AMERICA'S MOST UNUSUAL HARDWARE STORE by Bob Vereen, Worldwide DIY Council Tucked away in an unincorporated community of 600 in northeastern Ohio is a multi-million dollar retail hardware operation with an amazingly huge inventory of non-electric appliances, stoves, tools and lights which it sells around the world.      It is Lehman's Hardware, a two-store chain originally serving the Amish communities surrounding Kidron and Mt. Hope, Ohio, but now also aggressively selling by direct mail and the Internet to customers everywhere as well to thousands of tourists who visit the main Kidron store regularly.      Amish people believe in simple living without electricity or other modern innovations, so the store, founded in 1955, concentrated on finding products to meet the needs of its Amish customers. Its huge selection of wood heating and cooking stoves, for example, may rank as the world's most complete assortment... (story continued...) STORY: 091209-AMUHS EU REGULATORY CHALLENGES by Bob Vereen, Worldwide DIY Council (A digest of a session conducted by the US Commercial Service of Brussels during an exporting seminar at Purdue University) Although the European Union consists of 500 million consumers making it economically the largest economy in the world with only one set of rules instead of 27, unfortunately, that one set of rules is not in operation all the time.      The challenge is that the EU is a fragmented single market!      EU countries had a tradition of top-down regulation, with decision-making processes often complex and closed. EU's old approach was directives-no CE mark but mandatory standards. Its new approach is CE marking and voluntary standards....(story continued...) STORY: 091209-EURC HOW TO SUCCEED AGAINST TOUGH COMPETITORS Competition is tough everywhere around the world for independent retailers and small chains, but especially so wherever big-box retailing is firmly entrenched, yet there are survival strategies that can be employed to increase one's sales and net profits.      Too often, experts say, smaller retailers worry most about expense control and their pricing image, but they can't rely on those alone. More attention must be given to increasing revenue and that can be achieved by increasing the satisfaction of present customers as well as devising ways to attract new customers....(story continued...) STORY: 091209-HTSATC

Find quality international careers and people at IMEX's career center. EMPLOYERS CLICK HERE to find highly qualified employees JOB SEEKERS CLICK HERE to find great international employment