Most retailers spend enormous effort building their own brand.
Private label. House brands. Exclusive products nobody else carries. That is the standard advice, and the reasoning is sound. Own the product and you own the margin.
Now here is a retailer in Pueblo, Colorado whose reputation rests on selling other people's brands.
Carhartt. Wrangler. Serious boot makers. Tool brands people have opinions about.
The store does not pretend to have invented any of it. The whole proposition is that they stock the real version of the thing you actually want.
That sounds like a weaker position than owning your own brand. In this category it is a stronger one, and the reason why is genuinely interesting.
There is a second decision that is even more unusual, and we will get to that. The company is owned by its employees.
Two unfashionable choices. Both correct. Let me show you why.