O
ne of the perks of being the
boss, jokes Mike Johnson,
owner of Johnson Lumber Ace
Hardware and the adjacent
Johnson Garden Center in Morgan Hill,
“is I get to wear shorts to work on a regular
basis,” he says. The self-proclaimed former
“surfer guy” who grew up in Santa Cruz
may opt for business casual attire, but he
takes the running of his family business very
seriously. Mike is the second Johnson to run
the business after his father, Keith, started
the first location in Morgan Hill in 1980,
which sold only lumber for its first twelve
years. His oldest son Brett currently works
with his dad, as well, in charge of lumber
inventory and purchasing, and may be the
next Johnson to carry the family torch when
Mike retires, though he welcomes all three
of his children to participate in the business.
When Johnson Lumber first moved
from Railroad Avenue to its current, prime
location off Tennant Avenue in 1992,
the business expanded to meet a growing
demand for hardware. The Hollister store
followed in 1997, the Salinas store in 2001,
and the Morgan Hill garden center in 2006.
Johnson Lumber had very little competition
until 2004, when, just as they finished a
massive store expansion to more than triple
their square footage, the first corporate
“big box” hardware retailer opened in
Morgan Hill. While some businesses might
have quaked in terror, Mike didn’t feel
threatened. “We had no competition for
so long, we knew it was coming,” he said.
“Ultimately good competition either kills
you or makes you better. Big isn’t
necessarily better.”
Certainly there’s a strong ethic of
shopping small and local, and plenty of
local efforts to attract shoppers in Morgan
Hill, which may play a role in Johnson’s
continued success. Johnson credits his
success to having an enjoyable place to
work, where you have fun while doing it.
“If you have a good place to work where
everyone is upbeat, it tends to lift people up
and you create an environment that people
want to come to.” He said his company
has worked on that culture of cheer from
the beginning. “My business card just says
‘customer service.’ You can buy anything we
have from somebody else that, so we’re
selling service every day and we have to
live up to that.”
Johnson Lumber employs approximately
150 people across its four locations, and
Mike is especially proud of the longevity
among employees. “My staff have been
helping me run this business a long time.
In retail you don’t see people staying on
for ten to twenty years, but we have lots of
fifteen to twenty year folks, and that’s the
number one thing I like most about my
business: we are super fortunate to have
great folks in a lot of different areas. We’re
all spokes in a wheel; if we all do our job,
the wheel rolls really well.”
Indeed, that culture of enthusiasm and
hard work seems to be paying off: drive by
Johnson’s lumber or garden center on nearly
any day and you’ll find it bustling with DIY
handymen and busy gardeners.
“We’ve been supported so well by the
Morgan Hill community,” he says.
Morgan Hill’s support is something
that Mike feels enthusiastic about
repaying. “You want to support those
who are supporting you, and because
it’s the right thing to do when you have
more than you need,” he says. Mike
is known for generous donations to a
variety of causes in town ranging from the
Rotary Club to the Relay for Life cancer
fundraiser, which has a personal element.
“Everyone has lost someone to cancer,” he
says. “My mother-in-law died of cancer,
so that was easy to get behind.” He and
his wife of 25 years, Suzie, are parents to
three children, Brett, 26, Adam, 24 and
Kaylie, 22, which makes them especially
enthusiastic about supporting youth causes
like the El Toro Youth Center and the
Eagle Scouts. Though don’t expect to find
him up on stage receiving any awards for
his generosity; that’s not the reason he
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
does it. “I don’t attend many fundraising
events because I don’t want to be the main
focus,” he says. “I want to support Morgan
Hill and we’re in a position to do it. That
started with my Dad.”
Uniquely, each store location limits
its donations to within its community, so
donations to Morgan Hill causes come
only from the Morgan Hill store, as do
the Hollister and Salinas locations in their
respective communities.
“I think if you enjoy where you live,
you’re going to try to make it enjoyable
for others, too.” Even after traveling away,
he says, “As much as we love to travel, I
love coming back to Morgan Hill. We’re in
California, so we have beautiful weather,
and we’re not jammed with traffic.”
With recent improvements to downtown
underway, there’s a feeling of expansion
in Morgan Hill, which some hope will
attract more people, and potentially more
businesses to town, and some fear will
eradicate that small town feeling. Johnson
is a fan of “smart growth” and balance,
and appreciates the small town feeling of
Morgan Hill and it’s “cool stuff ” like the
Community and Cultural Center, and
other assets. “It’s two edges of the sword:
the smaller you are, you don’t draw the big
names in retail, but if you want to have
more assets, you’re going to have more
people. Right now, slower growth keeps the
flavor where it is here in town, but if you
need something you can make a twenty-
minute drive to San Jose, or less to Gilroy.
Morgan Hill is pretty relaxing.”
He tries not to get heavily involved in
expressing an opinion about the future of
the town, however. “My job in business is
to adapt and overcome. I go with the flow.”
Mike Johnson and
Dana Ditmore with
Debbie and Mike
Bond at the 2015
Leadership Morgan
Hill Leadership Dinner
honoring Dana
Ditmore. Mike is a past
recipient of the award.
MAY/JUNE 2016
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