Cleveland, OH—To mark 10 years of retail network expansion and position its store concept for future growth, Parker Hannifin opened its 200th ParkerStore on Sept. 25 in Manassas, Virginia.
Cleveland, OH— To mark 10 years of retail network expansion and position its store concept for future growth, Parker Hannifin opened its 200th ParkerStore on Sept. 25 in Manassas, Virginia. The company will celebrate the anniversary and its latest opening with an Oct. 2 open house at the Manassas store. The event will feature a collection of banners and commemorative items that also will be available in its stores nationwide. The first ParkerStore opened in Cleveland in 1993.
A leading manufacturer of motion and control systems and technologies, Parker plans to accelerate expansion of its retail store concept in the future. ‘As a consistently profitable extension of our customer operations, ParkerStores have opened new markets and been a significant revenue driver for the company,’ says Jack Myslenski, Parker’s executive VP of sales, marketing and operations support. ‘We see continued opportunity to open more ParkerStores in the U.S. and even greater prospects worldwide.’
The firm adds that its ParkerStore concept was the first of its kind in the industry. ParkerStores feature a complete hose and fitting inventory, including 3,000 parts in stock and an expanded range of other Parker products, such as hydraulics, automation, filtration, climate & industrial controls, and seal groups. Besides products, ParkerStores provide technical expertise, product training, troubleshooting and alternate system solutions. ParkerStores also offer a 24/7 emergency assistance service.
Located close to industrial product buyers, ParkerStores offer a convenient shopping environment with well-stocked shelves, wide aisles, displays, merchandizing aids and knowledgeable salespeople. Parker adds that its in-store support staff specializes in retail trade and national promotions, such as racing program sponsorships, tradeshow support, a global directory, point of purchase displays, sales literature, yellow pages advertising and training.
‘The independently owned stores are a growing part of Parker’s worldwide network of 8,500 distributors,’ says Myslenski. ‘Despite a general decline in the traditional industrial distribution business, the ParkerStore network has grown by 23% annually. In fact, we now have more than 400 ParkerStores worldwide.
“ParkerStores are able to meet the needs of customers we couldn’t reach before. Also, the stores have proven very popular with our distributors. Since we opened our first ParkerStore with Mega Fluidline Products Inc. (Cleveland, OH) in 1993, 70% of our U.S. distributors have become storeowners, while more than 40% operate in more than one location. The stores’ total focus on customer service has earned us a high percentage of repeat customers and storeowners.’
With annual sales exceeding $6 billion, Parker Hannifin is reportedly the world’s leading diversified manufacturer of motion and control technologies and systems, providing precision-engineered solutions for a wide variety of commercial, mobile, industrial and aerospace markets. The company employs more than 46,000 people in 44 countries worldwide.
Control Engineering Daily News Desk
Jim Montague, news editor
[email protected]
