For over 50 years, one Nome business has operated without computers, spreadsheets, or modern accounting systems. Instead, it runs on a typewriter, a century-old cash register and the memory of its steadfast owner, Clark Reddaway.
Builders Industrial Supply is located on the west side of Nome. Outside the store is a sign that sarcastically reads “sorry, we’re open”. Inside, narrow aisles are stocked with tools, cords and supplies for workers of all kinds.
Every transaction and every item in stock lives in the head of Reddaway.
“My memory isn't what it was, I had a phenomenal memory when I started. But it's still better than 90% of the people out there,” Reddaway said.
Reddaway’s sterling memory is the backbone of the business. Transactions are still rung up on a cash register built in the 1930s and orders are recorded on a typewriter.
Reddaway said he lives by the mantra, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
“I do it all in my head and with the typewriter. It was good enough for dad, it's good enough for me,” Reddaway said.
The store's history goes back to the Lomen Company, a major player in Nome's 20th-century economy. The company ran shipping, oil and reindeer operations and needed lots of parts. What wasn’t used was sold to the public.
The Lomen Company eventually ditched its surplus-supply business in Nome, and planned to close its warehouse down. Reddaway’s father, Bob Reddaway, ran the warehouse at the time and decided to take it over.
“Rather than go find a new career, he purchased that, and it became Builders Industrial Supply,” Reddaway said.
Clark and his brother, Keith Reddaway, grew up in the store. They swept the floors and stocked the shelves – when they weren’t chasing each other through the store. By the summer of 1975, Clark started earning a real paycheck and never left.
Half a century later, Reddaway still runs the business. Over that time, he said the problems his customers face have evolved – and so has his inventory.
“I don't know much about computers, but I better know what an HDMI cord is, because we sell them,” Reddaway said. “I better start learning about Starlink cords, Gen 2, Gen 3 and Mini, because we sell them. I have to learn a little bit about everything.”
Reddaway said he usually works 70 or even 80 hours a week, depending on the need. He said the rigorous schedule comes from running nearly all aspects of the business.
“I have to order daily and replenish daily, and that's very labor intensive, but it works,” Reddaway said.
Reddaway is known around Nome not just for his dedication, but for his humor. Tucked away in random parts of the store are assorted Halloween masks, but they’re not for sale.
“If you have a good story, you can have the mask,” he said with a grin. “I won’t sell it to you, but I’ll give it to you.”
Reddaway said he’s been doing this so long that he doesn’t know when to retire. At 66-years old, he said his knees hurt, but he keeps going because he cares about solving his customer’s problems – whatever they may be.
“When I do decide to retire, which I do see happening sooner than later, I don't have an exact date,” Reddaway said. “I tease people, five more years, but I've been saying that for the last five.”
