Jim Argerakis says entire team is moving century-old company forward
By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
OCEAN CITY – Jim Argerakis is the new president and chief executive officer of Shoemaker Lumber Co.
When asked about his plans for the Ocean City business founded more than a century ago, Argerakis inevitably steers the discussion back to the people who have made Shoemaker an institution on this island. In short, he said he will build upon what the staff already does well.
In an industry dominated by big chain stores, Argerakis said Shoemaker Lumber has an advantage because it relies on service and convenience for its loyal contractor base and customers who walk in needing help on a home-improvement project.
“I see us sustaining the tremendous business they have built over the years,” he said last week, about a week after officially becoming the president and CEO after consulting with the company since May 11.
Argerakis used an anecdote to illustrate what impressed him about Shoemaker.
He was “overwhelmed” by the desire of the contractors to get their new Shoemaker Lumber T-shirts each year. “To me, that shows kind of a loyalty. They like the connection that they have with Shoemaker. When you walk in, our counter folks are greeting all of them by name. You can’t get that in Lowe’s and Home Depot.”
Referencing employee after employee, he said not only do they know the contractors, they ask about them and how to help. “I sit not that far from the counter and all day long I hear that. And you can’t get that in retail today,” he said. “Today in retail a lot of folks are frustrated because they can’t even get a cashier to check themselves out. If you walk into Shoemaker, you’re going to be greeted by name if you’re one of the contractors who have been here for any amount of time.”
That type of service extends to the other departments as well.
“And then we have folks who work in hardware, including Harry, who has been here for 40 years. You’re going to get personalized service whether you’re a homeowner or a contractor,” he said. “If you come in asking for the smallest widget, you’re going to get him or Dave or Rick walking you around and taking you to the aisle and helping you through it and maybe even giving you advice on how to handle your repair or your upgrade or whatever you’re doing that brought you in today. It’s amazing.
“I come from big traditional retail and we would always aspire to get elite service and have like the Ritz Carlton or Disney philosophy about recognizing people and your clients and all that. They’re doing it here,” he said of the business at 1200 West Ave.
Before Shoemaker, Argerakis spent his career at Modell’s Sporting Goods, a much larger but family-owned business where he worked for nearly 30 years, starting as a part-timer while in college at Temple University and finishing as executive vice president. Working at that business helped attract him to Shoemaker, where he liked the “family-owned, historic, vintage, authentic feel of it all.”
“This really intrigued me because it is everything I experienced at Modell’s but at a small scale. They want to grow. They want to look at a five-year plan, a 10-year plan, and they want to take my experience from working on a larger scale with a big company and help them do it,” he said about majority shareholders Lynne Tarves and Janet Young. Their husbands, Jim Tarves and Dick Young, were key officers in the company. (Jim died in 2016 and Dick earlier this year.)
Lynne Tarves and Janet Young said they and owners Al and Dan Neill had considered selling the company after Jim Tarves died, but only to a buyer who would keep Shoemaker Lumber. They finally took it off the market and decided to “re-energize” the company; that’s where Argerakis comes into play.
The company’s new president said he meshes well with the owners because of “how focused and decisive Lynne and Janet have been on where they want to go and what they want to do next. And where they envision” the future of the company.
“That’s what got me in – their vision, that it was family-owned, and there were a lot of similarities just on a smaller scale from where I came from,” he said.
His own family ties to carpentry
Argerakis learned a lot from his father, who was in the carpentry business all of his life, working for Frankford Supply building trusses for structures and then in his own carpentry and home remodeling business.
“I would spend my summers with him working during high school. We would go to Rider’s Lumber in Philadelphia at the time, that would be our morning stop. He would pick up the supplies,” Argerakis said, noting when his father visited Ocean City, where Argerakis has owned a home for five years, his father admiringly pointed out Shoemaker Lumber. “And that is why it was kind of uncanny and unbelievable that this relationship (with Shoemaker) came together and that I’m here today.”
“My fondest memories are of us doing things together and my first home that I had in Philadelphia. Me and him personally gutted and rebuilt the interior of that house, the old plaster walls, the woodwork. And we would do it nights and weekends slowly but surely, a room at a time, and I learned a ton from him … I consider myself very handy. I continue to love doing projects.”
He didn’t love it enough to become a carpenter because he enjoyed the business world and Modell’s, which kept offering him new opportunities. “They recognized my leadership abilities. That was always the overriding theme. And they kept choosing me to do other projects and grew my career. While I was there almost 30 years, I probably had five or six careers within Modell’s. Recruiting, to district manager, all the typical retail terms. All the way up to my last position there reporting to the owner (as executive vice president).”
Future of Shoemaker
Argerakis said he wants to take everything Shoemaker Lumber has established and take it “to the next level.” That may include enhanced product lines, “some major facilities upgrades to make us more efficient and serve our customers even better in product selection, pricing and convenience.” The business, he said, is in a great location with a “great wide open area of land that I think we can maximize even better to suit the community, its needs and a much larger product selection within the industry we’re in. That could mean a new hardware store, that could mean facility upgrades to carry more lumber for the contractors, to commit to an even better in-stock position for them, and try to take it to the next level to serve the community and the customers that are here.”
He said he loves the “full involvement” of all of the owners and that “they’re empowering me, that they like what I’m doing in bringing the team together at an even higher level.”
“One of the things that is important to me that I’ve learned in my experience is that all of the folks who are on the front line – in this industry it’s all the guys who work in the yard – all the guys and gals who work at the counter, or kitchen or hardware or doors. They’re on the front lines and they know their business, their customers and they know what we need. They’re allowing me to reach out to all of them, to work with all of them, solicit their ideas and implement them.”
Argerakis said it’s the whole team, from owners to employees, who will take Shoemaker Lumber into the future.
“I think we have a great team here … They’ve been so receptive and eager to learn and share what they know as well. The collaboration from the lowest level to the highest level has been fantastic.
“It’s really about me supporting them so they can do their jobs. What they do, they do well. I just really look forward to supporting them to reach their potential as well as the company’s potential. There’s a good group here. I think that’s what separates us from the rest. I think even in a year what we already do well we’ll be doing that much better because I feel like they’re all going to grow with my help and support.”
Again, turning the story from his new role, he added, “Rather than recognizing me, I think the rest of the team is what everyone is going to notice. And be impressed by as we continue to grow the business here.”
