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.
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.
Prominent outdoor retailers in Australia include Bunnings, Home Hardware, Mitre 10, Thrifty-Link Hardware, Total Tools and True Value Hardware.
As of January 2025, B&Q is the most prominent UK home improvement retailer with over 300 stores; its sister company is Screwfix which is a catalog merchant. [1] This is followed by Wickes with over 200 stores. [2] The Range has a home improvement section, but mainly trades as a variety retailer.
Prominent outdoor retailers in the United States include Home Depot, Lowe's, and Menards.
JCPenney is an American department store chain with 656 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. It is managed as part of the Catalyst Brands portfolio alongside other apparel retailers such as Brooks Brothers and Eddie Bauer. Its departments include men's, women's and children's apparel, cosmetics, jewelry, and home furnishings along with leased departments managed by Shearshare, US Vision and Lifetouch. The chain focuses on affordable lifestyle products for middle class households.
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.
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.
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.
B&Q Limited is a British multinational DIY and home improvement retailing company, with headquarters in Eastleigh, England. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Kingfisher plc. It was founded in March 1969 by Richard Block and David Quayle.
Focus was a British do-it-yourself and home improvement retailer, founded in 1987.
Homebase is a British home improvement retailer and garden centre brand trading in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It was founded by British supermarket chain Sainsbury's and retailer GB-Inno-BM in 1979 as Sainsbury's Homebase.
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.
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.
Wickes Group plc trading as Wickes is a home improvement retailer and garden centre, based in the United Kingdom with more than 230 stores throughout the country. Its main business is the sale of supplies and materials, for homeowners and the building trade. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange.
Handy Andy Home Improvement Centers was founded as Arrow Lumber Company by Joseph Rashkow in 1947 on the south side of Chicago. His son, Ronald Rashkow, bought out the single store operation in 1967 from his father. He converted the company to Handy Andy in 1971 with its first expansion unit. The company grew to 72 stores in seven American states. At its peak, the company had approximately 11,000 employees and annual revenue of $750 million. The chain advertised with the phrase "Handy Andy, you've got it made". The company's core product mix included hardware, lumber, building materials, home decor, kitchen/bath and lawn/garden. The stores were highly visible and well known for their very large vertical stripes of brown and white that would typically cover the entire building.
Screwfix Direct Limited, trading as Screwfix, is a retailer of trade tools, accessories and hardware products based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1979 as the Woodscrew Supply Company, the company was acquired in July 1999 by Kingfisher plc, which also owns B&Q, and is listed on the London Stock Exchange.
The Home Depot, Inc., sometimes referred to as Home Depot, 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.
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.
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.
McCoy’s Building Supply Company (McCoy's) is a regional, family-owned building materials retailer that has been in operation for over 90 years. Headquartered in San Marcos, Texas, McCoy’s has grown to become one of the largest privately held independent building supply companies in the United States. The company operates primarily in Texas, but it also has a presence in neighboring states like Louisiana and Oklahoma.
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