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 TRUE VALUE  ANNUAL REPORT
BUILDING A VALUABLE TRUE VALUE HARDWARE PRESENCE IN RURAL OHIO
A FUTUREFOCUSED FAMILY.
Linda and Sco Kuenning have a long history as True Value retailers. But that
doesn’t mean they’re looking back. With four sons in the business, they’re moving
forward. Always forward.
 YEARS OF STEADY
GROWTH The Kuenning family
believes in steady growth. The
business started when Sco’s
father opened a ,-square-
foot hardware store in .
Decade by decade, through
expansions, consolidations and
acquisitions, the family has grown its Minster,
Ohio, store to ,-square feet, has an
,-square-foot store in nearby St. Henry,
and opened a new ,-square-foot branch in
Wapakoneta, Ohio, in February .
KEEPING UP WITH CONTINUOUS CHANGE
Linda and Sco Kuenning have four sons in the
business, which is one motivation behind the
most recent phase of growth. Sco says, “I am a
firm believer that if we want to succeed over the
long term, we must have the best buying power
we can possibly have. That means more stores.”
Sco and Linda see building value as a
continuous process. In recent years, DTV has
been key to keeping the stores current. They
implemented DTV at the St. Henry store in
 and at the Minster store in . ”As a
woman, I love what DTV does for the shopping
experience,” says Linda. “The color and
lighting are phenomenal. It also keeps us
up to date on the latest product mix.”
Sco strongly agrees about the product
mix. “When we did our first DTV conversion
at St. Henry, I was shocked to find out how much
extra merchandise I had,” he says. “The process
brought into clear focus what I had — and didn’t
have — and helped us get our product mix right.”
WORKING WITH THE COOP “True Value
provided financing for the two remodels,”
says Linda, who manages the financial side of
the business. “It looks like we’ll be able to pay
that back out of our patronage dividend and
note interest without impacting our cash flow.
And with the new store, the free merchandise
incentive program is a huge plus.”
SEEING THE RESULTS The Kuennings have
been pleased with how their DTV stores have
performed. “We watched Retailer Workbench
all through  to see how sales at our two
remodeled stores compared with our peers,”
says Sco. “Our growth was above the average,
both nationally and in the Midwest. Our bounce-
back was beer, and I have to aribute that to
the DTV process. It gives us confidence that
we’re building an asset that we can pass on to
our sons.”
“DTV HELPED
US GET THE
PRODUCT
MIX RIGHT.”