Game Changer: Orgill Opens Innovation Center
The new facility in Collierville, Tennessee, expands the distributor’s capacity for retailer training, product testing and vendor collaboration.
At Orgill’s new Innovation Center in Collierville, Tenn., the story of modern hardware retail unfolds step by step. Designed as a narrative, interactive and walkable experience, the facility leads independent retailers through the full arc of retail development—from early concept planning to how finished merchandising displays would look in their own stores. The Center, highly hands-on, shows how independent hardware retailers can use design, technology and collaboration to reach their customers more effectively.
The Innovation Center is a game-changing development for Orgill, reflecting how the company connects with its dealer network and vendor partners. Inside, visitors encounter working store environments, digital systems and collaborative areas that link creative ideas to real-world execution. The setting combines learning, testing and partnership into a single continuous narrative exploration of how retail innovation takes form.
“When Orgill first developed its Concept Center [in Olive Branch, Miss.], the goal was straightforward: Reduce Dealer Market setup time and costs by doing merchandising and display work in advance rather than on-site at convention centers,” says Orgill president and CEO Boyden Moore. “Over time, as we began inviting customers into that space, it evolved from its original purpose into a more collaborative, customer-facing environment.”
That evolution was the beginning of a new chapter. When the lease on the previous Concept Center ended, Orgill rethought everything. In 2023, it announced plans to upgrade and expand the Center, outlining a vision for a larger, more advanced facility that would be integrated with the 178-year-old company’s Collierville, Tenn., headquarters and serve as a year-round space for collaboration and testing.
“The next chapter would go beyond just finding a replacement building—it redefined the entire purpose and identity of the space,” Moore says. “What started as a practical construction project has become the physical embodiment of Orgill’s goal of helping customers succeed through collaboration and innovation.”
The reimagined Innovation Center expands across a full campus adjoining Orgill’s headquarters. It’s a testing ground but also a working ecosystem designed to bring retailers, vendors and Orgill’s own teams together in continuous dialogue.
Grand Opening Draws Hundreds
On Monday, October 13, Orgill officially opened the Innovation Center, welcoming several hundred guests to the Collierville campus for a ceremony and guided tours. Attendees included Orgill employees, vendor representatives, local officials and members of the media.
“We designed it to be a space that brings people together—our employees, our vendors, our customers and even our neighbors,” Moore said in his opening remarks. “Innovation doesn’t happen in isolation. It happens when people collaborate, ask questions and try new things.”
The facility, he explained, was built to serve multiple purposes—training, product testing and partnership development—under one roof, to “be a hub where ideas are tested, shared and turned into solutions that strengthen our customers and the communities that we serve. The heart of it is one goal: to help our customers succeed.”
The space was put to work immediately. “Tomorrow we’ll host 400 of our vendors for the next two days in our first annual vendor conference here,” Moore said, noting that groups from LMC and Stanley Black & Decker had in fact already used it for committee meetings and focus sessions. “This center is about more than retail,” he added. “It’s about economic growth, new opportunities and reinforcing that Memphis and our region is a home for innovation.”
Following Moore’s remarks, Greg Stine, Orgill’s executive vice president of marketing and communications, led a tour through the Center’s 553,000 square feet. The walkthrough began in the lobby, which Stine called a representation of Orgill’s “past, present and future.” From there, guests saw fully built concept stores demonstrating various retail formats—from large hardware layouts to pro-focused lumberyards.
Stine explained how the space functions as both a working lab and a showroom, enabling dealers and vendors to visualize store designs, merchandising plans and retail technologies. “We serve customers like farm stores, lumberyards and hardware stores. It’s designed to show how a grilling section might work best, or a promotional endcap.” Likewise the vendor booths, which he called “the cream of our vendors—47 booths that are in here for a whole year,” unlike the temporary ones at Dealer Markets.
After the tours, Moore, Clay Jackson, Orgill’s chief operating officer and executive vice president, and senior vice president of retail services Chris Freader met with reporters to further share their thoughts. “Our strategy is all about customization,” Moore said. “We’re not trying to tell our customers the format you should run. We want to customize to your store, your format, your opportunity in your market.”
Freader concluded by reflecting on the project’s pace and outcome. “It’s going to be a disruptor,” he said. “The other facility disrupted the industry. This one—it’s lights-out.”
A Building That Tells a Tale
The physical design of the Innovation Center is as intentional as its mission. Each area leads visitors through what Orgill describes as “the story of the future of independent retail.” The open layout, natural light and transparency of the design echo the company’s culture of cooperation and partnership.
Retailers moving through the space to gain ideas for store improvement begin with vision—immersive displays that showcase trends, technology and customer experiences—then move toward application, where ideas are transformed into action through hands-on demonstrations and collaborative workspaces. Lighting, digital displays and open meeting areas allow the environment to change quickly, adapting to different merchandising strategies, seasonal resets or technology integrations.
The Innovation Center is also home to employees who support operations such as Orgill’s in-house print shop, retail services team and a technology suite featuring a dedicated area for data and security management.
“Customers are not merely told about innovation; they see it, touch it and engage with it firsthand,” Freader says. “That physical storytelling helps translate Orgill’s investment in innovation into an emotional and strategic takeaway for every visitor.” In that sense, the building will function as both exhibit and classroom—a living example of what adaptability and forward thinking look like in a retail setting.
A Hands-On Approach to Innovation
The Innovation Center is fully equipped to simulate real-world retail environments, complete with working examples of technology used across the industry: point-of-sale systems, electronic shelf labels, digital signage and IoT-driven analytics tools. “It’s as much a technology lab as a collaboration space,” Freader says.
Orgill’s goal is to run six live POS systems covering most platforms used by its dealer network. This will enable retailers to test-drive systems they may be considering. “We have a resource that’s unique within the industry,” Jackson says. “Collaborating with our vendor partners and service providers, we’re able to test new and innovative products, assortments and the latest technology. It also allows for a variety of experiences with interactive areas that showcase different categories or brands and host events. It’s just an amazing investment to help serve our customers and connect them with industry partners.”
That approach ties into what Orgill calls “Creating Comfortable Conversions”—making technology an enabler, not a barrier. By allowing dealers to experience systems, dashboards and automation tools in a functioning retail environment, the Center aims to demystify digital transformation and make it accessible to businesses of any scale.
Beyond point-of-sale testing, the Center includes data visualization dashboards, customer journey tracking tools and robotics demonstrations that show how automation can improve efficiency. Technology is not theoretical here—it’s practical, observable and adaptable.
