Mostly dealer-owned

Among hardware wholesalers, dealer-owned wholesalers dominate. They are led by Ace Hardware of Oak Brook, Illinois, with sales of US $ 3.5 bn in 2010, up 2.1 per cent from 2009, according to the trade magazine Home Channel News. Ace now operates 14 distribution centres scattered across the United States and is active internationally in more than 60 countries. Do it Best Corp. of Ft. Wayne, Indiana, also dealer-owned, is the second largest hardware wholesaler, doing US $ 2.38 bn. With some of its business coming from lumber and building materials hit hard by the housing slump, its sales fell 3.3 per cent. DIB operates 8 distribution centres and is also active internationally. The third major dealer-owned, once number one, is True Value. Head-quartered in Chicago, it operates 12 warehouses and generated sales of US $ 1.8 bn, down 1.1 per cent from the previous year. It too serves retailers internationally. Fourth place is occupied by Orgill, a privately owned firm based in Memphis, Tennessee, and now operating 6 distribution centres as well as serving international markets. Unlike the dealer-owned groups, which limit sales to dealer-owners, Orgill serves all retailers, while also serving as a second source for many who belong to dealer-owned firms. Orgill’s sales in 2010 were US $1.179 bn, up an impressive 9.3 per cent. The first four in the rankings are followed by much smaller companies. Handy Hardware Wholesale of Houston, Texas, another dealer-owned firm, did US $ 236 mio in 2010, and just recently opened its second distribution centre in neighbouring Mississippi. Its sales rose 1 per cent last year. Fifth largest hardware wholesaler is another smaller dealer-owned firm, United Hardware Distributing of Plymouth, Minnesota, located near Minneapolis. It did US $ 186 mio out of a single distribution centre and largely serves the Upper Midwest region of America. In addition it is worth mentioning that there are also some buying organizations serving both hardware wholesalers and building material distributors. These groups operate no warehouses but use the accumulated buying power of member firms in trying to negotiate better prices from manufacturers. The two largest are Distribution America and Pro Group. Another smaller one is Reliable Distributors. And finally there is Val-Test Distributors of Hoffman Estates, whose members’ combined sales were reported to be US $ 1 bn and whose wholesalers operate a total of 104 distribution centres. Download: