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Company type | Retailers' cooperative |
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Industry | Retail |
Founded | 1945 | as Hardware Wholesalers, Inc.
Headquarters | |
Number of locations | Thousands of member-owned locations throughout the United States and more than 50 other countries [1] |
Products | 67,000 [1] |
Revenue | $5 billion [1] |
Website | www.doitbestonline.com |
Do It Best Corp., formerly known as Hardware Wholesalers, Inc. (HWI), is a member-owned hardware, lumber, and building materials cooperative based in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Do it Best Corp. is the second-largest co-op in the industry with over $5 billion in annual sales. [2] Do it Best Corp. does not mandate store identities, so member-owners may or may not display the Do it Best brand name in their businesses. [ citation needed ]
HWI was founded by Arnold Gerberding in 1945 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, with the investments of 100 independent business owners in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio. Gerberding used the co-op model so HWI members could get better volume pricing from vendors by buying together rather than on their own. Independent hardware stores became members of the cooperative and its sole shareholders as well. The first warehouse facility opened in 1948, and HWI added a private truck delivery system in 1955. When Gerberding retired in 1967, HWI had more than 600 members. [ citation needed ]
Don Wolf succeeded Gerberding and opened HWI's first distribution center outside of Fort Wayne in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Today, there are eight centers located across the US as well as five regional lumber offices. [ citation needed ]
Mike McClelland succeeded Don Wolf as president in 1992. During his tenure, the co-op expanded internationally, primarily in Central and South America and the Caribbean. In 1998, HWI combined with Our Own Hardware, a Minnesota-based regional co-op. As a result of the merger, HWI changed its name to Do it Best Corp. In 2002, Bob Taylor, a former member-owner with stores in Virginia Beach, Virginia, took over as president and CEO and has led the company into new markets supporting commercial/industrial and web-only businesses until his retirement in January 2016. Following Taylor's retirement in early 2016, Dan Starr became the company's fifth president and CEO. [3]
Recreational Equipment, Inc., doing business as REI, is an American retail and outdoor recreation services corporation. It was formerly governed, and continues to brand itself, as a consumers' co-operative. REI sells camping gear, hiking, climbing, cycling, water, running, fitness, snow, travel equipment, and men, women and kids clothing. It also offers services such as outdoor-oriented vacations and courses. Unlike other outdoor sports stores, it does not sell hunting or fishing equipment.
Rona, Inc. is a Canadian retailer of home improvement and construction products and services, owned by U.S.-based private equity firm Sycamore Partners. Founded in 1939, the company operates a mixture of company-owned and franchised retailers under multiple banners, including Rona, its big box formats Rona Home & Garden, Rona+, as well as smaller brands such as Rona Cashway, Moffatt & Powell and Dick's Lumber.
A retailers' cooperative is a type of cooperative which employs economies of scale on behalf of its retailer members. Retailers' cooperatives use their purchasing power to acquire discounts from manufacturers and often share marketing expenses. A retailers' cooperative is essentially a group of independently owned businesses that pool their resources to purchase in bulk, usually by establishing a central buying organization, and engage in joint promotion efforts. It is common for locally owned grocery stores, hardware stores, and pharmacies to participate in retailers' cooperatives.
Ace Hardware Corporation is an American hardware retailers' cooperative based in Oak Brook, Illinois, United States. It is the largest non-grocery retail cooperative in the United States.
The True Value Company is an American wholesaler and Hardware store brand. The corporate headquarters are located in Chicago.
Hardware stores, sometimes known as DIY stores, sell household hardware for home improvement including: fasteners, building materials, hand tools, power tools, keys, locks, hinges, chains, plumbing supplies, electrical supplies, cleaning products, housewares, tools, utensils, paint, and lawn and garden products directly to consumers for use at home or for business. Many hardware stores have specialty departments unique to its region or its owner's interests. These departments include hunting and fishing supplies, plants and nursery products, marine and boating supplies, pet food and supplies, farm and ranch supplies including animal feed, swimming pool chemicals, homebrewing supplies and canning supplies.
Wakefern Food Corporation is an American company that was founded in 1946 and is based in Keasbey, New Jersey. It is the largest retailers' cooperative group of supermarkets and the fourth-largest cooperative of any kind in the United States. Wakefern was the largest private employer in New Jersey in 2018, with 40,200 employees. As of 2023, Wakefern has 48 member companies who own and operate 365 supermarkets, under the ShopRite, Price Rite Marketplace, The Fresh Grocer, Dearborn Market, Gourmet Garage, and Fairway Market brands in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island.
SuperValu, Inc., was an American wholesaler and retailer of grocery products. The company, formerly headquartered in the Minneapolis suburb of Eden Prairie, Minnesota, had been in business since 1926. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of United Natural Foods (UNFI).
Lincoln National Corporation is a Fortune 200 American holding company, which operates multiple insurance and investment management businesses through subsidiary companies. Lincoln Financial Group is the marketing name for LNC and its subsidiary companies.
Home Hardware Stores Ltd. is an independent home improvement retailer located in Canada. Co-founded by Walter Hachborn in 1964, and headquartered in St. Jacobs, Ontario, the company has close to 1,100 stores that operate under one of four banners: Home Hardware, Home Hardware Building Centre, Home Building Centre, and Home Furniture.
Marsh Supermarkets was an American retail food chain headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, with a peak number of 86 stores in 2013 located throughout central Indiana and parts of western Ohio. Its eventual parent company was Sun Capital Partners, headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida.
A consumers' co-operative is an enterprise owned by consumers and managed democratically and that aims at fulfilling the needs and aspirations of its members. Such co-operatives operate within the market system, independently of the state, as a form of mutual aid, oriented toward service rather than pecuniary profit. Many cooperatives, however, do have a degree of profit orientation. Just like other corporations, some cooperatives issue dividends to owners based on a share of total net profit or earnings ; or based on a percentage of the total amount of purchases made by the owner. Regardless of whether they issue a dividend or not, most consumers’ cooperatives will offer owners discounts and preferential access to goods and services.
Northwest Dairy Association is an American dairy agricultural marketing cooperative. Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, it is owned by about 350 dairy farm members of the association located in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana.
A food cooperative or food co-op is a food distribution outlet organized as a cooperative, rather than a private or public company. Food cooperatives are usually consumer cooperatives, where the decisions regarding the production and distribution of its food are chosen by its members. Like all cooperatives, food cooperatives are often based on the 7 Rochdale Principles, and they typically offer natural foods. Decisions about how to run a cooperative are not made by outside shareholders, therefore cooperatives often exhibit a higher degree of social responsibility than their corporate analogues.
United Hardware Distributing Co. is a dealer-owned corporation based in Maple Grove, Minnesota which provides distribution services for about 610 member-owned stores, the majority of which operate under the Hardware Hank trade name. In addition, the company services about 800 other stores owned by non-members. 2006 sales were $183 million. It was founded in 1945 as a furniture and hardware distributor. The furniture division was sold in 1953, and it became a dealer-owned retailers' cooperative in 1957 when majority control was assumed by a group of hardware store owners. In addition to servicing the Hardware Hank stores, United Hardware also services TrustWorthy Hardware Stores, Golden Rule Lumber Centers, and Ranch & Pet Supply stores. In 2024, United Hardware merged with Do It Best.
Puget Consumers Co-op, doing business as PCC Community Markets, is a food cooperative based in Seattle, Washington. With over 114,000 members, it is the largest consumer-owned food cooperative in the United States. Both members and non-members may shop at the retail locations, but members receive certain discounts. The organization currently operates fifteen retail locations. Eight of the fifteen stores are located in Seattle. The West Seattle location reopened on October 2, 2019. The other seven are located in Issaquah, Kirkland, Burien, Bothell, Redmond, Edmonds and Bellevue.
Orchard Supply Hardware (OSH) was an American retailer of home improvement and gardening products. Headquartered in San Jose, California, Orchard Supply Hardware had dozens of locations throughout California, with expansions into Oregon and Florida.
CCA Global Partners, originally called Carpet Co-op of America, is a shared services membership purchasing cooperative company that was founded in 1984 as a carpet cooperative business in Manchester, New Hampshire. It has since expanded into 14 co-ops covering a variety of different industries. CCA Global Partners includes about 4,000 stores throughout the United States, Canada and other countries. The late Alan Greenberg was a co-founder, and Howard Brodsky is a co-founder, chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer.