Local hardware store owner Gary Schuette isn’t just trained to do what he does; in a sense, he was born to do it. Even more than that, he is absolutely wired to do it.

Schuette, 40, grew up in Hagerstown, graduating from Hagerstown High School in 1986.

“My family has always been in retail – some sort of business where we work directly with the customer,” said Schuette, owner of Nettle Creek Ace Hardware, 485 East Main Street. “When I was growing up, my folks rain the local grain elevator, so we were always serving customers. And that’s what retail is all about,” Schuette added. “It’s not about selling stuff. It’s about meeting the needs of the customers.”

Penny Shoemaker, Gary Schuette, Carla Bruns
Those early lessons went with Schuette when he left home to attend Purdue University. Working in the local hardware store during the summers to help pay his way, Schuette finished college in 1990, having earned a degree in (what else?) retail management.

“And then I worked in a few different places around the state,” he recalled, “always in retail hardware or in retail or wholesale lawn and garden. What can I say? I just always loved hardware.”

In 1996, Schuette followed his love and opened an Ace Hardware franchise here in Hagerstown. That business served him well enough that, by 2000, he had bought out his local competitor, a TrueValue franchise housed in what soon became Schuette’s current location on Main: a 16,000-square-foot structure that had once served as a bowling alley.

Without doubt and without apology, Schuette is still doing a labor of love.

“We’re open 70 hours per week, and I’m here virtually every hour we’re open,” he said.

Rex Bell, an area builder and a longtime customer of Schuette’s, is quick to verify that claim. “Oh, Gary’s always there.” And even when he’s not there, Bell says, Schuette is still eager to serve. “If you call him after hours on a Sunday, he’ll go out of his way to get you what you need. His work ethic is unbelievable.”

“Gary is one of a kind,” agreed Rhonda Cornils, another longtime patron. “Number one, he has just about everything you could ever need in that store; we probably go in there at least once a week. But more than that, he is just extremely helpful,” Cornils added. “His service is awesome. I can’t say enough about it.”

For Schuette, service isn’t just a way to conduct business; it’s a calling – one he says he is can properly answer only in a setting such as the one Hagerstown provides.

“Again, we’re not selling just a product,” he said. “We’re selling our service and our knowledge. And I love doing that in a small-town, hometown business.”

In fact, Schuette insisted: “You couldn’t give me a store in a big town like Richmond or Indianapolis. In those places, it’s all going to be about price; it’s not about helping the customer. That’s just not me. I am not a sit-in-an-office person. I have to be hands-on.

“It’s like I tell people: In a ‘big-box’ store they usually just give you the finger – you know, just point you to the paint department or to lawn and garden or whatever you’re looking for. That’s not what we do. We’re actually here to help people.”

For Rex Bell and Schuette’s legions of other loyal customers, such help is a rare and valuable commodity.

“I’m glad he’s here in town, I’ll tell you that,” Bell said. “And I hope he stays here as long as I’m in business.”