Miller’s Hardware, located on Fairbanks Avenue in Winter Park, Florida, is a type of store that is becoming less common. Thirteen thousand square feet of paint, grills, tools, and everything a homeowner could possibly need on a Tuesday afternoon when the closest Home Depot seems overwhelming or too far away. workers who are familiar with your name. a counter where people converse. The store opened in 1945 and for eight decades played a role that is difficult to measure in a market share report: it was more than just a retailer; it was a community anchor.
By the end of May 2026, it will close. No bankruptcy. The decision was not motivated by a financial crisis. Steve Miller, the store’s sole proprietor, had a son named Clay who was supposed to be the fourth generation to run the business until his untimely death in 2019. The expansion then came to an end. A second location was first opened and then closed. The flagship, the original, will now sell the land to developers who have already expressed interest after clearing out its inventory. “This community put me through college, put my kids through college, put diapers on them,” Miller stated. “So thank you.” It’s a silent tragedy of its own that the liquidation discounts are bringing in customers who weren’t there regularly enough to keep the business open.
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Dominant Player | Home Depot — 28% of U.S. home improvement market (2025) |
| Second Competitor | Lowe’s — 17% market share |
| Third Player | Amazon — 11% of home improvement sector sales |
| Combined Big Three Share | ~56% of total market |
| Total U.S. Hardware Stores (2025) | 14,331 (up 1.1% from 2024) |
| Industry Revenue (2025) | $45.2 billion (+1.9% year-over-year) |
| Notable Closure: Miller’s Hardware | Winter Park, Florida; opened 1945; closing May 2026 |
| Notable Closure: Central Center Hardware | Chillicothe, Ohio; 49 years in business; closed April 10, 2026 |
| Notable Closure: Quincaillerie Notre-Dame | Montreal, Canada; 110 years in operation; closed 2026 |
| Key Challenge | Aging ownership, no succession plans, rising costs, housing slump |
| Home Depot Q4 2025 Sales | Down 3.8% (annual sales up 3.2%) |
It’s not just Miller’s Hardware. After 49 years, Central Center Hardware in Chillicothe, Ohio, closed on April 10. Quincaillerie Notre-Dame de St-Henri, a 110-year-old family hardware business in Montreal’s St-Henri neighborhood, closed because its owners were unable to find a buyer who would continue the business. Aging ownership, a lack of succession, and a competitive environment that has grown more challenging for small, independent businesses to survive in are the commonalities among the closures, which span continents and decades of operating history.
28% of the home improvement market in the United States is controlled by Home Depot. 17% is held by Lowe’s. 11% comes from Amazon. All independent hardware stores, cooperative chains, and regional players are vying for the remaining 44% of the market, with the big three holding over half of it. Even that portion is not evenly distributed; larger regional chains take up a disproportionate amount, leaving truly independent stores vying for a dwindling portion of a market that also happened to slow down dramatically when housing turnover reached all-time lows beginning in 2023. There will be fewer major renovation projects, fewer appliance replacements, and fewer reasons to visit any hardware store with a large list if fewer people buy and sell homes.
The industry has been discussing the succession issue for years without finding a solution. The average independent hardware store owner is getting close to sixty, and their kids are generally not interested in taking over, according to the North American Retail Hardware Association. “It is a huge issue we are focused on,” the leadership of the association has stated in public. concentrated but not fixed. When a store closes without filing for bankruptcy, it’s usually because the owner had no one to give the keys to. The company was doing well. The family chapter had just come to an end.
Observing all of this gives me the impression that the reality on the ground tells a different story than the numbers. Technically speaking, the industry as a whole is expanding; as of 2025, there were 14,331 hardware stores in the United States, up from the previous year, and industry revenue had reached $45.2 billion. Health is suggested by the raw count. The quality and character of what is being lost, as well as the areas where the growth is truly concentrated, are not captured by the count. Most of the new stores are part of bigger chains or cooperatives. The businesses that are closing are those that have been a part of the neighborhood for at least fifty years, operated by families who knew their clients by name and were able to locate the correct screw without having to look it up.
