Retail Observer

RETAILOBSERVER.COM OCTOBER 2021 12 To help push those financing programs, Nationwide added Les Kirk to the leadership team. Kirk joined the team after his consulting firm, RFS Inc., partnered with the group to provide competitive financial programs. But before starting RFS in 1993, Kirk was president of SR Superstores, a regional appliance and electronics retailer based in Shreveport, Louisiana. Kirk's roots in retail were no coincidence for the group's founders. "When Les Kirk came in, he developed a complete system for financial services, including retail financial and wholesale, because our dealers needed both," Weisner says. "They needed the ability to finance their goods from the supplier, and they needed to sell at retail and be serviced by great companies." This new focus would bring in new members as well. In 1995, the group invited Key America West and its 87 members to join. The group – led by former and current retailers Marty Wolf, Ron Romero and Jim Feeney – would be labeled Nationwide West and would continue to grow with members throughout the western United States. In 1998, Nationwide invited Royce Smith and Duke Bloom's United Stores into the group. United Stores, a Southern California group started in 1952 by nine independent retailers, brought their distribution relationships and over 200 members into the mix. THE NEED FOR MARKETING SERVICES Quickly, the group that was started to help retailers buy product better had grown into new categories such as financing and product protection. One area where the group knew they needed expert help, though, was in marketing for members. "While we helped with marketing in the early days, we didn't have the tools," Kelly recalls. To that end, Nationwide struck up a partnership in 1999 with The Bryant Group, a marketing and studio operation based in Atlanta and headed by Steve Bryant and his sons, Chris and Kevin. The relationship with The Bryant Group helped bring marketing resources into the mix, including commercial and radio spots, as well as training programs. It was a game-changer for members. "The phenomenal job helping us to deliver all sorts of back-end services was exactly what our members needed," Weisner says. Steve Bryant saw first-hand how the power of the group could improve independent retailers. "It was a pleasure seeing good people with quality operations join forces with like-minded folks at Nationwide for what has become, by far, the most influential voice in the independent channel," Bryant explains. NEW MILLENNIUM: A NEW NAME, AND THE LOSS OF AN INDUSTRY LEGEND As the group moved into the new millennium, the expansion continued. In early 2000, the group brought in Murray Provine's NATIONWIDE MARKETING GROUP: 50 YEARS UNITED

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