 This article appeared in National Home Center News - 1997, a National trade publication for the Home Center Industry.
Focus Profile
Paula Zoller
Owner, Zoller Hardware, Cashiers, NC
Tenure: 3 years
Age: 51
What she focuses on: Paula Zoller, with her husband, Jim, wanted to open a hardware store that made customers feel as if they had stepped back in time. And that she did. With a 30-foot-high wood-beam ceiling, lofts overlooking the sales floor and trees all around, Zoller Hardware has become a tourist attraction. Zoller stayed away from flashy merchandising and modern design and focused on creating a homey store that has attracted loyal customers. A wrap-around front porch with rockers and swings, a fireplace, a wood floor entryway and lots of warm personal contact completes the cozy ambiance that Zoller aims to achieve.
In her own words: "People come to the mountains to get away from the big-city rush and the impersonalness, so we pamper them and make sure we give them that old-fashioned sense of caring. We only have a small sandblasted sign that says who we are. We’ve been tempted to put up a big billboard, but we don’t want to take away from the environment with a big, flashy sign. Also, we could have plowed out everything around us, could have gotten rid of all the trees and made more parking space. But we’d rather have the trees." |
