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美国一妇女经营的五金店生意兴隆

Gina Schaefer never expected to get into the hardware business. But when she and her husband bought an apartment that needed to be fixed¹ up and there were no local hardware stores, she decided² she’d open up one of her own.

吉娜?沙弗以前从未想过开五金店。但家里的一个特殊情况改变了一切。

“I always wanted to own my own business... so the opportunity just presented itself... and I said, ‘This is what I’m going to do,’” Schaefer said.

爱思五金店店主吉娜?沙弗说：“我和我丈夫买了套公寓，需要修缮，但当地却没有五金店。我可能会被我的科技公司解雇，于是决定开一家五金店。”

That was in 2003. Today she owns nine thriving hardware stores in and around the Washington D.C. area, serving a total of 1,200 customers a day.

那是2003年的事。如今，她在华盛顿特区及周边地区开有九家五金店，每天接待1200名顾客。

'Where's the guy?'

But starting a business – especially in a field usually dominated by men – had its challenges.

但是，在通常以男性为主的领域创业有许多挑战。

“We laugh about it in hindsight, thinking about some of the guys that would come in that would want some product help and would ask: 'Is there a man that I can talk to?'  'Where’s the guy in plumbing³?’ ‘Where’s the guy that runs the store?’” she recalled, adding “We also joked that if you go to a convention and you walk down a convention aisle⁴, the vendors⁵ don’t talk to the women that are there.”

沙弗说：“现在想想真觉得好笑，一些男顾客来到店里就问；‘有可以说话的男的吗？修水管的男的在哪儿？店老板在哪儿？’”

But over time, that gender⁶ bias⁷ dissipated.

不过，随着时间的推移，这种性别偏见也烟消云散。

“There are lots of folks who come in – male and female – who have never had to fix their toilet, for example, and they just want advice on how to do it," Schaefer said. "And if you can make them comfortable and be confident in that answer, they’re not worried about whether or not you’re a man or a woman."

沙弗说：“有很多来店里的人，包括男的和女的，比如说，他们从来没修过马桶，他们就是想知道要怎么修。如果你能给他们信得过的答案，他们不介意你是男的还是女的。”

She credits her success to a number of factors.

她把自己的成功归功于几个方面。

Each of Schaefer’s stores is affiliated⁸ with Ace⁹ Hardware, a 90-year-old, multi-national U.S. corporation that lends its name to independent hardware stores. Schaefer says that gives them credibility, and more.

沙弗的每一家店附属于美国的一家有90年历史的跨国公司：爱思公司。爱思公司允许独立运营的五金店使用他们的品牌。这给了这些五金店信誉，当然还不止这些。

“So they give us that buying power, and then they wrap a whole lot of services around it, whether it be training, store layouts, planning, financial organization; all types of programs that they wrap around the co-op.”

沙弗说：“爱思公司给了我们进货优势，还附带一整套的服务，包括培训、店面布置、规划、以及公司的财务结构。”

She also credits her employees for her business success. She said she pays above average wages and provides health insurance and other benefits.

那种进货优势让沙弗能以具有竞争力的价格销售包括油漆、灯泡在内的许多类商品。

“What we really decided is that we wanted to be a great place to work,” she said. “We wanted people to be able to raise their children by working here. We wanted them to enjoy coming to work because they knew that their employers really valued their skill set.”

沙弗说：“我们希望这里是非常好的工作场所，希望员工在这里工作就能养家，希望他们在这里工作得开心，因为他们知道老板很重视他们的技能。”

Gina Schaefer talks with employee Brian Cole. One of those valued employees is Christina Amaya who has been with the company for six years.

克里斯蒂娜?阿玛亚在店里工作了六年。

“I like it here," she said. "They respect you. They’re very considerate of everything, of you as a person, instead of you as just an employee, and I like that very much because it makes you feel important.”

爱思五金店员工克里斯蒂娜?阿玛亚说：“我喜欢这里。他们尊重你、关心你，待你不仅仅是一名员工，我非常喜欢这点，因为这让你觉得你很重要。”

And happy employees translate into satisfied customers, like Chris Bolanos who visits the store on a regular basis.

员工工作开心转化成了顾客的满意。

“I think I come back more for the customer service than anything else,” he said. “Products you can probably buy anywhere. But customer service you can’t replace.”

顾客克里斯?博拉诺斯说：“我多次光顾这家店是因为顾客服务。商品在哪里都能买，但是服务是无法替代的。”

Schaefer hopes to open in more locations as the demand for urban hardware stores continues to grow.

现在，对城市五金店的需求在继续增加，沙弗也希望开更多的店。