Being big

Because the United States is such a large country, spanning over 3 000 miles from coast to coast, full-line hardware wholesalers, supplying products in all the basic merchandise categories, have for years been vital suppliers to tens of thousands of independent hardware stores, home centres and lumber/building merchants. Even now, their broad inventories and quick replenishment are enabling some 30 000 or more independent and small chains to survive and compete against retailing giants such as Home Depot, Lowe's and Walmart.
Fifty or so years ago, there were more than 550 such firms, but today the number is probably about 50, although there are also hundreds of smaller speciality distributors who supply today's retailers. Competition, technology and transportation improvements have all combined to reduce the numbers of full-line wholesalers drastically.
But things are very different in hardware distribution today. Transportation improvements now make it possible for wholesalers to supply retailers more distant from distribution centres, and efficient, computer-controlled and automated/mechanised single-storey distribution centres have replaced old-time, inefficient multi-storey warehouses.
Today, wholesaling in America is concentrated among a relative handful of firms, with three of the largest being retailer-owned co-operatives. The largest is Ace Hardware. The other two are Do it Best Corp. and True Value. Together, these three supply more than 10 000 retail outlets. There is a fourth, much smaller, dealer-owned firm in Minnesota called United Hardware Distributing Co., Inc.
There are other survivors, however. The largest of these is the privately-owned Orgill, based in Memphis, Tennessee, whose volume today exceeds USD1 bn. It supplies retailers not only in the U.S., but also in Canada and various other international markets.
The last few years have seen additional consolidation within the wholesale industry as stronger firms take over smaller regional firms. House-Hasson, based in Knoxville, Tennessee, recently took over Long-Lewis Hardware, based in adjoining Alabama, making it the second largest non-dealer-owned firm in the nation.
The most interesting development in wholesaling in America today, however, is the recent action of Ace Hardware, which bought two privately-owned wholesalers: Emery-Waterhouse Co., based in Portland, Maine, and Jensen Distribution on the opposite side of the country in Spokane, Washington. After absorbing Jensen most recently…