Doing It The Hard Way

Walter did.

Walter started working at Mr. Hollinger’s small town hardware store as a stock boy. It was tough work but he enjoyed it. Now 12 years later he was still there except now he was running the store as Mr. Hollinger has unexpectedly passed away.

It was a tough time in the hardware business. US chains were entering the market and many retailers across the country were closing their doors for fear they could not compete.

But Walter had a different idea … maybe strength in numbers and promoting the fact they were big Home grown retailers instead of US brands would allow them to compete?

So Walter got 120 other hardware store owners together in one room … and they worked out a deal together .. to create their own company. One that they would own and control themselves and that would give them the clout they needed with suppliers to compete against the US retailers.

Pretty soon they added more dealers and then they started coming up with their own products.

Today, the business Walter helped start has over 1,100 locations across Canada … and is still owned by its dealers … Home Hardware.

Home Hardware is a great idea … because sometimes when things look bleak there is strength in working together.