By Elliott Brack | Today let’s look at the operation of two brothers, John and Doug Howard, who own Howard Brothers Outdoor Power and Hardware, headquartered in Duluth. We’ll find that one has worked into a new title.
John took over what was then a simple general store in Doraville at the death of their father, Edwin, who opened a general store in 1955. The store sold bread and meats plus some hardware, with two gas pumps out front. The original store was at the intersection of Buford Highway and Pleasantdale Road.
Doug joined John in 1987 and the two guys opened their second store in Duluth. By 1989, they started a heavy concentration on products associated with lawn care. Later came other locations in Oakwood, Alpharetta, Athens, Lula, and eventually in Dallas, 1989. Today the brothers often are in their Duluth office, John as president and Doug as secretary-treasurer of their operation. They are 50-50 owners of the operation.
The two boys had grown up in Doraville, and graduated from Norcross High. John studied a while at Gainesville Junior College before joining his father. Doug went to ABAC in Tifton and built houses for a few years before joining with John.
John and his family moved to Cleveland in 2003, while Doug moved to Statham a few years ago. Both brothers now are involving their sons, John’s Alan and Jeff, and Doug’s Zack, in operating their stores. “They (the sons) do the heavy lifting,” John says.
So with this as background, you might start to understand what has evolved into a new title for John Howard. Besides being president of the company, “I am also often the chief delivery boy,” he laughs. There are not many companies whose leader can be labeled “President and Chief Delivery Boy.”
That’s based on the work-a-day habits of John. “When I get up each morning to head for work, I drive right by the Lula store. That’s the place where we have plenty of room, and use it as our main warehouse area, especially for bulk products. For instance, we sell a lot of one particular weed killer for the landscaper operators, buying it in 2.5 gallon containers, and even in 55-gallon drums. Sometimes trucks unload 50 pallets of this product. We also store several landscape mowers and other heavy equipment at the Lula location.
“So, when I stop by our store in Lula, and find that one of our other stores might be out of something, I either load it on my pickup, or attach a trailer to my pick-up, and, I’m off for perhaps Dallas or Athens with something they are out of, so we can serve our customers better. Often I go on into our Duluth office, or stop by one of the other stores before I come home.”
John finds there are additional benefits for him delivering good to his other areas. “It keeps me close to my 140 employees, and I get to know them. And going to those other stores, regularly I know operations better. It’s something of a managerial tool. By being in these other stores, I’m a better manager for our company, since I know what’s going on in these outlying areas.”
It also adds to John’s truck’s mileage. “We’ll put 30-35,000 miles on my pick-up each year to visit these other places. And people can always reach me in my truck with my hands-free cell phone. It works for us.”
That’s John Howard, president of Howard Brothers Outdoor Power and Hardware, and often its on-the-road delivery person.
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