Retail survivors: How four family-owned Washington shops have made it in the Amazon era

Rob Whitten had fled corporate life west of the Cascades and was working in construction in Chelan County when he got to know the owners of the small hardware store in Plain.

One day, they offered to sell. He took the plunge into retail 21 years ago, just as it began a massive transformation with the blossoming of e-commerce.

From the start, Whitten knew that Plain Hardware, buoyed as it is by a building boom in the surrounding vacation communities, would have to adapt to compete in the Amazon era, with its bottomless selection, always-on availability and ever-faster delivery speeds. (READ MORE)