Hardware stores

A hardware store refers to a general merchandise store that sells home building essentials and supplies.  They are usually stand-alone shops while smaller outlet stores lease spaces inside strip malls or city centers.

Modern hardware stores have grown in concept and product offerings to include not just the basic home needs like wood, steel and simple fixtures (such as screws, bolts, locks, wires, hinges and knobs) to commercial construction supplies like power tools, heavy machines, automotive products and accessories, and even home electronics and appliances.  Larger hardware stores usually have a showroom complex with models of their products assembled together and are also called Do-It-Yourself or DIY centers.    Before, many hardware stores were so-called Mom-and Pop ventures, or run by a local family or families and limited only to one store per town. Individual hardware stores were often adjacent to a general merchandise store, pharmacy and gasoline alley especially in suburban communities. They form an integral part of a town’s business district especially during the years of industrialization. However, their popularity gradually waned with the onset of bigger and modern hardware centers. 

Over time, independent hardware retailers enter into organized cooperatives for centralized operations and management, boosting their profit-sharing and spreading the growing investment among these owners and new members, like in the case of Ace Hardware and True Value Hardware.

Likewise, big corporations like department store and supermarket chains branched into full-scale hardware store operations, expanded by a network of volume suppliers and partners, both in the United States and overseas.  Today, many hardware stores compete for this lucrative market niche.  Some of them expanded overseas to become international chains such as Home Depot and Ace Hardware. Others like Lowe's Hardware, True Value Hardware and Sears Hardware have expanded their market grasp to include not just hardware supplies but automotive fixtures, appliances and electronics.  Most have also expanded the level of customer service from the usual over-the-counter purchases to deliveries, after-sales care, and home service like repairs and installations.