One-Woman Hardware Store, No Bricks Required

For her online hardware store, Kelly Wright selects an assortment that is a mix of utilitarian, classic and sometimes eclectic to appeal to beginning do-it-yourselfers.

Kelly Wright’s virtual hardware store, Yuns, has gained attention in national and local publications. Here’s how she runs an online, curated hardware store.

As sort of a family rite of passage, when Kelly Wright left her South Carolina home for New York City, her father gave her a toolbox with a basic set of tools and his advice on repairs: “Figure it out.”

“I really was introduced and learned about tools and being handy from my family, particularly my dad, brother and grandfather,” Wright says. “It is the way of life where I’m from.”

Once in New York, she found that others her age weren’t up to speed with do-it-yourself repairs. She saw a need to share her know-how, so in May 2021, she launched Yuns, a reimagined, online version of a hardware store. Since then, she’s been a one-woman shop, stocking products, packing and shipping orders herself. From her South Carolina roots, she derived the name of her store and site from the Southern word that condenses “you ones” to make “yuns.”

Wright describes her typical customers, who number in the dozens each month, as sort of pre-DIYers.

The name of Wright’s online store is derived from her South Carolina roots and the Southern word that condenses “you ones” to make “yuns.”

“I try to speak to a very inexperienced, beginner person who doesn’t know how to navigate tools, who may not even own a drill or know how to properly hang a framed piece of art on the wall,” she says. “I enjoy sharing what I know about basic hand tools and the brands that I love, along with insights on how and when to use them. When I tell someone about the multitude of surprising things you could do with slip joint pliers and their eyes light up—that is what I really enjoy.”

When selecting products to offer on her site, Wright puts herself in the mind of a beginning-level do-it-yourselfer.

Continue Reading in the March 2024 Issue of Hardware Connection