Inside Tweedy and Popp Hardware, Seattle, Washington (2007).

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" centers have outmoded them. In the United Kingdom, hardware stores were traditionally (pre-1980s) called ironmongers, and larger, out-of-town hardware shops are called Do-it-Yourself or 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.

The three largest hardware retailers in the world are The Home Depot, Lowe's (both of the United States), and B&Q of the United Kingdom, respectively.

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