MANSFIELD – Jerry Rentfrow is hanging up his tool belt after almost a quarter century of owning and managing Appleseed True Value Hardware.
Saturday, Feb. 27, Rentfrow turned his store over to family-owned E&H Hardware Group, which will open Appleseed ACE Hardware store at 1515 Lexington Ave. in early March. It’s a transition that’s met with mixed feelings.
“I’m looking forward to it, but it’s kind of bittersweet,” Rentfrow said. “It’s been my baby, running this store for so many years, and now I’m giving it up to someone else.”
Rentfrow began his career in Grand Rapids, Michigan as a banker for 15 years. Around the age of 40, he decided he needed a change.
“I was approaching my mid-life crisis and thought, what do I want to do for the rest of my life?” Rentfrow said. “I was always handy fixing things around the neighborhood, so I decided with a good blend of that handiness and my business background from banking, I’d like to own a hardware store.”
After deciding True Value was the brand they’d like to associate with, Rentfrow and his wife, Anne, made a call to True Value’s Cleveland office. That very day, Duane Getz happened to be sitting in the office discussing his retirement and what to do with his Mansfield store.
“We certainly didn’t anticipate that, it just happened,” Rentfrow said.
“It was a God thing,” Anne added.
So in 1992, the Rentfrows moved their small family to Mansfield and purchased Getz True Value. It was the perfect location, halfway between grandparents in Pleasant Hill Lake and Kalamazoo, Michigan. It was also the perfect time, right before bigger box stores like Lowe’s and Home Depot arrived in the area.
“By the time they came around we were competitive, and the stock in the store had started to grow,” Rentfrow said. “Ultimately we decided to put in the rental business, and we just kept growing and growing.”
Over the past 24 years, the Rentfrows reset their entire store with fixtures and merchandise. They watched their stock grow from under $100,000 worth of merchandise to three times that amount. They also won over the hearts of the community.
“When we first got here, Mansfield was a very tight-knit community,” Rentfrow said. “People were very loyal, but with the larger box stores coming to town people are seemingly less loyal today. Our business maintained that loyal customer base, which is still with us and which we hope to pass on.”
Six months ago, the Rentfrows began talks of retirement. After purchasing a pontoon boat for their Pleasant Hill Lake cottage and a bit of sweet talking from Anne, Rentfrow was starting to enjoy his time away from the store.
“The more I found I liked relaxing, the more appealing it was to think wow, I can live without that store,” he said. “As you get closer to that retirement age, you want more time to have fun and play and travel.”
Rentfrow decided that selling his business would be the best option in order to have more fun. Then, another divine intervention took place when E&H Hardware Group expressed interest in purchasing the Rentfrow’s store.
“They approached us, and it was like maybe this was another God thing,” Anne said. “We weren’t thinking about this for another couple years.”
Appleseed True Value Hardware officially closed at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 27 and reopen as Appleseed ACE Hardware at 8 a.m. on Thursday, March 3, or sooner. This will give E&H Hardware time to do a minor remodel and prepare the store for the ACE conversion, which will include an expanded plumbing department and full-service paint department.
As for Jerry Rentfrow, he is looking forward to traveling, performing more volunteer work in El Salvador, and taking a belated anniversary cruise with Anne. However, preparing for his last farewell has been challenging.
“People don’t like to say goodbye, when you do such a good job for them they don’t want you to leave,” Rentfrow said. “But I’m excited to see what ACE will do with this, what changes they may make and how they might enhance it and make it grow.”
