Gina Schaefer - Recovery Hardware: A Nuts and Bolts Story About Building a Business, Restoring a Community, and Renovating Lives

Copyright 2022 Gina Schaefer

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed Attention: Permissions Coordinator. at the address below.

Contact information for Persistently Local Publishing www.recoveryhardware.com

ISBN: 979-8-9858410-0-8 (paperback)
ISBN: 979-8-9858410-2-2 (hardback)
ISBN: 979-8-9858410-1-5 (ebook)

Ordering Information:

Special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and others. For details, contact the author through www.recoveryhardware.com

Cover artwork by Gil Roeder

Dedication

To Whitman -Walker Addiction Services, whose clients crossed the street to our little shop, giving me the gift of the best teammates in the world.

To my beloved neighborhood, Logan Circlewhat it was and what it has becomeand to all the communities that support us. We see all those hammers and snow shovels and plungers youve purchased and appreciate you.

I always wondered why someone doesnt do something about that. Then I realized that I was somebody.

Unknown

INTRODUCTION

I f its different or unique, Im drawn to itthats why all our hardware stores develop their own style and why I love each and every one. They are all quirky and special in their own way and thats by design. We want every store to reflect the spirit of the people who shop and work there, and to honor the unique demands of our neighborhoods.

But if truth were told, I do have one favorite spot. Its the lawn and garden department at Logan Hardware, in Logan Circle, our flagship community where I go to work every day. I love this little nook because its tucked away like a secret. Its on the second floor, way at the back so you can easily miss it. In fact, you almost have to will yourself to find it. But once you do, its a like a gift of sensory overload in the most beautiful and unexpected of ways.

There are hundreds of colorful flowerpots here, of all shapes and sizes, glass vessels and kitschy floor mats, cacti and wind chimes. Old wooden pallets hang from the ceiling to make more space for macrame plant hangers and vividly hued watering cans. Right around the corner from the explosion of houseplants is a small set of stairs that lead to what was once a carriage house. This hidden space smells like a true old-fashioned hardware storethe dirt and fertilizer and bird seed of generations gone by perfumes the air.

To top it all off, hanging two stories above the alley, there is a back deck that teems with gorgeous plants basking in the city sunshine for as long as the season allows. It doesnt matter that the deck is not at ground level and overlooks an urban alley. Those details fade away when you step out and become enveloped in the bright blooms. In our busier seasons you can barely fit through the aisles of plant carts we have jammed back there. We cram as much variety as possible into about 300 square feet, so our city-dwelling neighbors feel like they have escaped to the countryside.

There is a back stairwell that links the third-floor offices where I spend most of my day to this bucolic retail nook. I sneak away to spend time there whenever I get stressed or bored or claustrophobic. It refreshes my perspective and reminds me of why Im running a retail business in the first place. Its because of nooks like this, brimming over with rare beauty, that you can smell, touch, and see. Its because I have built places like this all over town, where even the most delicate of flowers and people can grow and bloom.

In writing this book, Ive come to realize that my life has been punctuated by a strong connection to placesplaces like the garden department I just described. From a tiny business set up in my childhood basement to communities throughout the DC and Baltimore metro areas, I set down roots, and then I provide a place where others hopefully can feel at home. I build places where communities can come together, and take care of themselves, and each other. That after all, is what a hardware store should be about.

Quite coincidentally, our inaugural store opened down the block from The Elizabeth Taylor Medical Center, which has a successful drug addiction recovery program under its umbrella. From the very first person who drifted across the street to ask for work, I have been impressed with the quality, determination, and grace of my employees in recovery. From them I have learned patience and tolerance, discipline and forgiveness, leadership and fellowship, determination, and grace.

When one of my teammates stood in front of me one day and said to me, You know, Gina, we are known as recovery hardware in the community, the reason to write this book took hold. This book is an opportunity for me to lift up the men and women in recovery who have taught me how to be a leader, how to be a neighbor, and how to be a true friend. I have grown alongside them for almost two decades and my path would not have been nearly as fun or fulfilling or as successful without them. I like to think that it led to my own growth and recovery as a person with a voice, and as a leader who does the right thing. And ultimately, I believe that the collective efforts at our stores have led to the growth and recovery of our neighborhoods, and our communities.

Over the years the word recovery has meant different things at different times to different people. For me, what began as an effort to help my community recover from decades of neglect morphed into helping dozens (and dozens) of folks in recovery find a place where they could be safe from judgement, learn to show up on time, and give it their all. I wanted to share with them my sense of place where they could build a happy and fulfilling life.

Ive met so many special people because I am the owner of a retail business and want to tell some of their stories. I hope you hear their voices as their stories unfold, and that you find them as inspiring and helpful to you as they were to me.

Come on in.

ONE

E verything around me was wonderfully quiet. Calm. Hushed in a way that most twelve-year-olds dont usually appreciate. There were so few times during the day when I was even halfway stillsitting peacefully without my mind or my mouth running a hundred miles an hour. So, I relished this unusual and precious silence. It was as if my whole being was sitting inside noise-canceling headphonesthose big bulbous cans that cover your entire earexcept this silence surrounded my head and enveloped my shoulders too.

I could hear my own steady breathing: deep breath in, shmmmmmm; then a long breath out, mmmmmm. Shmmmmmm. Mmmmmmm.

I could just faintly make out every other letter in the words my mom was yelling from the kitchen upstairs: s.s.tme..to..ge.. moooov..ng! Sis, time to get moving!

I knew what she was saying even if the soothing silence under my electric shroud was drowning out her voice. I knew, because I had been sitting under the same old-style hairdryer, cross-legged, and cozy every single weekday morning for as long as I could remember. Every day, we went through the same routine.