing top industry leaders, you're going to get real-world strategies to grow your business, build your brand and lead your team. Let's get to work. Welcome to the Grit Blueprint Podcast with Stephanie Couch. I'm your host, and I'm here today with Chris Miller from Nation's Best. Welcome to the podcast.

Chris Miller:

Chris, thanks for having me. I appreciate it.

Stefanie Couch:

It is an early morning here in beautiful Orlando, florida, the third day of the Do it Best market, and we are actually recording right here near the show floor. Has it been a good market so far?

Chris Miller:

recording right here near the show floor. Has it been a good market so far? It's been a phenomenal market. It's the energy now that Do it Best, and True Value have partnered and teamed up together the energy, the new faces, the vendor energy. It's been a really, really good market.

Stefanie Couch:

Yeah, and I heard that over 10,000 people were here with badges, with vendors, members, and that's by far the biggest market they've ever had. So there has been a lot of activity. It's been a really fun show. I'm tired, though, so I'm ready. I'm ready to call it a weekend and get ready for the indie market.

Chris Miller:

I am too the parks. Last night till midnight at Universal. It was a blast, but I'm going to be ready for a nap tomorrow.

Stefanie Couch:

Yeah, I agree with you so much. So you are in this amazing industry. I love hardware stores and lumber yards. I grew up there and we actually met about two years ago, but we haven't had a chance to really sit down and talk. So I'm excited about today. And we actually met about two years ago, but we haven't had a chance to really sit down and talk. So I'm excited about today. You're doing something that is a little different than the rest of the industry. That's acquiring businesses, and Nation's Best has been on an amazing ride in the last five years. But you have a background in the industry. So I want you to tell me a little bit about your approach and your background, what happened before Nation's Best in your career, and just tell us a little bit about what you guys are doing.

Chris Miller:

Yeah, so we've just a little bit of background. I started in this space when I was 24 years old and learned the business from a great mentor, scott Parker, at Parker's Building Supply down in Texas back in 2006, I believe, and you know we had bought 10 locations at that point, which was his family's business from generational business really and so we hired on and grew that business from 10 stores to approximately 30 stores in three different states and two states at that point at that time and sold that business in 2015. And I stayed on with USLVM and kind of their middle management leadership roles. And in 2019, dan at Do it Best and I got together and said, you know, dan's got a, he's got a problem. I've.

Chris Miller:

You know, I wanted to do something a little bit different in my life and the, you know, the do it best problem was really succession planning for their members. And we sat down and we, you know, talked through it and we had no idea it was going to go from, you know, a few stores, one store, a few stores late 2019 to what it is today. So COVID was a very helpful thing for us. Obviously it was a boom time for the industry and so, you know, with that happening right at the beginning of Nation's Best, it really propelled our growth to where we are today. And you know we're big enough. Now we kind of stand on our own and keep finding. You know, the strategy is just finding great operators in smaller, you know, secondary, tertiary markets. Try to stay away from the big boxes as much as possible. At the same time, I'm not scared to go up against them a little bit. Yeah, because we do have a different strategy. We're more flexible, we're more nimble, we're more attentive than what they can be really.

Stefanie Couch:

I love that story. You're really a trailblazer and I think it's cool how you and Dan from Do it Best did just have an idea. And it's a cool thing to think in today's world because we're so advanced from what the you know, the first starts of hardware stores and lumber yards were years and years ago. We have all this tech and all these things, but really a lot of the best ideas do start at a dinner or a lunch and just have two or three people that have something they want to do, a problem they want to solve which I think is the most important thing and they go out and they just try something. There's a lot of risk involved in that and some people don't have tolerance for that, but the ones that do.

Stefanie Couch:

I still think there's so much opportunity in our business for people that want to do something that's different. They want to go out and try something that maybe no one else is doing and you're really doing that where you're. You have a long-term strategy. At nation's best, you buy and hold. You don't take every person out of the market and do a lot of the things that other acquisitions companies are doing. So tell me a little bit more about your long-term strategy of that buy and hold and how you work with people in their local markets.

Chris Miller:

Yeah. So you know, from a capital perspective, we don't have private equity money behind us, which makes it the mentality of what success looks like. It changes that, and so it does allow us to have a longer term vision and not a three to five year exit. And so with that I've always made decisions looking at if I have this location for the next 50 years, what should I be doing today, and not necessarily not investing back into that business.

Chris Miller:

So all of our locations that we buy, we do have some retail 101 things that we know. We do have a playbook for each one of those locations. At the same time, we do know what works in retail from a, from a store, you know, look, feel, um. And so for each one of the acquisitions you know we do, you know it may not be the next day, but very quickly go in, spend the money, yeah, um to to modernize the store, and that's everything from the old tile floors that are all that are half of them are missing to the lighting, to the paint center, the color bar, the do it best offers, the signage, some things like that, to really make the store look like they are professional. They're big players because the more professional they look. People's perception is they have to be competitive on price.

Stefanie Couch:

Absolutely.

Chris Miller:

Instead of the old mom and pop feel that you know they're probably expensive, but you know it's down the street. Yeah, we still love our convenience factor because that's, you know, what sets us apart, that in our service. But we do want to look like we're in the business and so we spend a lot of money, capex, on those stores which some other consolidators private equity. They may put a pause on that because it just doesn't pencil for them the same way.

Stefanie Couch:

Yeah, they're thinking about, like you said, three to five years, and that's over the span of that short of a time horizon. It doesn't probably come out on the return a lot of times. I think it's really cool to say the stats on what you guys have done. So you started five years ago, 2019, right, 18 states, 64 stores. Is that still correct?

Chris Miller:

That is still correct. We've got a couple on the horizon that we have a letter of intents on that here. Over the next three months, we should be closing on four to six more stores. Wow, it's. You know the speed of growth. You know from 2020 to 23, it was just phenomenal. And now you know we are now kind of saying, ok, let's look ourselves in the mirror, let's maybe slow down that growth on the acquisition side. At the same time, let's really focus on the business. Yeah.

Chris Miller:

And how are we making these businesses better. And so that's really been a big push for ours of ours the last four to six months.

Stefanie Couch:

Yeah, that's amazing. You guys are doing that branding up front. And I want to just hit on that because it's something I feel like is I think about my dad's store. You know he didn't actually own the property so we're a little limited to what we could do. But there are a lot of things now that I am kind of a marketing and branding person and I see these things so clearly and I do think perception is reality for people, like you said, that mom and pop look, it doesn't show people that you're in the game, that you're really a serious competitor. Also, if you think about aesthetically, with higher end buyers, so some of these very high end interior design type people, they want to come into a place to shop that is made where they feel comfortable, they can bring their clients in. And I have a lot of people in my current clientele that are doing three to $10 million homes and there's a certain type of feel that you want your store to have to be able to make those people feel like they should come there. Yes, and that is really important. So I love that you guys see that vision immediately. You're taking that on.

Stefanie Couch:

And you mentioned the old tiles. Like I can see that in my mind. When you walk in that store, there's dust everywhere, the aisles are cluttered and I like I think about some of the other I won't name the retail chains, but some of the other lower end stores where there's stuff all in the aisles and you can't walk through and it's not a good shopping experience. That customer experience is not great. So I love that you're really thinking about from day one. How do we optimize that? And I can't imagine what you're seeing on the buyer experience side, the feedback that you guys get after you do that in a store. Can you talk to me a little bit about that? The feedback that you guys get after you do that in the store. Can you talk to me a little bit about that? Like you buy this thing, you do all this work. What do the customers say? And what do the employees say too? Because it's a better environment for them.

Chris Miller:

Yeah, it's. It's really about the employees, that where it all stems from, because if the employees are bought in they're happy at the end of it. That will exude to their customer relationships and their service. So you know there's a lot of angst and anxiety as you do a store remodel and you're moving things around, you're using the gondola train to move, you know move aisles and customers are coming in looking. They always took a right to go find that, that widget and now it's over here on the left and so it is disruptive.

Chris Miller:

But we try to do it in a very expedited timeframe. You know, between two to four weeks and we're in and out and done. So it's a lot of pre-planning If there's construction, if we're tearing out an office, if we're, you know, doing a million different things but a lot of project management on the front end to make sure that that runs smoothly. But it's all about the buy-in right. So it's not like corporate and we don't even call ourselves out. We call ourselves the support center, but it's not the support center coming in and doing a store remodel for you it is. You are either the manager of the store or the previous owner who is still with us, because in most cases the previous owners still work with us and getting them really bought in. They're already excited because they're seeing immediately that the person that they sold their business to is immediately putting money into it.

Chris Miller:

Yeah, and so it's kind of putting money where our mouth is, because we talk about it a lot and so that right there in itself is a big kind of feather in our cap, I guess to start with is a big kind of feather in our cap, I guess to start with. So once it's all done and everyone you know finally can take a breath after it's done and the customers start coming in, wow, this is amazing. Like that's when it all really starts to make sense. I mean, and again, it's not a three-year return on investment. Now, in some cases we have done remodels where it kind of is a two-year ROI. But just showing the community, showing the employees, that we are in it for the long term, it means everything to a small community.

Stefanie Couch:

What is one of the stores that you love to go in? Give me an example, because I know you have some farm and ranch stores, you have some hardware stores, some lumber stuff. What's one of your favorite stores to go in?

Chris Miller:

I love them all, but you know just a couple that really stand out. Calaveras Lumber out in California. That is a very fun store to go into. The people are just so friendly. It's a bigger store with a big garden center. It's a beautiful store. I mean, if I could have a box to replicate that'd probably be it. Milton Florida has Halls Hardware, which was one of our first acquisitions back in 2020. That is just a fun store. It's almost a tourist trap.

Stefanie Couch:

Yeah, it's near the beach, it's near the beach.

Chris Miller:

But you know people find it as a destination and you get to go in. You put your pin on the map of where you're from. The map's gigantic. You know we're under our third or fourth map now because there's so many pins in it you can't you can't fit yours in there. But you walk in as a new customer. They give you a new customer goodie bag and it's amazing that those employees know if you're a new customer.

Stefanie Couch:

That's really cool.

Chris Miller:

So you get your little blue Halls bag with a mug and the loyalty rewards application and some things about the store and what's cool about that and that's one of the things we, you know. Well, I'll get to that. But as they walk through the store, their bag, every employee knows oh, they've got one of those blue bags. That must be a new customer. It's time to really wow them.

Stefanie Couch:

Yeah, that's such a great customer experience too, because it's small and it probably costs you guys some money, but it's not a huge, probably a huge investment. But how many times do you walk in somewhere and you get something like that? I mean, I can't think of the last time that I went to a store and I bought something and they're like here's this thing, because you came in and you're a new customer and we want to basically show you, you know, how much we care about you. And everyone pretty much has some sort of sign up for a newsletter or coupons, or so that's part of it.

Chris Miller:

But to really dote on people like that, they remember that I I was just thinking about the only time I've ever like I walk into the, the mall to buy, you know, cologne or something. You go into one of these shopping center, you know, and they, they spray you with your cologne and that's I'm. You actually think I just won? I?

Chris Miller:

got a free, yeah, spray yeah, but to actually to actually get a bag with a you know four or five different promo items that they can take home and use around their house. It's much more impactful.

Stefanie Couch:

Yeah, and people should be thinking outside of the box like that. I think as a generation, we think about all this tech savvy, emails, social media, all that, and it's important. I mean, I think you have to do all of it, but there's something about giving something in your hand, even direct mail, or sending someone a handwritten note, something special about that, because, number one, you took time and not everyone else is doing it, so you've kind of found some magic there. I love that story. If I'm ever in Milton, florida or in California, I'm going to go check out these stores Because, see, now you've told a story that I'm compelled by and that is really what this business should be thinking of.

Stefanie Couch:

It's how do we tell stories and build brands that people are compelled and magnetized to. And it's not, it does not have to be fancy, but it just has to be something with heart and, I think, going back to your allowing and asking the owners that were there a lot of times to stay. When I see these businesses come in and they are on a three to five year trajectory, it's influx of capital in certain areas only, and what people are compelled by is that heart and soul of the business and those people that have been there for 50 years or 30 years are that pulse of the business a lot of times. Tell me a little bit about how your people, because I know you've done a lot of work on employees and you have a young team of talent and you're really going out and you're trying to get top talent, especially that's younger. How do you do that? Because it's hard to get amazing young people to want to come to our business and you're doing very well with it.

Chris Miller:

How do you do that? So you know it really starts with our leadership team. I believe we've got one of the strongest leadership or executive teams you know out there in the industry and I've worked very, very hard developing out that team there in the industry and I've worked very, very hard developing out that team. And it really starts with culture. They all get it.

Chris Miller:

We're all very professional and at the same time we're having a lot of fun and I think it shows, and if you can show that you're having a good time, that younger generation wants to be a part of that, and if you can prove that you are reinvesting back in, nobody wants to go into an old hardware store and work yeah, they want a clean, nice environment now, yeah. So if you can show you know whether it's store-level employees and hiring those younger kids that want to work in that store and all the way to the support center, those younger kids that want to work in that store and all the way to the support center.

Chris Miller:

You know we've made a very, or I've made a very big push to to teach young people that this, this is a you can make a hell of a career in lumber building materials and hardware retailing. A lot of you know that's and that's a lot of showing them and teaching them, because nobody's coming out of college thinking. That's what I want to do?

Chris Miller:

Yeah, only people like me that were born into it, that are crazy enough to think what else could I ever do. But you know with all the new technology out there where we're kind of going with that technology it attracts a lot of people. Technology it attracts a lot of people and whether you know they're in the hardware industry or some other retail industry, you know they get to use that new generational thinking with that technology. And you know they soon find out, man, I love retail. It's fun.

Stefanie Couch:

It is a business that also you know hardware lumber. Even if the economy's down, it's an essential business. Even during the pandemic it's an essential business. Even during the pandemic it was an essential business. And I think that there's a lot going on in the world where tech jobs are not as sexy as they once were. People are getting laid off and a lot of these more high-end, illustrious jobs out of college. They're not so shiny anymore and our industry is here and there are a lot of jobs that you could do.

Stefanie Couch:

Tech in the construction or building industry you could do you know marketing and have all these super savvy things that we see and we think of in our industry and, like you said, make a really amazing career, have a great financial gain to be made or own a business Like there's so many business opportunities with, with a lot of boomers retiring. There are a lot of people out there. They're selling home services business, building industry businesses that want to continue that legacy and they're just looking for a person like you to come and buy it and sometimes even allow, you know, crazy seller financing type options. There's people like you that are out there helping people continue their legacies and I love that. What would you say is one of the biggest things as far as training? Because you guys do have a lot. I see you doing programs for women, programs for your executive team. I see that all over LinkedIn. You guys are obviously bought in there. How important is training to the next generation?

Chris Miller:

It's critical Again, without that training and I'm talking from the store level, yeah, you know we've got a training platform developed now that it's whatever you're doing in our store. It's specific, you know, specified training for your role, sure, and it also shows you what the career path looks like. It's not just okay, you came in as a cashier, this is what you do. It's you're a cashier, this is what you do, in order for you to get to the next level in your career. And that may be 60 days to six years, and it's really dependent on the person, and we want to see that person reach for those, those goals, because if it's taken them six years to reach for that goal, that may not yeah, this may not be their career for them. Yeah.

Chris Miller:

But we have so many young people that want to get in there and as soon as it's laid out, they're like wow, I can become assistant manager and a year from now, if I really show them what I can do. And this is how we lay it out, this is how you show us what you can do.

Stefanie Couch:

Yeah, all the data shows that. Gen Z specifically, but even millennials, they don't only want career pathing like you're talking about, where it is kind of a clear picture in the training. It's more important to them than the upfront salary is and that's because they know if they can drive towards something that long term will be successful, it will be more advantageous for them than maybe a little five to 10 percent bump in salary up front. These companies that aren't buying into that and aren't having a very strategic plan for people. Where there's no vision, the people will perish.

Stefanie Couch:

My dad always used to tell me that and you have to step that out for people. Where there's no vision, the people will perish. My dad always used to tell me that and you have to step that out. For people, and especially when it's already an unknown industry to them, it's already kind of phantom like what does this mean and what would this look like in 20 years if I stay here? If you envision that for them on paper, they see it and they get it. And I meet so many people. I've met a lot of young people in the market floor this week at Do it Best. It's really inspiring to me and really amazing to see what's coming, and I actually got the chance last week to at the National Harbor Show honor one of your amazing leaders, kim and Pefley, and she's a regional vice president for you guys. You're bringing in a lot of women, a lot of top talent in women.

Chris Miller:

Talk a little bit about that and yeah, just to talk about Kim for a second. She, we, we, we brought her on board last year. She's got a just a slew of of of tenured experience in hardware on the store floor in hardware retailing. Managed quite a few stores. But just her, just her charisma, her, her sense of when you're around her, just her smile.

Stefanie Couch:

She is a bright ray of sunshine.

Chris Miller:

She is so professional, at the same time so playful.

Stefanie Couch:

Yeah.

Chris Miller:

It's just you just want to be around her. I agree, and I think that you know when she's in our locations, the stores see that. They know that she's not full of it because you know she's been around the block. Yeah, she's not full of it because she's been around the block. At the same time, she's got so many amazing ideas and tips and tricks and tools. I've learned a ton from her already. That's awesome. But, yeah, when it comes to women in the industry, we do host our annual women's conference where the vendor community gets involved. All of our top and aspiring women in our business come and it's not a marketing ploy, because they really get a lot out of that. At the same time, people see that and see the investment in trying to acquire that top talent and women are top talent at the end of the day. At the same time, we want more women in our stores. Yeah, period. The share of wallet is far greater with them than men. I agree.

Chris Miller:

And so you know how do we tap into knowing what that demographic wants, and that's to hire the same demographic honestly.

Stefanie Couch:

Yeah, and I think it's really just about seeing the perspective of something that is a little different than maybe what always has been as a competitive advantage. And I also would say to women in the industry and Kim's a great example of this is that being a woman in this industry is actually a competitive advantage for women, because there is so much opportunity for you to come in and do things a little differently, and it is something that people are looking for, and not every single company maybe feels that way, but a lot of them do, and there's also just so many supportive men like you that have helped me over my career I'm sure she would say the same thing and so it's about reframing how we look at things, as this is not a oh, there's only 10% women in the construction industry. It's a oh, there's only 10% women in the construction industry. How can I make this something that I can go and just thrive in? So I love that you're doing that, and I think that talent of next generation is.

Stefanie Couch:

The thing that keeps most owners up at night is how do I fill my store with amazing people? How do I build this business when those people retire? Because it's coming there's a huge wave coming in the next five years and I believe it's going to be probably the biggest retirement of people running the businesses. So it's an opportunity for a lot of us to really capitalize on, and I love that you're doing that. I want to shift a little bit to tech, so technology is something I love to talk about. I've spoken here about AI a lot of great questions. People are super curious, but it's not just AI. There's a lot of automations and even something like an ERP system that a lot of our companies in this industry don't still have. Tell me a little bit about how Nation's Best is leveraging technology and growing your business with technology.

Chris Miller:

Yeah, I'm a firm believer that if you're not utilizing all the technology out there that's available, you're behind. So, when it comes to the ERP system, we quickly, after an acquisition, do the work, do the grind and get them converted onto our Epicor platform that we're on. So currently all 64 locations are on the same server and, honestly, if you're not doing that, or trying to do that as fast as possible, it's very, very hard to run the business proactively instead of reactively, and so that's kind of first and foremost. After that, you know we are utilizing technology in just a million different ways.

Chris Miller:

But you know, ai is a term that you know is obviously very trendy, maybe a little overhyped, but still relevant, and we are utilizing AI in various aspects of the business, whether it's from our marketing, really identifying and then through our rewards data. You know that customer's buying this today, next month they'll most likely need this for that project. Or an AI is scouring, you know, the web and identifying that when someone buys this, most likely this is their next point of purchase, and so we're using that for target marketing and other things like that we have not implemented, you know, ai pricing, yet that's kind of the next wave that I see coming. You need to have electronic bin labels for that, but at the same time it's out there identifying that your quantity on hand just went from 10 to 2. It's looking out in the market of what other quantity you know you can actually charge 10 more cents for this right now, sure or less.

Chris Miller:

Conversely so, blueprint takeoffs. I just actually did a demo yesterday of, you know we're going to be revamping our entire web presence and our online presence where you know the next gen builder does not necessarily want, like you know, our mom and dad, you know, used to come in the lumberyard. Yep, hey, come on in at seven o'clock. Come have coffee with me and we'll get your order, you know, written up and taken care of.

Stefanie Couch:

With a little, the ruler with the quarter inches and my dad had plans all over his desk. Correct, it's like a chaotic mess of plans, yeah.

Chris Miller:

So so I mean, I'm actually looking at things right now where you know, someone sends in a material list, emails a material list with you know, and a lot of times it's chicken scratch, as you know, the AI automatically reads that, spits that into our quoting system, in our ERP system, so they're tied together, automatically creates a quote and automatically knows who that customer is, whether they're on a custom pricing plan or not, and really makes it to where that customer interaction. As much as this is still a relationship business, because it is. That's what the next gen is looking for and we've got to meet them there.

Stefanie Couch:

It's speed too. We think about what is important in business, and I say this a lot and I think about this a lot Speed to lead is important, follow up and nurturing is important, and those tools thinking about what is your builder hate the most. What do they have that plagues them in the morning when they wake up? Well, takeoffs has got to be top tier of that list of things that really drive them crazy. And so then that customer on the homeowner side might call and say you know, chris, I know you price this already four different ways, but could you possibly price this window and door package a 17th way? And so that right there allows you to, with a click of a button, kind of change some things and it's not such a big deal. And then they feel like you're going out of your way for them to do this thing, which you are. But you're not going that far out of your way because you have tech to help you instead of it being such a manual process, and cuts down on errors, which maybe in framing lumber it's still a pain. You know, you pull a load and you pull a two by tens, and it should have been two by twelves. Well, you gotta. You gotta re-pull it. You gotta take a truck out there, pick up the old stuff, put the new stuff, and you lose time. Those little small errors that may seem like not a big deal are a big deal, and so you guys have opportunities now. I mean the tech that's coming out. It just it's just.

Stefanie Couch:

Every day there's something new that comes out, and I'm like, wow, that is going to change, something that people have been I've been hearing them complain about for 30 years. I think of my dad's voice when I hear the word takeoffs his least favorite thing in our lumber yard, and it also was only something that one or two people could do. Now you can take a 20 year old out of college, teach them how to use this software, and they don't have to know how to frame stick, frame a roof. That's crazy complicated. That software helps them do it. So it's it's amazing that you're already that far into this, using and thinking about that. How do you evaluate, though, because there are so many softwares, there's so many things coming out. How do you know what is just a cool thing that maybe one day you'll think of, versus what you need to do today in your business?

Chris Miller:

Yeah, so I've definitely seen with some of the bigger.

Chris Miller:

You know they'll adopt every piece of software, use about a quarter of it, pay a fortune for the rest of it, and you know that's what we're trying to not do.

Chris Miller:

There are so many things out there, like you're saying, whether it's yeah, I mean there's just a lot. So it's just being intentional and making sure and then also finding the companies that can package it all together. You know, can they not only do our web presence online, quoting blueprint, you know AI reading takeoffs to where you know it's learning that, okay, the last time I did this takeoff in this region I put spruce instead of yellow pine and the salesman had to go in there and fix it. It knows next time in that region that that's most likely the species of lump. But if you can find a company that actually puts it all together, that's really where the magic happens, because then it all starts talking to each other and then all of a sudden it's tied into your trucking GPS system and so you know, and I've got a very strong IT team and kind of business analytics analytics guy that helps identify hey, that's really cool bell and whistle, but it's trash. Yeah, so it's not me just making all those decisions.

Stefanie Couch:

Yeah, and that's the thing is having those specialists that do read all the news that's coming out and understand everything and, like you said, something can look really shiny from the front end. And then you, if it doesn't talk to your ERP or it won't API into something, it almost doesn't matter how cool it is on the front end, because if you have to do it manually to talk to each other, it doesn't matter. Yeah Well, you've got so many amazing things on the horizon. What is most exciting to you? I want to just close out with that question what gets you up in the morning? You're like man, this is really awesome. I cannot wait to go do these things.

Chris Miller:

So I think Nation's Best has kind of settled into a niche on where we fit in the industry. We're not going after, currently, the $500 million businesses out there where some of our you know competition, that is their sweet spot because they're trying to get as big as fast as possible. Sure, we are. You know we have limited competition really in the marketplace for the stores we're looking at which are, you know, a well-run, whether you know it's a hardware store doing $3 million and that's, or it's a lumber yard. You know it's a hardware store doing $3 million and that's, or it's a lumber yard. You know home center doing 10 to 20 million. That's kind of our sweet spot, sure. And so that's what gets me excited Just seeing how deep, how fragmented the industry is with those particular set of stores that I'm talking about, and how you know there's not too many people trying to consolidate those up and that's not what we are.

Chris Miller:

I mean, I don't look at us as just a big consolidator, even though that's kind of what we're doing. I look at us as we're growing a business, we are maintaining legacies. I always say we're honoring the past, energized for the future, and I think it's just a great industry, I think it's wonderful people in it. Once you're in this industry you're kind of stuck and you know everybody and it's a big family around the country. It is.

Chris Miller:

So that's what keeps me energized just to know that our growth is really boundless at this point, like I mean this could I could continue to do this for the rest of my life. And there's still you know, there's still going to be thousands of locations that are going to have succession crisis issues in the in the future, and so I could see, you know, nation's best being continuing to do what we do for a long, long time.

Stefanie Couch:

It's really exciting. Congratulations on all your success and I know you're going to be very successful in the future and I can't wait to keep watching. Thank you for taking some time to sit down with me on the Grit Blueprint and I hope you have a great rest of the market.

Chris Miller:

Well, thanks for having me.

Stefanie Couch:

That's it for this episode of the Grit Blueprint podcast. For that's it for this episode of the Grit Blueprint podcast. For more tools, training and industry content, make sure to subscribe here and follow me on LinkedIn and other social media platforms To find out more about how Grit Blueprint can help you grow your business. Check us out at our website gritblueprintcom.

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Stefanie Couch

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