Hardware store

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hardware stores sell hardware: for instance fasteners, keys, locks, hinges, wire, chains, plumbing supples, tools, utensils, cutlery and machine parts.

These stores were once as much a part of American small town culture as the drug store soda fountain and local church, but in recent years larger "building materials" centershave outmoded them. In the United Kingdom, hardware stores were traditionally (pre-1980s) called ironmongers, and larger, out-of-town hardware shops are called DIY centres.

In the United States many older hardware stores are organized as retailers' cooperatives, but newer big box chains such as Lowe's and Home Depot are for-profit corporations.