2026 Beacon Awards: Building on Brotherly Love
Mark and Joe Jaconski have grown Stanley’s True Value Hardware in Philadelphia and Oreland, Pennsylvania, strengthening their partnership while preparing a fourth generation to take the next step.
When Mark Jaconski was a kid, he had big plans for Stanley’s Hardware.
“I used to joke that we were going to buy up the entire block and call it Stanleyville,” he says.
The name never ended up gracing a sign, but the ambition behind it proved considerably more durable.
Mark and his brother, Joe, grew up in the Philadelphia hardware business that their grandfather Stanley Jaconski started in 1948. Their father, also named Stanley, carried it forward, and the brothers eventually became the third generation to take responsibility for the family business.
Over the ensuing decades, they have expanded the original Philadelphia operation, replaced its cramped quarters with a modern 10,000-square-foot retail space, opened a second location in Oreland, Pennsylvania, and created room for categories their grandfather might never have imagined selling.
Now, the Jaconski brothers are making room for something else: the fourth generation. Mark’s son, Alex, and Joe’s son, Joe Jr., are already working in the business. Joe’s younger son, Jesse, is preparing to join them as well. For Mark and Joe, recipients of a 2026 Retail Beacon Award, seeing another generation come aboard gives their previous decades of work a visible destination.
“We’re setting up for the next generation to see it go forward,” Mark told fellow retailers while accepting the award. “Being third-generation, we’re very proud of that.”
Room to Grow
Mark remembers loving the hardware business from the beginning. His grandfather and father were industrial electricians and natural problem solvers who handled jobs themselves because, particularly in the early years, necessity demanded it.
That aptitude became part of the Stanley’s approach to customers.
“In our industry, it comes down to service,” Mark says. “We service the heck out of customers.”
That means having people who can help and products that solve problems, including the small fittings, plumbing pieces and unusual hardware that can save a customer another trip.
As the business grew, its original building increasingly worked against that goal. Merchandise occupied the second floor and basement, limiting visibility and making browsing difficult. Customers often needed to know what they wanted before entering the store.
Mark had imagined changing that since childhood.
After their father died in 2009, Mark and Joe eventually undertook a complicated redevelopment of the Philadelphia property, replacing the old operation with a new store in 2013. That project also changed the brothers’ relationship.
“Building the new building galvanized us together,” Mark says.
The result gave Stanley’s about 10,000 square feet of retail space and room for a considerably different shopping experience. Wider aisles improved flow. Tool rental and a garden center added services and seasonal opportunities. Workwear and pet supplies gained space. The paint department expanded beyond EasyCare to include Benjamin Moore.
The impact was substantial.
“As a company, it allowed us to triple our sales and make for a much better experience—a very shoppable store compared to the old store,” Mark says.
The brothers also incorporated an extensive stormwater-management system into the redevelopment, including underground storage, corrugated piping and a rain garden. The Philadelphia Water Department recognized Stanley’s as its first “Stormwater Pioneer.”
For Mark, the investment fit the neighborhood. The Philadelphia store’s hilly terrain can send substantial runoff toward properties below the store during heavy rain.
“Anything we can do to help on a large property helps people at the bottom of the hill,” he says.
Finding the Right People
More space and merchandise still require someone who knows how to help the person standing in the aisle.
Stanley’s employs about 30 people in Philadelphia and ten in Oreland. Mark approaches hiring with a straightforward priority.
“Hire first for personality and willingness to learn,” he says. “It’s awesome to find a guy with hardware store experience, but if he’s a miserable person, I don’t want him on my staff.”
Technical knowledge can develop through winter training, working alongside experienced employees and solving problems on the salesfloor.
Mark believes the disposition to treat customers well needs to be present from the beginning. That philosophy has become increasingly important as Stanley’s customer base has evolved.
Mark remembers seeing relatively few women shopping for their own projects when he was young. Today, he regularly sees women leading home improvement projects, arriving with research already completed and specific questions ready.
His expectation for employees is simple: Treat everyone with undifferentiated respect.
“Women will come in and say, ‘Guys, don’t talk down to me. I get that at other places,’” Mark says.
Stanley’s also continues to serve customers who arrive carrying knowledge gathered online—sometimes useful, sometimes requiring a little troubleshooting at the counter. Either way, employees’ roles remain familiar: Listen, identify what the project requires and help the customer leave with the right solution.
Two Brothers, Two Stores
In 2015, Mark and Joe expanded again with the Oreland location, about six miles northeast of the family’s original Philadelphia store.
Stanley’s remained open during its 2010-13 Philadelphia redevelopment, with a seven-phase construction plan allowing work to proceed around the existing store. The project’s underground filtration basins and rain garden helped earn it recognition as Philadelphia’s first Stormwater Pioneer in 2014.
The move gave Joe an operation in which he could take the lead, while Mark remained closely involved with the Philadelphia store. Mark says that division strengthened both the business and their relationship.
Joe could call on Mark for purchasing help or additional support, particularly during the early stages, while developing his own approach to running the location.
“It really opened the door for him to flourish,” Mark says.
The brothers bring different personalities to the business, something Mark describes with the familiar phrase “brotherly love.” Their differences have also given Stanley’s two experienced operators capable of leading separate locations while drawing on the same family history.
Community support, naturally, remains central to both.
“The only reason we’re here is because of the community and the support they’ve given us all these decades,” Mark says.
Stanley’s supports local organizations and events, including the YMCA, Boys & Girls Club, youth sports and churches. Mark sees those relationships as reciprocal: Generations of customers have supported Stanley’s, giving the business an obligation to participate when the community needs help.
Making Room for What Comes Next
The next expansion of Stanley’s may come through another location. Mark has considered adding a third store or ultimately replacing the Oreland operation with a higher-volume one. He sees potential in categories such as lumber if the family finds a property with the right facilities.
Increasingly, however, those decisions will involve another generation of Jaconskis.
Mark’s son, Alex, graduated from Temple University and has developed experience throughout the Philadelphia operation. A musician outside the store, Alex works in the back room, in the paint department and on the salesfloor, where Mark says his personality and ability to work with people stand out.
Joe Jr. joined the company after graduating from Penn State in 2025. He began at the Philadelphia store to build experience before moving ahead in the family operation. Jesse, also a Penn State graduate, is expected to join his father, uncle, brother and cousin soon.
Mark hopes the three eventually assume responsibility for Stanley’s and find opportunities that he and Joe haven’t yet imagined.
Standing before fellow independent retailers to accept the Retail Beacon Award, Mark acknowledged how unusual that opportunity has become. He also thanked the family members who have shared the ride, including the “two beautiful women”—his and Joe’s wives—who, as he joked, knew long ago what they were getting into and signed up anyway.
He then turned his attention to the hardware retailers in the room.
“Store owners are unbelievable,” he told them. “Everybody is facing the same challenges and facing them head-on.”
For a kid who once envisioned a hardware store encompassing an entire block, the measure of growth has changed.
Nearly eight decades after their grandfather opened Stanley’s, Mark and Joe have two stores, three sons preparing for larger roles and another generation with the opportunity to decide where the family business goes from here.
