News

October 25, 2018

Member Spotlight: Phillips Hardware

In this week’s Member Spotlight, we feature Jonathan Phillips, President/Owner at Phillips Hardware.

I grew up in the business with my parents. I really enjoyed the interaction with the community. My plan after college was to become a social worker. The year I graduated the box store arrived in Albany and my father asked me to try our family business, so the business chose me. I have taken pride in being connected to a fifth-generation business and now my five children are the sixth. The deal was he would allow me to work with local non-profits as part of my duties in the business. Over the years, I have worked with homeless shelters, Make-A-Wish, Big Brothers & Sisters, Police Athletic League, Children’s Miracle Network, many youth sports programs, Stride Adaptive athletes and Veterans. I graduated from Bethlehem High School, Syracuse University with a Marketing and Personnel Degree, Albany Entrepreneurs Organization and the school of hard knocks. I have been very fortunate to have many mentors over the years.

My father, Abbott Phillips, provided me many opportunities to learn from my mistakes. Abbott always would say “we can’t take our money with us, just our name”. We have prided ourselves to take care of our family, team, neighbors and community around us. We had a general manager, Lou Mancuso, who was tough on me during my early years. His goal was to prepare me for running the business. He was a great teacher and became one of my best friends. He was such a huge part of my life, he became the Godfather to my son Connor. About 10 years ago, I joined the Albany Entrepreneurs Organization. The Albany EO provides me with an amazing group of entrepreneurs from all types of industries to utilize as a board of directors as well as exposing me to many learning events that helped me shape my entrepreneurial journey. It has led me from a retailer to real estate developer.

My hobbies are helping others. I have had the pleasure of serving and leading many non-profits boards. I truly enjoy making a difference in other people’s lives, whether it is increasing awareness for a local non-profit, raising money or coaching youth in hockey, softball, baseball and soccer.
Our business has been around for 132 years. We are the oldest family owned retail business in the Capital District. Phillips Hardware is a 5-store hardware chain that sells all types of home improvement items, paint, electrical, plumbing, hardware, pet, seasonal, automotive, with two Sithl dealerships, window & screen repair shop, small engine repair shop, propane exchange & fill stations, key cutting including many chips keys, Primo 5-gallon water exchange plus we now rent table and chairs.

Our culture is to treat our customers as neighbors. Our job is to help our neighbors solve their home improvement problems, whether it is selling them something, finding them items online, or contacting one of our local competitors to go the extra mile. At Phillips, we focus on the relationship with our neighbors and the sale will take care of itself as well as them coming back to us. Recently, we have launched a rewards program through True Value that is nationally recognized but locally managed. We give valuable coupons and promotions to our customers that shop local with us. We try to find items that are unique such as Tru Pickles, Amish leg cramp remedy, local Tina’s Wing Sauce, but still keep the everyday standard items that customers need.

Customers can expect friendly service, a wide variety of merchandise, competitive pricing and a company that really cares about having a positive impact on our relationship with neighbors and our community.
I am very excited to be opening our first ground-up location in Altamont. This development project will have a hardware store with our corporate offices, a convenience store that will have a Dunkin Donuts inside with drive thru and a gas station provided by Red-Cap and a general store run by our family. The project will begin in November with the hardware store opening first. The site will include a display of the photos of the five generations and Lou Mancuso, retired General Manager and lifelong team member.