House-Hasson Hardware, an independent, regional hardware distributor based in Tennessee, is launching a major expansion of one of its two product warehouses.
The company is adding a 50,000-square-foot addition to its Prichard, West Virginia, facility. The warehouse will have 300,000 square feet of product storage space once construction is complete.
“Business is good; we’ve run out of room in Prichard,” says Don Hasson, president of House-Hasson Hardware. “Our dealers in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia are doing very well and we’re adding new dealers all the time.”
When the new addition is finished, House-Hasson will have nearly 800,000 square feet of combined warehouse space between its West Virginia location and its corporate headquarters warehouse in Knoxville, Tennessee.
West Virginia’s economy is improving after being hit hard with the coal industry downturn, Hasson says.
“Hardware sales are an excellent barometer of economic conditions,” Hasson says. “When people and businesses are feeling optimistic and doing better economically, local hardware stores are one of the first places to see the improvements.”
The West Virginia warehouse project will take six months to complete, and is expected to wrap up by November. The company will add 10 new employees to Prichard’s existing 106-member staff.
“We anticipate the expanded warehouse will meet the increased demand now and in the foreseeable future, but if we find that we need to grow again, that’s a good problem to have,” Hasson says.
House-Hasson acquired the warehouse in 2010, and spent $2 million on a 100,000 square-foot addition that was completed in 2011.
The company is a 111-year-old family-owned business that serves 2,500 retailers in 22 states and the Caribbean basin.