Do It Best
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Company type | Retailers' cooperative |
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Number of locations | Thousands of member-owned locations throughout the United States and more than 50 other countries |
| Products | 67,000[1] |
| Brands | Do it Best, True Value, Hardware Hank |
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| Subsidiaries | True Value |
| Website | www.doitbestonline.com |
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Do it Best Corp., formerly known as Hardware Wholesalers, Inc. (HWI), is a member-owned hardware, lumber, and building materials cooperative based in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Do it Best Corp. is the second-largest co-op in the industry with over $6 billion in annual sales.[3]
History
Hardware Wholesalers, Inc. (HWI) was founded by Arnold Gerberding in 1945 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, with the investments of 100 independent business owners in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio. Gerberding used the co-op model so HWI members could get better volume pricing from vendors by buying together rather than on their own. Independent hardware stores became members of the cooperative and its sole shareholders. The first warehouse facility opened in 1948, and HWI added a private truck delivery system in 1955.[4]
Don Wolf succeeded Gerberding and opened HWI's first distribution center outside of Fort Wayne in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. In 2014, Do it Best moved that distribution center to Sikeston, Missouri.[5] Today, there are nine centers located across the US as well as three regional lumber offices.[6]
Mike McClelland succeeded Don Wolf as president in 1992. During his tenure, the co-op expanded internationally, primarily in Central and South America and the Caribbean. In 1998, HWI combined with Our Own Hardware, a Minnesota-based regional co-op. As a result of the merger, HWI changed its name to Do it Best Corp. In 2002, Bob Taylor, a former member-owner with stores in Virginia Beach, Virginia, took over as president and CEO and has led the company into new markets supporting commercial/industrial and web-only businesses until his retirement in January 2016. Following Taylor's retirement in early 2016, Dan Starr became the company's fifth president and CEO.[7]
As of 2022,[update] Do it Best was the largest privately held company in the state of Indiana.[8] In December 2022, Do it Best relocated its corporate headquarters to the Electric Works campus in Fort Wayne, becoming the anchor tenant operating out of Building 26.[9] In March 2024, United Hardware, a regional hardware cooperative based in Minnesota, agreed to merge with Do it Best.[4] The merger would include 700 store locations, a distribution center in Milbank, SD, and the Hardware Hank brand.[10] The merger was overwhelmingly approved by United Hardware shareholders on April 5, 2024.[11]
In November 2024, Do it Best successfully acquired True Value Company out of bankruptcy for $153 million. The acquisition included inventory, brand rights, and paint manufacturing facility plus over 4,500 True Value store locations bringing the total locations served by Do it Best to over 8,000.[12]
References
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- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Corporate Facts". Do It Best Corp. Archived from the original on June 9, 2014. Retrieved June 14, 2014.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Thompson, Lindsey (October 6, 2025). "Do it Best and True Value Report Year End and Q1 Results". Hardware Retailing. Retrieved October 9, 2025.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."2022 Annual Report" (PDF). Do it Best Corp. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 30, 2022. Retrieved December 30, 2022.
- ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Carroll, Joe (April 11, 2024). "Do it Best merges with Minnesota based hardware distributor". WANE-TV. Archived from the original on April 16, 2024. Retrieved October 9, 2025.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Bell, Amanda (March 21, 2014). "Do it Best Opens Retail Service Center in Sikeston, Mo". Hardware Retailing. Archived from the original on March 25, 2025. Retrieved June 4, 2025.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Locations". Do it Best Corp. Archived from the original on May 18, 2025. Retrieved June 4, 2025.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Our History". Do it Best Corp. Archived from the original on December 30, 2022. Retrieved December 30, 2022.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Carnes, Terry (June 8, 2023). "Largest Indiana Private Companies". Indianapolis Business Journal. Archived from the original on May 26, 2024. Retrieved May 20, 2024.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Ivanson, Alyssa (December 5, 2022). "Do it Best moves into Electric Works". WANE-TV. Archived from the original on February 7, 2023. Retrieved October 9, 2025.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Connection, The Hardware (March 6, 2024). "Do it Best, United Hardware to Merge - The Hardware Connection". TheHardwareConnection.com. Retrieved June 4, 2025.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Burke, Tim (April 11, 2024). "Do it Best completes merger". HBS Dealer. Archived from the original on June 21, 2025. Retrieved October 9, 2025.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Slater, Sherry (November 22, 2024). "Do it Best completes $153 million acquisition of True Value". The Journal Gazette. Retrieved June 4, 2025.
