Home Hardware is a privately held Canadian
home improvementHome improvement, home renovation or remodeling is the process of renovating or making additions to one's home.-Types of home improvement:...
, construction materials, and
furnitureFurniture is the mass noun for the movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating and sleeping in beds, to hold objects at a convenient height for work using horizontal surfaces above the ground, or to store things...
retailer. Co-founded in 1964 by
Walter HachbornWalter Hachborn, is a Canadian businessman who is the co-founder of Home Hardware, a Canadian home improvement and construction retailer which supplies to contractors and individual consumers....
and headquartered in
St. Jacobs, OntarioThe community of St. Jacobs is located in southwest Ontario, just north of Waterloo in Woolwich Township, Waterloo Region. It is a popular location for tourism, due to its Mennonite heritage and retail focus. The Conestogo River, which powered the village's original gristmill, runs through the...
, the chain is
cooperativeA cooperative is a business organization owned and operated by a group of individuals for their mutual benefit...
ly owned by over 1000 independently owned member stores.
Home Hardware is a privately held Canadian
home improvementHome improvement, home renovation or remodeling is the process of renovating or making additions to one's home.-Types of home improvement:...
, construction materials, and
furnitureFurniture is the mass noun for the movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating and sleeping in beds, to hold objects at a convenient height for work using horizontal surfaces above the ground, or to store things...
retailer. Co-founded in 1964 by
Walter HachbornWalter Hachborn, is a Canadian businessman who is the co-founder of Home Hardware, a Canadian home improvement and construction retailer which supplies to contractors and individual consumers....
and headquartered in
St. Jacobs, OntarioThe community of St. Jacobs is located in southwest Ontario, just north of Waterloo in Woolwich Township, Waterloo Region. It is a popular location for tourism, due to its Mennonite heritage and retail focus. The Conestogo River, which powered the village's original gristmill, runs through the...
, the chain is
cooperativeA cooperative is a business organization owned and operated by a group of individuals for their mutual benefit...
ly owned by over 1000 independently owned member stores.
Banners
Home Hardware consists of four separate banners, offering goods such as the following:
- Home Hardware – housewares, tools, paint, garden supplies
- Home Building Centre – lumber, plumbing and electrical supplies, building materials
- Home Hardware Building Centre – full range of Home Hardware and Home Building Centre items
- Home Furniture – furniture and major appliances
Store brands
Home Hardware
store brandStore brands are a line of products sold by a retailer under a single marketing identity. They bear a similarity to the concept of House brands, Private label brands in the United States, own brands in the UK, and home brands in Australia and generic brands...
s are well known in Canada and include:
- Beauti-Tone (paint)
- Benchmark (tools)
- Home Plumber
- Home Handyman
- Home Gardener
- Home-Bond (glues)
- Vincette (bicycles)
- River Trail (camping supplies)
- Natura (green products)
- Classic (lighting and plumbing fixtures)
- Unival (automotive)
- Wood-Shield (stain purposes)
Recent history
In 1981 the Eastern-based Home Hardware merged with Western-based Link Hardware to create a national chain.
Home Hardware has survived the expansion of The Home Depot into
CanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, beginning in 1994, as well as the expansion of a domestic competitor,
RonaRona Inc. is a Canadian distributor and retailer of hardware, home improvement and gardening products. Rona was founded in 1939. Rona operates a network of some 700 stores and is the leading distributor and retailer in its market with approximately 51,594 employees. The Rona network represents...
, into the big-box arena.
Home Hardware locations tend to be smaller stores.
In 2000, the chain expanded through the purchase of the
Beaver LumberBeaver Lumber was a Canadian building supply chain owned by Molson. It was once Canada's fourth largest building supply chain with 138 stores. In 2000 it was purchased by Home Hardware, a cooperative of over 1000 independent Canadian hardware stores...
chain from
MolsonMolson-Coors Canada Inc. is the Canadian division of the world's fifth-largest brewing company, the Molson Coors Brewing Company. It is the second oldest company in Canada after the Hudson's Bay Company. Molson's first brewery was located on the St...
.
On January 11, 2003, Home Hardware received unexpected worldwide exposure, when a
T-shirtA T-shirt is a style of shirt. A T-shirt is buttonless and collarless, with short sleeves and frequently a round neck line....
worn by
Avril LavigneAvril Ramona Lavigne is a Canadian singer-songwriter. She was born in Belleville, Ontario, but spent most of her youth in the small town of Napanee. By the age of 15, she had appeared on stage with Shania Twain; by 16, she had signed a two-album recording contract with Arista Records worth more...
during a performance on
Saturday Night LiveSaturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
featured her hometown of Napanee, Ontario and the local hardware store there. In response, the chain produced a limited-edition line of identical T-shirts for sale at locations nationwide, with proceeds going to charity.
In 2004,
Canada PostCanada Post Corporation, known more simply as Canada Post , is the Canadian crown corporation which functions as the country's primary postal operator...
issued a
postage stampA postage stamp is a small piece of paper that is purchased and displayed on an item of mail as evidence of payment of postage. Typically, stamps are made from special paper, with a national designation and denomination on the face, and a gum adhesive on the reverse side...
to commemorate the company's 40th anniversary. Canada Post was accused by some for providing free advertising for the company, though others claim Home Hardware is an iconic Canadian company.
External links