Yechezkel died today. His funeral is taking place as I write this post. I imagine that hundreds of people will be there – family, friends, town officials, and customers. Many, many customers. I’m out of town – or else I would be there, too.
He owned a small, magical, cavern of a hardware store in my town – a store which almost defies description.
Yechezkel’s store was know exactly as that – Yechezkel’s. No trade name, no fancy logo, no branding. Nothing. It was just Yechezkel’s.
Need an obscure thingamabob to fix a hoojamaflip? Go to Yechezkel. He’s sure to have it.
How about a connector for that whatsit that you bought 20 years ago and is now obsolete? Yechezkel will rig up a solution for you in a jiffy.
Forgot your wallet? No worries. Take the stuff and pay him another time. Old-fashioned trust at work.
Yechezkel had what seemed like millions of hardware products in his store. To an untrained eye, it all looked impossibly disorganized. Boxes upon boxes of unidentified bits and pieces, nothing labeled, very few prices to be seen.
But Yechezkel knew where everything was, and if, by any chance, he didn’t have something in stock (it’s almost impossible to imaging that it ever happened), he’d order it for you immediately.
He didn’t have the only hardware store in town, of course. There are others. Larger, more organized, less dusty. But many of us, (those in the know), preferred giving our business to him.
He didn’t try to sell you anything. Ever. No pushy sales pitch. No upsells or addons. Just solid advice and recommendations. And he didn’t do any marketing to speak of. No ads, no gimmicks, no special offers, no deals. Nothing.
He did what he knew how to do: provide expertise and excellence, and build solid, long-lasting relationships with his customers. This was business-building at its best. Word of mouth working its magic for a small store with a big heart. This is how to beat the bigger guys with the bigger budgets.
He was, very simply, a mensch. Kind, caring, modest, knowledgeable, helpful and generous. Thousands upon thousands of people knew his store and loved it. And they loved him, too.
He will be missed.