There was a time when the hardware store was small. Picture Walgreens with bolts and saws.

Back then, the hardware store didn’t have everything needed to build a house – from basement floor to ridgetop vent. If you wanted building materials you went to a lumber yard. Even then, if you needed bricks and other building supplies, you may have to make a trip to yet another store. It was a time-consuming process to be sure.

These days, of course, we have places like Home Depot, Lowes, and Menards. Here you really could buy everything needed to build a house from the floor up, and that includes all the appointments like appliances, flooring, and  the rest.

So where does that leave the old hardware store format? Is there a place for them anymore, or are they as outdated as the old soda fountain or the restaurant at Woolworths?

These days not everyone has set foot in a traditional hardware store. It used to be that even the smallest town had one – usually right by the post office. They were an essential part of American life, and offered a surprising amount of things to buy in spite of their relatively small footprint.

These days, we still have Ace Hardware, and (for now) we still have True Value. They can be found across the country. And although True Value has filed for bankruptcy, Ace Hardware still appears to be going strong. The fate of True Value is still up in the air (which we will discuss here), but does that mean the fate of all hardware stores are up in the air? Let’s take a look at what they are all about, (and whether or not we still need them), before we get to the particulars of True Value and its bankruptcy.

What can a hardware store do that a giant Home Depot cannot?

One thing a hardware store usually can’t do is beat Home Depot on price. The small stores have a lot of overhead and stock a lot of very specific sizes and shapes of items that the big stores just can’t stock, since (as big as they are), they have to have a little of everything, instead of a lot of some things. Having to stock lots of very specific items makes it hard for the small hardware store to buy in bulk and pass those savings on to the consumer. So the Home Depots of the world win here.

But this loss for the hardware store is also a win. If you need a very specific bolt of a certain thread count, length, shaft diameter, that is made of a certain material, the likelihood of finding it at a Home Depot is low. And Depot typically has to sell multiples of small items to make it profitable for them to stock and sell them. So even if you get lucky and find that special bolt, you might have to buy 10 of them when you only need one. This immediately offsets the higher price you pay for the one bolt you really needed that was available at your local hardware store.

There is another way in which your hardware store wins – and that is customer service. In the early days of customer service at your Lowes and Home Depot, it was a sad state of affairs. It was virtually impossible to find anyone to help you, and even less likely that you would find somebody to help who knew the answer to your question. Their shareholders have demanded increased customer service standards over the years, so this has improved somewhat for the big guys – but most shoppers will tell you it’s still not that easy to get assistance, especially considering most customers aren’t experts at home building and repair and really need help when they shop.

Small hardware stores employ guys and girls who are Jacks and Jills of all trades. The stores are physically smaller so it’s easy to find help. And once you do, you can ask them virtually anything. You can bring in that failing tank flapper from your toilet, and they will track down exactly what you need in a jiff. You can ask about an electrical issue you’ve been having in your basement, and they probably have the knowhow to tell you how to solve the problem.

Hardware stores often offer services that just aren’t available at the bigger stores. They might do things like replacing window screens, or allow you to borrow seed spreaders for free with the purchase of grass seed. These services aren’t practical for the big stores to offer.

Finally, being small is an advantage in other ways. Not only does it mean you can find someone to help you quickly, but you can simply get in and out of the store with ease. At Home Depot, you’ve got to park far away and dodge tradesmen with big carts full of lumber and bricks just to get in the store and buy that replacement light switch you’ve been needing.That same trip to your local hardware store takes half the time, and without the dangerous perils of beeping forklifts and trucks.

One more thing. Hardware stores often offer unique holiday and regional items. It’s been a tradition to have items sold there that relate to your local community. Even a chain store like Ace Hardware may have Christmas ornaments or an outfit for your dog made by a local artist.

So it would seem there is a place for the local hardware store. They may be smaller and sometimes more expensive, but what they offer offsets any of these perceived disadvantages.

So what about True Value?

We can see that the local hardware store is a viable business model even in the 21st century. What’s happened to True Value? Why file for bankruptcy when we see that his business model still works?

There has not been a lot of details reported about the particulars of True Value’s bankruptcy. What has been mentioned currently in the news is that across the board, there has been a slump in the home-improvement space. From the little guys all the way to Home Depot. Apparently, during Covid, business was booming in this sector because people were trapped at home and finally had the time to get around to all the projects they had wanted to do to their homes. Now that things are back to normal, there’s been a reversal. People aren’t so interested in getting those projects done, or they’ve already fixed what was needed.

It appears that True Value was not economically robust enough to weather this storm. It had too many liabilities to be able to handle a downturn in business.

Luckily for True Value, one of their competitors, Do it Best, was very excited about the opportunity to buy out True Value. So if all goes according to plan – the plan of the bankruptcy court that is – True Value will survive the bankruptcy. There’s the possibility that all stores will remain open in some form once taken over by Do it Best. There’s a chance that some of the underperforming True Value locations may close. This often happens as part of a chapter 11 bankruptcy.

In any case, in spite of the word “bankruptcy” being a scary one, it might not be all that bad for True Value. There’s still a need for the classic hardware store, and there’s no reason to think that True Value won’t live on into the future in one way or another.