Selling Out, or Buying In?

Independent, mom-and-pop businesses are converting into franchises-but these decisions are tough to make when you've worked hard to build something on your own. What are these business owners giving away, and what can they gain?

- YIREN LU

Matthew Mazzone grew up stocking shelves and sweeping the floor at Mazzone Hardware in Brooklyn, a red brick storefront on a corner lot on Court Street. Originally opened in 1950 by his grandfather, a painter, it was passed down to his father. When Mazzone came home from college at 20 and showed an interest in the business, his father offered it to him.

By then, Mazzone knew that he wasn't suited for a corporate life, and with the family store, he could be his own boss.

But there's being your own boss, and then there's being the boss of a successful business. And within a few years, Mazzone realized if he was going to make a career out of the business, he needed to make some changes.

The biggest problem was their supplier, True Value. The company fell into disarray in the early 2000s-after a revelation about years of unnoticed accounting errors by its wholesale buying co-op-and at critical moments, like Superstorm Sandy, Mazzone struggled to get inventory. He agonized over what to do. He felt loyal to True Value, but the relationship wasn't working. When he decided to leave True Value, he weighed his options. He could partner with a wholesaler, or join a co-op. Or he could convert the store into an Ace Hardware-but he assumed that would mean losing his independence, and having to operate someone else's way.