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Knob Hardware & Tool Store in Connelly Springs, North Carolina, says its plumbing department contributes about 10% to 12% of store revenue. Owner Sanu Silwal attributes the category’s role to broad product selection, organized displays and staff trained to understand customers’ repair problems before recommending parts.
Knob Hardware & Tool Store in Connelly Springs, North Carolina, says its plumbing department accounts for about 10% to 12% of total store revenue, according to owner Sanu Silwal. The retailer, founded in 2023, has built the category around a broad range of repair supplies and staff guidance for homeowners and trade customers.
Silwal told Hardware Retailing that the store’s aim is to help customers identify what they need for a plumbing problem, including by carrying hard-to-find and specialty parts. The department covers products such as faucets, pumps, drains, valves, pipes, fittings, supply lines and hoses. It also stocks sewage pumps, leak-monitoring products and specialty repair fittings.
The store does not have a dedicated plumbing team. Instead, its general sales staff assist across departments, with more experienced employees helping on complicated questions or projects. Silwal said staff receive training on plumbing product categories, applications, sizing, fittings, connections and common repairs. He said employees are encouraged to understand the customer’s project before recommending a product.
Products are arranged by type and customer need: larger boxed items sit on shelves, while smaller fittings and repair parts are displayed on peg hooks and in organized bins. Silwal said standard items tend to sell as readily available, high-volume products, while specialty sales depend more on matching a product to a customer’s problem, measurements and intended use.
Service That Supports Plumbing Sales
The retailer’s account offers a concrete example of how an independent store can treat plumbing as more than a shelf of replacement parts. For homeowners, a leak or clogged drain can be urgent, while uncertainty about the right size or connection may make a repair harder to start. Product knowledge and clear displays can help customers find suitable parts; for contractors, accessible stock can reduce time spent locating supplies.
The article also cites a SupplyHouse survey of 1,001 U.S. homeowners. It found that 93% said they delay plumbing or HVAC repairs at least sometimes; 13% said they waited six months or longer to address their most recent issue, and 8% said they did not address it. Among homeowners facing plumbing issues, 71% tried a DIY fix before calling a professional, and 51% of those attempts either failed to solve the problem or made it worse. These survey findings point to a possible role for retailer guidance, but do not establish that advice or product selection prevents failed repairs.
Hardware Retailing also describes education as a way for stores to build customer loyalty and repeat sales. Its suggestions include online demonstrations, in-store demonstrations and grouped emergency repair kits, potentially with QR codes linking to instructional videos. Those are proposed retail practices, not reported programs at Knob Hardware.
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A New Store’s Broad Offering
Knob Hardware opened in 2023 and carries a range of departments and services beyond plumbing, including hunting and fishing, U-Haul rentals, screen repair and electrical products. Silwal’s reported revenue figure gives a sense of plumbing’s place within that broader operation, rather than describing a standalone plumbing business.
The article says the store serves both DIY customers and contractors. Homeowners often arrive with a specific repair or improvement project and may need help identifying a size, connection or replacement part. Silwal said professionals also shop at the store, and that the different customer groups call for different kinds of assistance. The report does not provide a sales breakdown between those groups.
The SupplyHouse survey offers broader consumer context, including differences in how quickly age groups addressed their most recent plumbing issue: 45% of baby boomers said they acted immediately, compared with 34% of Gen X, 35% of millennials and 31% of Gen Z. These are survey results, not measures of customer behavior at Knob Hardware.
“We train our staff on the basic plumbing product categories, including product applications, sizing, fittings, connections and common repair situations.”
— Sanu Silwal, owner of Knob Hardware & Tool Store
Sales Mix and Results Remain Unreported
The report does not specify the period used to calculate plumbing’s 10% to 12% revenue share, the department’s sales over time, its profit margin or how much of its business comes from DIY customers versus professionals. It also does not provide figures showing whether staff training, specialty inventory or store displays increased revenue or customer satisfaction.
The homeowner survey is attributed to SupplyHouse, but the report does not give its field dates, sampling method, margin of error or full questionnaire. Its results describe survey respondents and should not be treated as a measurement of all U.S. homeowners. The article also does not establish that the survey findings caused Knob Hardware to develop its department or that the retailer uses the educational tactics suggested in the report.
Retailers Can Test Education Tactics
Hardware Retailing’s report points to possible next steps for retailers: publish demonstrations for common problems, hold in-store product demonstrations and group supplies into repair kits. Stores adopting those ideas could track customer questions, kit sales and repeat visits to see whether the services meet local needs.
No further plans or milestones for Knob Hardware’s plumbing department are specified in the report. The store’s future sales, any expansion of its product range and the results of its staff-training approach remain unreported.
Key Questions
How much of Knob Hardware’s revenue comes from plumbing?
Owner Sanu Silwal told Hardware Retailing that plumbing contributes about 10% to 12% of total store revenue. The report does not specify the period covered by that figure.
Where is Knob Hardware & Tool Store?
The store is in Connelly Springs, North Carolina. Hardware Retailing reports that it was founded in 2023.
Does Knob Hardware employ a dedicated plumber?
No dedicated plumber or plumbing-only sales team is described. Silwal said general sales staff assist customers, with more experienced employees helping on complicated questions and projects.
What did the SupplyHouse homeowner survey find?
In a survey of 1,001 U.S. homeowners, 71% of respondents facing plumbing issues said they tried a DIY fix before calling a professional. Of those attempts, 51% either did not solve the issue or made it worse. The report does not provide the survey’s field dates or sampling details.
What is not yet known about the department’s performance?
The report does not state the department’s profit margin, sales growth, revenue period or customer mix. It also does not quantify whether training or specialty inventory improved sales or customer outcomes.
Source: hardwareretailing.com
