By Annette Aubinger
Editor
HOWARD – It was about socializing. It was about wine and hor d’oeurves. It was about gaining independence with knowledge. It was about do-it-yourself demos. It was a ladies’ night out, but not where you expected it.
It was the second annual Ladies’ Night Out at Kimps ACE Hardware on Thursday, Nov. 9.
Craig and Laurie Kimps are the owners and they had the idea of offering a special ladies’ night at their store.
It was a way to showcase their store, but, more importantly, to give women confidence to come to their store and ask for help.
“We’re here to help” said Laura Kimps, owner.
The numbers were larger this year than last year said Kristine Williams, office manager. There were more than 300 attendees at the store.
The evening offered the opportunity for women to grab their girlfriends enjoy wine and hor d’oeuvres, to learn and ask questions.
There were many stations throughout the store to do that.
There was a grilling station where a Traeger rep was showing that line of grill. He shared how you can use the grill to make apple crisp, pulled pork and other foods.
At the e-cloth station an employee was sharing how you can use the cloth for various cleaning projects. It is a chemical free cloth.
Women gathered around the power center area of the store to learn about power equipment and ask questions.
A popular station was painting. Questions were answered on different techniques used for painting.
Kimps offers a home consultant and their in-house designer was there to answer questions.
That was in one part of the store. In the other part of the store there were stations on hardware.
There was a demonstration on how to use wall anchors and patch holes.
Another station showed women how to use basic caulk.
A Milwaukee Tool rep shared how to use their line of tools. And, for those who wanted to learn more about basic plumbing, the store manager was giving demonstrations.
An area that was popular the whole evening was home décor. Kimps offers a gift center where you can buy Christmas items, cards, statues and special stones with sayings on it, plus much more.
Throughout the evening you could sign up for door prizes. You could hear comments from the patrons like; “I like this shower head. I will never go back to one shower head.” “This is cool.” “They really did a nice job.” “Let’s go to the décor area.” “They have just wonderful stuff.” “Look at those signs. They are all so cute.”
Williams said the evening went well. They had great positive feedback from the customers.
At Kimps she said, “We are always willing to hear what people have to say and put new ideas out to customers.”
She said it was a great evening at the store for everyone.