Berland's stars as David of tools vs. home-improvement Goliaths

By Mark Le Bien, Daily Herald Business Writer

At the Berland's House of Tools stores in Lombard and Palatine, building contractors' vans and trucks begin pulling into the parking lots at 6 a.m.

The two stores open early to accommodate local building tradesmen, carpenters, brick layers, tile setters, drywall experts and so on, who make a quick stop at Berland's for a spare tool or replacement part before heading to their job sites.

"We're here for the guy who uses tools to make his living or is a serious hobbyist," says Dwight Sherman, 43, president of the business that has been in his family for nearly 30 years. "This is candy land for those people."

Sherman says the goal at Berland's is simple: Carry virtually everything the professional tradesman needs.

That covers a whole lot of tools. Cordless drills. Circular saws. Angle grinders. Rotary hammers. Belt sanders. Mitre saws. Heat guns. Brick trowels. Needle scalers.

And there's the heavy duty stuff: Pavement breakers. Table saws. Air heaters. Compressors. Generators.

Says Sherman, "If we don't have it, you don't need it."

Berland's headquarters and flagship store, with 31,500 square feet, are at 600 Oak Creek Drive in Lombard. The second store, with about 18,000 square feet, is at 20254 N. Rand Road in Palatine.

The company employs about 50 people and has annual revenues of $10 million.

These are brutal times to be in the tool business. Home improvement store giants such as Home Depot and Builders Square, who stock plenty of tools, have put the squeeze on smaller, mom-and-pop type stores, says Sherman. But he says Berland's is holding its own in the marketplace by offering a huge selection of nothing but tools and informed salesmen who are current or former tradesmen themselves.

"We've thrived because we have put so much money into personnel," Sherman says, adding that his stores have 20 experienced sales people.

Also, the Lombard store has a service center, with seven certified mechanics, who can repair anything the company sells.

About 85 percent of Berland's business comes from professional tradesmen. The rest comes from hobbyists and do-it-yourselfers.

"He's unique," Rick Carr, Chicago-area sales representative for tool maker Porter-Cable Corp., says of Sherman. "He sells a retail concept. That's unusual in this business. And his people are very well-trained and knowledgeable."

The Berland name and tools have gone together since the 1940s. The company was started by Joe Berland, a Chicago taxi driver who made money on the side by picking up and delivering tools for riders who worked in the construction business.

Berland opened a store in the city and it stayed in his family until 1969, when it was sold to Dwight Sherman's father, Dave. The Sherman family already had been in the local tool business for three generations, running a socket tool company and wholesale distribution business.

Dave Sherman moved the Berland's store to Broadview and then Downers Grove in the mid-'70s. The family opened a second store in Palatine in 1989. The Downers Grove store was moved to Lombard five years ago.

Dwight Sherman, who studied sociology and criminology at the University of Illinois at Chicago, seemed headed for a career outside the family business. But, following several jobs after graduation, he went to work at the Downers Grove store.

"He's really built up the business," said father Dave, who retired last year.

Although president of the company, Dwight Sherman eschews a tie and executive office and prefers to spend as much time as possible with customers in the two stores.

"I'm on the floor a minimum of 20 hours a week, working with customers, shoulder-to-shoulder with employees," he says.

These days, Sherman's also on the radio and television. He's a regular guest on Jonathon Brandmeir's program on WLUP 97.9-FM, playing a game called "Name That Tool" in which they rev electric drills and other equipment next to a microphone and listeners call in and try to identify it.

Sherman also has bought half-hour slots of time on local television channels and hosted a "Tools for the Trades" program where he demonstrates and discusses various power tools.

"We're bringing excitement to a traditionally very stodgy business," Sherman explains. "We're always trying to do things differently. Our thinking is, don't copy, let's innovate."

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