When Connor's dad and uncle decided to sell their business a couple years ago, I asked Connor is he was interested. He quickly told me, "No!" Well, after months of both hardware stores on the market, I continued to feel a tug towards them. It just didn't seem right to me that after 30 years of McCraw ownership (plus 70 years of Burdette ownership) that someone else would run it, or worse, close it and open something else. I would ask Connor about the stores on our evening walks downtown, and over time I noticed that his heart began to soften. After a year on the market, Connor and I decided to pursue buying the business from his family. We prayed about and discussed what owning a business would look like for our family, and quickly realized I would need to go back to work in order to make up the difference in Connor's salary. Our church, Capstone, offered me a position as Ministry Assistant in June of 2018, and I started the same week Connor quit his job and went back to work at Burdette Hardware for the first time since high school. If God's faithfulness isn't already apparent in this story, my salary at Capstone was the exact same amount as the difference in Connor's new salary!
It took months of negotiation and paperwork and bank approvals, but finally, in early November 2018, Connor officially bought the B.W. Burdette & Son Hardware business, inventory from both locations, and building in Fountain Inn. We get asked all the time why closed the Simpsonville location, but for us Fountain Inn is our community and we want to pour all we have into one location to make it the best it can be, rather than being split between two stores and two towns. Connor's dad actually still owns the Simpsonville building and runs his steel company there.
We spent last Thanksgiving moving all of the inventory from Simpsonville to Fountain Inn and stocking the shelves. By January we were open again on Saturdays. In March we had a grand reopening ribbon cutting ceremony and customer appreciation party. In July we got city approval to display our huge tape measure sign in front of the building. And this Saturday, we'll be celebrating again with a Small Business Saturday sale!
We could not do any of this without the support of our families, our employees who work so hard, and the community who continue to shop with us every day. Small businesses across the country are dying, but in Fountain Inn there is revitalization happening, and we are so excited to be a part of it! Burdette's is in it's 120th year, and we hope to continue growing for another 120 years!!
you may excel in every good work. II Corinthians 9:8