Hardware stores (in a number of countries, "shops"), 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. [1] [2] [3] [ failed verification ] The five largest hardware retailers in the world are The Home Depot, Lowe's (both in the United States), Kingfisher of the United Kingdom, Obi of Germany, and Leroy Merlin of France.[ not verified in body ]
In Australia hardware stores specialise in home décor and include large selections of paint. There are three major hardware companies in Australia: Bunnings, Mitre 10 and Home Hardware. Home Hardware is a retailers' co-operative and has many banners which store owners trade under.
Since the acquisition of Bunnings by Wesfarmers in 1994, the big-box store concept has changed how new hardware stores are built. In 2004, Mitre 10 built its first supercentre Mitre 10 MEGA with an average store size of 13,500 m2. These were later either closed or turned into large-concept Mitre 10 stores. In 2011 Masters Home Improvement entered the market and opened more than 49 stores, with an average footprint of 13,500 m2. Masters Home Improvement, which was the second-largest hardware chain in Australia, closed in December 2016. [4]
Bunnings also operates in New Zealand, competing against Mitre 10 New Zealand and Hammer Hardware. The Australian Bunnings and Mitre 10 Mega format have also been introduced to New Zealand. [5]
Home Hardware, Rona, Canac, BMR Group and Réno-Dépôt are Canadian hardware retailers. Aikenhead's Hardware became the Canadian unit of The Home Depot in 1994. Canadian Tire, Central, Kent Building Supplies, Lowe's and many smaller chains also sell hardware in Canada.
Most hardware stores in China, whether in the city or rural areas, are small, family-owned, non-franchise companies. They provide similar products to Western hardware stores, including plumbing and electrical supplies, tools, and some housewares. They do not normally carry lumber, fishing supplies, gardening products, or boating supplies. Some rural hardware stores supply animal feed, such as chicken feed.
Common to most non-Western countries, China has specialty hardware stores, dedicated to selling products in a particular category. These stores are usually grouped together in a shopping district. Examples are groups of stores that specialize in:
In the United Kingdom, hardware stores can be known as ironmongers, DIY stores and home improvement stores. British retail chains include B&Q, Homebase, and Wickes. Australian hardware chain Bunnings opened their first shop in St Albans in February 2017 and planned to convert several other Homebase shops into pilot Bunnings shops after acquiring them in February 2016.[ citation needed ]
Larger hardware stores may also sell building supplies including lumber, flooring, roofing materials and fencing. Such stores are often referred to as home-improvement centers or home centers.
There may be fewer hardware stores in the US now than in the past, but according to the US Census Bureau, there were still 14,300 hardware stores in the US in 2005, employing on average 10 employees each. [6] Despite competition from large chain stores (commonly referred to as big-box or destination hardware stores, e.g., The Home Depot, Lowe's and Menards) new hardware stores in the US continue to open. [7]
There are four major nationwide wholesale suppliers to hardware stores. All four report more than US$1 billion in annual sales. [8] [ failed verification ] Two of them operate as retailers' cooperatives: Do It Best Corp, from Fort Wayne Indiana, and Ace Hardware from Oakbrook Illinois. [8] [ full citation needed ] Hardware store owners purchase stock in these suppliers and may choose to include the name of the cooperative in the advertised name of the store. The fourth[ clarification needed ] nationwide supplier is Orgill, Inc., a traditional wholesale organization.
Hardware stores also purchase from a variety of regional wholesalers and specialty manufacturers. Some hardware stores operate rental businesses which can offer equipment from construction tools to inflatable playhouses. The major hardware cooperatives provide brand name rental advertising and support for hardware store owners including Just Ask Rental, Party Central, Grand Rental Station and Taylor Rental, all four of which are brands owned by the True Value Company.
Elwood Adams Hardware of Worcester, Massachusetts claims to be the oldest operating hardware store in the US, having begun business in 1782. [9] [10]
Part of the popularity of American hardware stores is the range of services they provide. Most retail outlets only sell goods, while some hardware stores custom-make or repair a large variety of household items. It is common for a hardware store in the US to repair broken windows and screens, repair power equipment such as lawn mowers, re-key entry locks, make copies of house keys and car keys, re-wire lamps and vacuum cleaners, sharpen knives and cutting tools, make minor repairs to faucet and shower parts, repair kerosene heaters and cut and thread plumbing pipe.
The North American Retail Hardware Association (NRHA [11] ) is a membership organization that provides training and resources for hardware store owners and publishes a trade magazine in print and online.
European-based stores include:
In India hardware stores are mostly small businesses, with no major store chains that carry a large selection of products. Stores lack ample floor space compared to their Western counterparts, but are usually stocked with a wide variety of items.
Indian hardware stores are similar to hardware stores around the world, offering products from several categories such as plumbing, machinery, household, gardening, manufacturing, cobbler, carpenter, and electrical.
Lowe's Companies, Inc. is an American retail company specializing in home improvement. Headquartered in Mooresville, North Carolina, the company operates a chain of retail stores in the United States. As of Oct. 28, 2022, Lowe's and its related businesses operated 2,181 home improvement and hardware stores in North America.
A garden centre is a retail operation that sells plants and related products for the domestic garden as its primary business.
Castorama is a French retailer of DIY and home improvement tools and supplies, headquartered in Templemars, France, and is part of the British group Kingfisher plc, which has 101 stores in France and 90 in Poland. The company became a subsidiary of Kingfisher plc in May 2002, along with Castorama's own subsidiary Brico Dépôt.
HHGL Limited, trading as Homebase, is a British home improvement retailer and garden centre with stores across the United Kingdom and Ireland. Founded by Sainsbury's and GB-Inno-BM in 1979, the company was owned by Home Retail Group from October 2006, until it was sold to the Australian conglomerate Wesfarmers in January 2016.
Bunnings Group Limited, trading as Bunnings Warehouse or Bunnings, is an Australian household hardware and garden centre chain. The chain has been owned by Wesfarmers since 1994, and has stores in Australia and New Zealand.
A big-box store, a hyperstore, a supercenter, a superstore, or a megastore is a physically large retail establishment, usually part of a chain of stores. The term sometimes also refers, by extension, to the company that operates the store. The term "big-box" references the typical appearance of buildings occupied by such stores.
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.
Mitre 10 is an Australian retail and trade hardware store chain. Operations are based on a cooperative system, where the store owners are members of the national group and each has voting rights. The chain name references the mitre joint. There are over 400 "Mitre 10" and its associated "True Value Hardware" franchises throughout Australia.
Clas Ohlson is a Swedish home improvement chain and mail-order firm that specialises in hardware, home, leisure, electrical and multimedia products. It is one of the biggest of its type in Scandinavia, with more than 230 Clas Ohlson stores as of May 2020. Stores also exist in Norway and Finland. Many of the products sold in the stores are own-label items. The company uses the house brands of Asaklitt, Capere, Cocraft, Cotech, Coline, Exibel and Clas Ohlson.
Rickel was a chain of home-improvement centers based in northern New Jersey. The company’s first store opened in 1953 and for three decades Rickel was the leading hardware, plumbing, heating and electrical retailer in its region. At its peak Rickel operated over 90 stores, but competition from Home Depot, debt problems with its former parent, and an ultimately ill-advised merger with competitor Channel Home Centers led to a 1996 bankruptcy filing and liquidation and closure starting in late 1997 and continuing through early 1998.
The Home Depot, Inc. is an American multinational home improvement retail corporation that sells tools, construction products, appliances, and services, including fuel and transportation rentals. Home Depot is the largest home improvement retailer in the United States. In 2021, the company had 490,600 employees and more than $151 billion in revenue. The company is headquartered in unincorporated Cobb County, Georgia, with an Atlanta mailing address.
Bauhaus AG is a German pan-European retail chain offering products for home improvement, gardening, and workshop. The name contains the German words bauen and Haus (house), but also alludes to the modernist Bauhaus school and the company's founder and owner, the German billionaire Heinz-Georg Baus.
Home Hardware is an Australian retail hardware chain. It is Australia's third-biggest hardware chain after Bunnings Warehouse and Mitre 10, the latter of which is its parent company.
Build.com is an online home improvement retailer, and subsidiary of Ferguson plc. It sells bathroom, kitchen and lighting hardware, appliances and other supplies. The company is headquartered in Chico, California, United States.
Masters Home Improvement was an Australian home improvement chain operated by two retailers; Woolworths Limited and Lowe's Home Improvement. It was established as a way for Woolworths Limited to enter the hardware retail market, which has been historically dominated by Bunnings Warehouse, owned by their competitor Wesfarmers. These two companies also compete with each other with groceries, liquor, fuel and general merchandise. Most of the stores shared the same format of conventional Lowe's stores and borrowed elements from Bunnings Warehouse for the garden and trade areas.
Mitre 10 is a New Zealand chain of home improvement stores established in June 1974. The company sells a range of household hardware, building supplies, heaters, air conditioners, garden products, barbeques and camping gear.
Brico is a Belgian hardware store chain. The chain focuses mainly on DIY items but also sells garden-related articles. The chain has 140 locations spread over Belgium, about 95 of which are franchised.
A home improvement center, home improvement store, or home center is a retail store that combines the functions of a hardware store with those of a lumber yard. Home improvement stores typically sell building supplies, tools, and lumber.
The retail format influences the consumer's store choice and addresses the consumer's expectations. At its most basic level, a retail format is a simple marketplace, that is; a location where goods and services are exchanged. In some parts of the world, the retail sector is still dominated by small family-run stores, but large retail chains are increasingly dominating the sector, because they can exert considerable buying power and pass on the savings in the form of lower prices. Many of these large retail chains also produce their own private labels which compete alongside manufacturer brands. Considerable consolidation of retail stores has changed the retail landscape, transferring power away from wholesalers and into the hands of the large retail chains.