Vote for the Best Hardware Store in Westchester!

Westchester Magazine is running their annual "Best of Westchester" voting from now until January 22 and we would appreciate your support in our quest to be named "Best Hardware Store" in Westchester.  We've won several times in the past, most recently in 2019, and we'd love to win again.  Westchester is home to a number of wonderful locally owned hardware stores, so the competition is tough and we need all our loyal customers to cast their vote for Cornell's.

While you are voting you also can vote for your favorites in a number of other categories. In the home group we’d suggest Nicole Interiors in Tuckahoe as Best Interior Designer, Nature’s Cradle in Eastchester as Best Garden Center, and Seminara & Son as Best Apartment Developer.  Some examples in the food and eatery group might be Broken Bow Brewery for best local brewery and Slave to the Grind for best local coffee shop.  You probably have your own favorites in many of the categories so make sure to support all the local businesses in our community.  If you have suggestions please post them in the comments below or on our Facebook page.

Will you #ShopSmall on Small Business Saturday?

Whether it’s the Slave To The Grind with their delicious dark roast or Epstein’s with their great selection of clothing and footwear, we all have a favorite small business. Cornell’s True Value Hardware is proud to support Small Business Saturday, the day dedicated to celebrating these beloved businesses. Let’s help make this Small Business Saturday one of the biggest yet. Here’s what you can do:

• GO OUT AND SHOP: Make sure to support the businesses in your neighborhood on Nov 30, and check-in while shopping so your friends and neighbors know you support locally owned small businesses.

• SHARE YOUR SUPPORT: “Like” and share posts from Small Business Saturday and Independent We Stand Facebook pages to get friends and family to #ShopSmall

• JOIN IN: Visit ShopSmall.com to get more ideas on what you can do for the big day Get out and Shop Small to make an impact on your community.

Thanks for your support! To learn more, visit ShopSmall.com or IndependentWeStand.org

Best of Westchester winner, two years running!

Thank you to all our friends and neighbors who once again voted for Cornell's as the Best Hardware Store in the annual Westchester Magazine reader's poll. With so many wonderful independent hardware stores in our county it's truly an honor to be selected as the best hardware store around, especially in consecutive years. You can be sure we will work hard to continue providing outstanding service and product selection to help you improve and maintain your home or business. Cheers!

Ladybug, ladybug, fly away home...

Did you know that ladybugs are a beneficial insect? They eat aphids and other insects that like to munch on your vegetables and flowers, so having them in your garden is a natural way to eliminate insect pests. Every year we bring in limited quantities of ladybugs that you can release in your yard or garden once the weather turns warmer. It’s easy, fun, and may help in your battle with bugs!

Time To Vote!

It’s once again time to vote for your favorite local businesses in the annual Best of Westchester poll run by Westchester Magazine. In addition to voting for your favorite hardware store (hint! hint!) you can vote for restaurants, shops, services, and celebrities in Westchester County. It’s a fun poll and hopefully many of our local businesses will be recognized. Voting is open until January 23.

Please take a moment and vote for Cornell’s as the Best Hardware Store. Thank you in advance for your support!

Best of Westchester winner!

Thank you to all our friends and neighbors who voted for Cornell's as the Best Hardware Store in the annual Westchester Magazine reader's poll.  With so many wonderful independent hardware stores in our county it's truly an honor to be selected as the best hardware store around.  You can be sure we will work hard to continue providing outstanding service and product selection to help you improve and maintain your home or business.  Cheers!

Customer feedback...and advertising

We love getting feedback and comments from customers, and while we especially love compliments we also truly want to hear about it when our service fails to meet expectations. With the advent of the Internet there are now a myriad of ways for customers to contact us or rate our service, whether email, instant messaging, online review sites, or blogs. We try and respond to each and every comment or review, whether positive or negative, and we share the comments with our staff.

One situation were we really can't properly respond is when we receive anonymous comments. The letter below arrived today, and there was no contact information, return address, or any other indication as to the customer's identity. We would truly love to respond, but unfortunately we cannot except through this public post.  So, here'a quick response.

True Value Hardware and Ace Hardware are two totally different hardware store chains.  Both types of stores are independent locally owned stores, and both True Value and Ace are co-op wholesale suppliers.  The individual stores own their respective wholesale company, and each store decides how to run their store (products to carry, pricing, staff, decor, etc.).  Currently, only Ace Hardware is running national advertising and until recently they were one of the sponsors of the Laura Ingraham show.  

As a True Value store we have no connection to Ace's decision any more than Home Depot or WalMart.  From our perspective it's probably best for dealer-owner companies like Ace or True Value to avoid sponsorship of political commentary shows altogether, whether Ingraham or Maddow, Hannity or Hayes.  There are plenty of other shows that are less politically charged, so why stir up your clients or customers by supporting a political commentary show?  

Finally, an anonymous letter or comment provides us with no way to respond or address your concerns.  So please, always include a way for us to respond, comment, reply, or otherwise reach out to you.  

Basement Water Damage

Did you get water in your basement due to the storm yesterday?  Here are a few tips for handling the cleanup.

If you have a bare floor then you can use a wet vac to remove surface water and puddles.  If there is more than 1/2" of water then you will likely need to pump out the water.  Once that's done use a fan to dry out the area.  We rent carpet drying blowers, or you can purchase a box fan or carpet drying fan.  Avoid using heaters as they aren't as effective at drying out the area and can instead lead to mold growth.

If you have area carpets remove them and let them dry outside.  If you have wall-to-wall carpet it's probably a lost cause.  The padding under the carpet will need to be discarded, and it may be difficult to remove and salvage the carpet.  Once the carpet and padding is removed use a blower and wet vac to dry out the area.

If you experience occasional basement flooding you should consider adding a sump pump. These pumps sit below grade in a small pit and pump out water when it hits a certain level.  If you don't have a pit for a sump pump you probably want to get a contractor to do that work.  Remember that the pump will not work without power, so if you want to protect against power failure and flooding consider a battery operated sump pump.  

True Value Reunion

Twice a year some of our management team hits the road to get together with other hardware store owners at the True Value Reunion.  These events used to be called "markets" as the primary activity that took place was pre-season buying of products.  At the spring market we would purchase goods for the fall and winter, and at the fall market we'd purchase spring and summer goods.

This weekend two members of our management team are heading to Chicago for the True Value Fall Reunion.  While we will be buying items for the spring and summer of 2018 (BBQ grills, lawn and garden products, patio furniture, etc.) we also spend a lot of time in educational sessions and in networking meetings with other dealers.  The name was changed from "market" to "reunion" a few years ago to reflect the new focus of the events. It's a great opportunity for us to meet with other store owners and with the True Value team to share ideas to better serve our customers and run our store more efficiently.

Throughout the reunion we'll be posting updates to our Facebook, Instagram and Twitter feeds, showing new products, cool demonstrations, and any other items of interest we find while walking the floor at the McCormick Place convention center.  Follow us if you'd like to see what we're up to!

Busy, busy, busy

Most retail stores are busiest during the Christmas holiday season, but that's a secondary busy time for a hardware store.  May and June are the crunch months in the hardware business, especially for stores like ours that sell BBQ grills and gardening supplies.  We get trucks every day with merchandise, with two big deliveries each week from True Value.  Each of the True Value deliveries contains ten or more pallets of products, everything from mulch and soils to power tools, paint, light bulbs, and more.  

It can be a challenge to store all the products, but our crew does a great job of moving items into our basement via a conveyor belt and our elevator.  Many customers don't even know we have a full size basement full to the brim with product to backup the merchandise we have displayed on the sales floor.  If you'd like to take a peek in the basement you can, just head down the stairs near the key machine and check out our display of BBQ grills, home beer making supplies, and beekeeping equipment.

To Every Thing, There Is A Season

Our store product selection follows the seasons, so garden supplies in the spring, barbecue grills in the summer, rakes in the fall, and snow shovels in winter.  Unlike most stores, though, we make use of our large basement (sometimes referred to as the Dungeon) to maintain a selection of seasonal items all year round.

So even though the weather is warming up we have inventory of ice melter and snow shovels if we get a late season snow storm.  Need some Christmas lights for decorating in July?  No problem, we have inventory of holiday lights in our inventory.  Does your grandmother need a heater to keep her warm even though it's mid-summer?  We keep inventory of heaters all year round.

Most large chains and big box stores dump all their seasonal inventory in the waning days of each season.  Good luck finding a snow shovel in March or garden hose in November at the big box stores, but we have those items on hand.  We know what is needed to maintain the homes in our area because we live here too.  So next time you need something that doesn't align with the season give us a call...we likely have what you need even if it's out of season.

Technology at Cornell's True Value Hardware

Even though Cornell's Hardware has been around for over 100 years we certainly aren't an "old" hardware store.  We strive to be on the cutting edge with both the products we offer our customers as well as the technology we use to run our business.  

We were one of the first hardware stores in the northeast to computerize our operations.  Our Point-Of-Sale system was installed in the summer of 1982, and we have been improving it over the years and following tech trends to continuously improve your shopping experience.  We actually are a test site for many new features, and customers may have noticed we were one of the early adopters of chip card readers (with all their quirks).

On the Internet front, we put up our first web site in 1995 and were selling on the web beginning in 1996.  Our website has grown over the years, and now provides information about our history, or operations, and our entire inventory file so you can browse our products prior to visiting the store.  In addition, customers with a True Value Rewards card can view their purchase history via our website or via the new True Value customer app.  

Nobody knows what the future of retail technology will bring, but we will continue to follow the industry trends and add new services and features that help make it easier for our customers to do business with us.  

Best of Westchester voting is open

Westchester Magazine is running their annual "Best of Westchester" voting from now until January 25 and we would appreciate your support in our quest to be named "Best Hardware Store" in Westchester.  We've won twice in the past, most recently in 2007, and we'd love to win again.  Westchester is home to a number of wonderful locally owned hardware stores, so the competition is tough and we need all our loyal customers to cast their vote for Cornell's.

While you are voting you also can vote for your favorites in a number of other categories.  Some examples might be Broken Bow Brewery for best local brewery and Slave to the Grind for best local coffee shop.  You probably have your own favorites in many of the categories so make sure to support all the local businesses in our community.  If you have suggestions please post them in the comments below or on our Facebook page.

Celebrate Trolls and find your True Colors

To celebrate the release of "Trolls" in theaters we want to see you Color Your Home Happy and score gift certificates to see the movie on the big screen.

Pick up a rainbow of Troll-inspired products, like EasyCare® Ultra Premium Trolls paint, Trolls DuckTape™, a Trolls Chia Pet and more!

Plus, the first ten True Value Rewards members that purchase a gallon of EasyCare® Ultra Premium Trolls paint will receive a pair of Fandango $10 gift certificates so you can see Trolls in the theater. Certificates are available while supplies last, limit two per household.

Recognizing our veterans

America owes a great debt of gratitude to the military veterans who have served our country. There are many programs to assist veterans once they leave the military, but too many veterans still struggle with depression and other afflictions that make it difficult for them to return to normal life in their community.  Sometimes all our veterans want is for us to remember them and what they have done to preserve our freedoms and way of life.

We aren't big fans of Wal-Mart, and in fact we've parodied their store for many years.  However, we're proud to participate in the Greenlight A Vet program which has been supported by Wal-Mart for several years.  It's easy to participate, all you need to do is add a green light to your interior or exterior lighting so it can been seen from the street.  It's a simple gesture, but one that might mean a lot to a veteran in your community.

We stock green lights all year round, and this year we're offering them at 20% discount through Veteran's Day.  Please consider adding a green light to your home and leave it lit all year round if possible.  If you can't light it all year round at least try to keep it lit for Veteran's Day as well as Memorial Day.  It's an easy way to possibly make a big impact in someone's life.

Say goodbye to bursting compact garden hoses

We've all probably tried the compact garden hoses like the Pocket Hose and the X-Hose, and we've all likely been doused with water when they burst.  These hoses started via "As Seen On TV" infomercials and ads, and made their way into hardware stores, drug stores, and supermarkets.  While useful they were pretty unreliable and most probably wound up in the trash.

This year there is a new compact hose in the market, and it's proven to be pretty reliable. It's called the Zero-G Garden Hose and it's made by an actual garden hose company (Teknor Apex). It's comparable in price to the old X-Hose, but far less prone to failure.  It comes in 50 foot length and has metal hose connectors.  While it doesn't collapse or expand automatically, it can be stored in a very small space and is much lighter than comparable 50 foot vinyl garden hose.

Time to say goodbye to compact fluorescents?

It seems like it was only yesterday when Compact Fluorescent (CFL) bulbs hit the market, promising big energy savings and longer bulb life.  Energy legislation and falling CFL prices made them the smart choice for lighting your home and business, in spite of some concerns about bulb disposal and warm-up times.  LED bulbs have been around for many years, but in the past few months the pricing has dropped significantly and the selection of bulb styles has greatly increased.  In early February we worked with GE and went through our bulb selection from top to bottom and we made a decision to drop CFL bulbs and fully embrace their LED replacements.  

LED bulbs offer even more efficiency than CFL bulbs, but at a similar price and with none of the disposal concerns or delayed bulb startup.  LED's are available in even more styles than CFL bulbs, including clear candelabra styles often used in chandeliers or wall sconce fixtures.  

We will continue to offer some CFL bulbs, and of course we can order any bulb you may need to match existing bulbs you may have.  However, we encourage you to start moving to LED bulbs to gain the benefits more quickly.  The pricing is really close to CFL bulbs, and in some cases it's lower.  This month for example, we are featuring a 4 pack of LED bulbs for just $15.99 for our True Value Rewards members.  Stop in and see our full selection of LED bulbs, you'll be amazed at how much variety is now available.

Best of Westchester Voting

Westchester Magazine is running their annual "Best of Westchester" voting from now until January 27 and we would appreciate your support in our quest to be named "Best Hardware Store" in Westchester.  We've won twice in the past, most recently in 2007, and we'd love to win again.  Westchester is home to a number of wonderful locally owned hardware stores, so the competition is tough and we need all our loyal customers to cast their vote for Cornell's.

While you are voting you also can vote for your favorites in a number of other categories.  You probably have your own favorites in many of the categories so make sure to support all the local businesses in our community.  If you have suggestions please post them in the comments below or on our Facebook page.

Cool new gadgets

The holiday shopping season is upon us, and we've got some cool new gadgets that will look great under the Christmas tree.  

First up is a thermal imaging camera that works with Android or Apple IOS devices.  It's a great tool for locating heat loss in your home and will earn back the cost after just one energy scan of your house.  

Next up is the Drop Stop, a car accessory that was a big hit on TV's Shark Tank.  Drop Stop attaches to your seat belt and prevents objects from falling between your seat and the console.  If you've ever dropped your cell phone, food, jewelry, or other objects under your seat then you will appreciate the Drop Stop.

Say goodbye to your old toolbox and replace it with a Dewalt lighted backpack tool bag.  The sturdy backpack has 57 pockets to help organize your tools, and a padded back for carrying comfort.

Finally, take your holiday decorating to the next level with Lumenplay lights.  These LED holiday lights can be controlled from Android or IOS devices, allowing you to change color schemes and even synchronize lights to music.  Stop in a see a demonstration.

Cordless outdoor power tools

Cordless outdoor blowers and trimmers are a great alternative to their gas powered equivalents.  They are quieter and pollution-free, and powerful enough for the yard maintenance needs of most homeowners.  The new Dewalt 20 volt brushless blower weighs only about 7 pounds yet can generate 90 MPH wind speed and 400 CFM air velocity.  It uses the same 20 volt battery as many other Dewalt tools, including their new cordless trimmer.