Hardware Retailing The Industry's Source for Insights and Information
Retailers who were accustomed to attending the Handy Hardware buying shows in Texas got a formal introduction to the company’s new identity this week.
Handy Hardware, which was a regional distributor until recently, has been renamed World and Main Houston, becoming part of a national distributor business model. The Handy Hardware name was officially retired this week at the company’s buying show, which is now known as the World and Main Spring Market.
Handy Hardware’s assets were bought out of bankruptcy by World and Main, which was formerly Hardware Holdings, LLC, of New Jersey. Handy Hardware’s metamorphosis has been from a cooperative that went bankrupt into an arm of a now-national distribution company.
The new company offers products at multiple price points, enlarging the regional distributor’s prior offerings and providing international sourcing capabilities.
“The new name establishes a new identity that provides more than the predecessor did,” World and Main president and CEO Don Devine says. “We offer a national and global perspective, with a local execution.”
On the Show Floor
Retailers at the market were learning about the company changes, but also doing business as usual—looking for special prices on products, checking out new items and networking with peers.
For example, Isaac Smith, co-owner of Matt’s Building Materials in Pharr, Texas, attended the market to look for good deals, build relationships with vendors and sales reps and get perspectives from other retailers on prices, services and other topics.
Moore’s Farm Service in Calumet, Oklahoma, opened the hardware side of its business within the past year, and manager Latasha Miley was on the show floor searching for new products and collecting vendor catalogs.
And Jeremy Tucker, store manager for Shannon Hardware in Sulphur, Louisiana, looked for products for a new niche—concrete finishing tools. He was able to meet with a vendor regarding the tools on his first day at the show.
“That went well right off the bat,” he says.
