Any customer can observe the 65 years of success by LaTorre Hardware in Vineland merely by walking in the door. If owner Vic LaTorre is not actually at the cash register, he is steps away in his glass-enclosed office, observing all and ready to help as soon as he’s needed.Those entering are greeted, often by name. After a few minutes in the aisles, an employee unfailingly comes to ask, “Can I help you with something?”
When the business began in 1958, a similar office belonged to Vic LaTorre Sr. and his brother John, but the scenario was the same.
“Try LaTorre’s, they will have it and they are so nice,” consistently passes word-of-mouth in Vineland and throughout South Jersey.
This customer wanted Vic Latorre to explain the “secret sauce” that has allowed the hardware store to survive and generally prosper in an era when so many small business have been victims of the migration to the ease of online shopping, the relentless pressure of the big-box stores, unforeseen inflations and recessions, difficulty getting products, and customers’ changing expectations of the retail process—like having to walk miles to catch up to a customer service worker (if you can find one) to ask a question, and routinely waiting in 20-minute checkout lines.
“Well, part of it is Dad taught me how to adapt to whatever is happening,” Vic said. “Like, we have the big-box stores now; we take advantage of that. Everyone who buys a lawnmower will need lawnmower blades. For every item they sell, there’s a possible part we can provide or a repair we can make.
“Especially since quality may not be what it used to be,” he added gently.
LaTorre’s significantly expanded its parts and repairs service about 10 years ago. Now, it’s the main part of the business.
Another related tactic at the South Delsea Drive store, also driven home by Vic Sr., is: “Find out what people need and go out and get it.”
In other words, in late winter, start bringing in fertilizer and tools; in the early spring, get plants and shrubs; before winter starts, stock up on snow shovels.
“But he taught me not to go overboard and have a bunch of unsold products around,” Vic said. “Sometimes my dad and uncle didn’t get it right, though. I still find things in the backroom that they bought.”
What else? Family.
Vic Sr. and Vic’s mom Anna and his Uncle John probably didn’t know that their legacy would last 65 years and counting. But they hoped for it.
“They had nothing and no experience,” Vic said. “So they borrowed a few thousand dollars and they learned how to run a business, how to satisfy customers, and how to purchase and sell.”
“I’ve always thought of myself as the caretaker of the business,” Vic said. “It was their business.”
Vic started early. The place was open until 9 and Vic Sr. and John split the late shifts. That’s when the current owner swept floors, stocked shelves, fixed screens and gradually learned new tasks.”
“I literally started from the ground up,” he said.
Vic became central to the business after college and, in 1983, he became the head of it.
A kind of extended family is integral to LaTorre’s—its long-time employees. The older generation had loyal workers and the tradition continues today where at least four of Vic’s key employees have been with the store for 30 years or more.
“I’m so appreciative and glad to have them,” Vic said. “We go to their graduations, weddings, and other family functions and they go to ours. Just like with Mom and Dad, we’re blessed to have a family feeling.”
Last weekend’s 65th anniversary party was like a business and family reunion. In addition to the many family members attending, long-time employees were there and scores of customers came to visit.
Compete. The small retailer must stock merchandise that no one else has and do things that no one else does. LaTorre’s is well-known for that.
Pizzelle bakers, pasta makers, parts for old appliances, screen and window repairs, electronic bug zappers that look like pickleball racquets (thank you, Vic, it works well.) An incredible range of hard-to-find-things plus parts and maintenance for hard-to-fix things.
In inflationary times, the firm has to be especially price-conscious. Despite a common mindset that small firms charge more, at LaTorre’s one finds an equal or better price than online vendors or big-box stores.
Even over 65 years, adjusting to inflation now has been fraught.
“I’ve never seen my costs go up so fast,” the owner said.
Supply chains are unpredictable. In the past, a businessman could order and get product on an efficient timetable. Now, he or she has to order many months ahead, somehow presciently knowing what will be needed and sometimes not being able to get it anyway.
In 1958, LaTorre’s occupied a small space at the same location it is now. It has competed through strategic expansion.
“We’ve gone from 1,200 square feet to 16,000 over the years,” Vic said. ”My sister Carmello’s ceramic shop, Carmie’s Pottery Paint Works, is in the original footprint.”
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As the conversation between the customer and the owner concluded, Vic became pensive. Unlike his parents, he said, he’s without a family member to take over, causing an uncertain transition of the current business.
“I’m 63, I thought I’d be on the downslope now,” he said. “But I think I have a few more years.”
