4 Hartford Business Journal • January 23, 2017 www.HartfordBusiness.com
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Rutkowski
daughter, Linda, 38, started as CEO in 2014.
"I have a lot of stress and more gray hairs,''
Linda says, smiling. "As a business owner,
you want to be successful, and you work
really hard. It's always scary, especially with
a lot of people shopping elsewhere; big stores
and the internet. But we're keeping up with it.
We'll be OK."
Siblings Linda, Ron Jr., 53, and Arek, 43,
comprise the company's leadership team.
Linda oversees operations. Arek handles
e-commerce. Ron Jr. directs the plumbing
and heating operations. Annual revenues
are about $2 million. Of the approximate 12
employees, about half are family members.
Ron Sr., 72, is still a daily presence at the
shop, helping where he can — and keeping
things light-hearted. "Even I get stuff online
now," Ron Sr. cracked. "And I was the last guy
to buy a fax machine."
He has a dozen grandkids, and a few great
grand kids, so there likely will be future gener-
ations of Rutkowski's in the family business.
Linda has a degree in education from
Central Connecticut State University and
aspired to become a school teacher. But she
was drawn by the Broad Street shop that has
been a part of her life, since birth.
"I like being in the store," said Linda, a
mother of two children. "I've been here my
whole life. I guess I just grew into it. I like the
social aspect, the people. Getting to talk to the
customers every day and getting to help them."
When asked what the most challenging
part of her job is, Linda laughed. "The cus-
tomers," she replied. "There can be some
challenging customers. I think that's with
any business."
In the early 20th century, New Britain
was known as the Hardware City and even
Hardware Capital of the World for its man-
ufacturing stalwarts such as The Stanley
Works and Fafnir Bearings; but also for the
plethora of family hardware stores that dot-
ted its landscape.
These days, the city's manufacturing base
is dying; Home Depot and Lowe's accelerated
the closing of most of the mom and pop hard-
ware stores. Rutkowski Paint & Hardware,
however, has remained.
The family saw the potential of technol-
ogy — and, eventually, embraced it.
Arek Rutkowski — fiddling with that com-
puter — was indeed on to something. n
Stan Simpson is the principal of Stan Simp-
son Enterprises LLC, a strategic commu-
nications consulting firm. He is also host
of "The Stan Simpson Show," which airs
Saturday, 5:30 a.m., on Fox 61.
2 0 1 7
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