Tampa hardware store owner seeks to transform community

Christopher Cunningham gets his interest in investing in the community honestly: hanging above the cash register of the True Value hardware store he opened in Tampa in 2024 is a photograph of his grandfather, James H. McGee, a lawyer who worked NAACP cases and was the first black mayor of Dayton, Ohio. 

Cunningham lived with his grandfather during the school year from ages five to 14. The young boy made note of how his grandfather treated others in town and made sure people were taken care of. 

In 2015 Cunningham migrated to Florida and now, at age 43, he is a man about town and using his businesses to try to make Tampa a better place. “I really believe in North Tampa, and I think that great things are happening,” he says of his new digs, in a neighborhood that hasn't attracted development at the rates of some other areas nearby. 

After dabbling in tax business ownership, he shifted to the water restoration business once he arrived here, based on some market research via Entrepreneurship magazine’s Franchise 500 issue. Dry 24 Water Restoration tackles issues like mold, burst pipes and sewage backup for commercial and residential spaces. Not content with one business, he knew it was time to grow. “In 2023 I was looking for different ways, different profit centers, and so I wanted to do something that kind of went with the water restoration business,” Cunningham says.

Additionally, his experience dealing with national big-box store chains as part of the restoration business had soured him. “We spent, you know, hundreds of thousands of dollars at Home Depot and Lowe's. But when you go into Home Depot or Lowe's, a lot of times people run the other way, you know, instead of trying to help because it's not necessarily about service,” he says. 

Vertical integration

Wanting to set himself apart from other hardware store brands, he opted to get into business with True Value, a Chicago-based chain founded in 1948. Without intending to, things came together in reverse order. True Value set Cunningham up with an e-commerce business before finding a physical retail space, since the right fit for the store hadn’t hit the market yet. 

Reps from True Value found Shell’s Feed & Garden Supply, a family-owned store that had been on the same 1.88-acre parcel for over 60 years. Cunningham bought the property for $1.6 million. It included a furniture store, the retail space, two buildings and a rarity in an urban core: empty space.

Photo by Mark Wemple

After that, it was another $250,000 or so to remodel and expand the retail space another 2,000 square feet. Funding, according to Cunningham, came from the profits of his other businesses, The baby chicks and rabbits customers enjoyed at the feed store went away but he made sure to adjust some of his inventory to keep meeting the needs of the neighborhood, like continuing to carry popular brands of pet food as part of the 20,000 new items stocked on the shelves.

“Initially it was just going to be a profit center, you know, a part of Dry 24 that brought in other revenue,” he says, and it is certainly that. Although Cunningham declined to disclose a specific figure, the e-commerce side of the business alone, he says, is in the seven-figure range. “But the most rewarding part has actually been the interaction with the customers. People are so grateful that we invested in this neighborhood.”

Not ‘just business’ 

The store sits on North Nebraska Avenue, just a few blocks from Busch Boulevard, which marks the boundary line of the Sulphur Springs neighborhood. As of 2019, the average household income was $42,063 — 40.59% below the average Florida median income of $71,711.

But things are beginning to change. Apartment complexes are springing up all around, including a 200-unit tower in the distance of the hardware store, with still more and a hotel to come. Cunningham recognizes the changes and wants to similarly build up the neighborhood, using some of the land he purchased with the store. He is currently in the planning phase of adding a row of townhomes on one parcel of the lot. 

“The good thing is that anything and everything that I have that I need to build a house I can get from the store,” he says. 

As the future of this iteration of his business strategy begins to gel, Cunningham believes it's time to get the word out. “I work in the dark,” he says of his quiet social media strategy. But he’s dusting off the channels and starting to let people know about the good thing he’s building. 

His grandfather may not have had to use the same techniques, but the strategy and outcome of taking care of people remains the same. He notes, “I love seeing a smile on someone's face. I just always loved business.”