Home Depot is the world’s largest home improvement retailer. It offers a vast array of home improvement and building products, as well as services like installation, home maintenance, and repair.
The company sells building materials, home improvement products, and lawn and garden supplies at its big-box stores throughout the United States (including all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Guam), Canada, and Mexico.
It also operates online at homedepot.com where it offers shipping to customers in all 50 states as well as overseas military bases through its Ship-to-Store program.
Home Depot has a few competitors, most notably Lowe’s. The home improvement and hardware stores are about the same size, with Home Depot holding a slight advantage in the total number of stores.
However, both companies are far larger than the next largest competitor, Menards.
While all three retailers sell home improvement products and construction materials, each has its unique strengths that have helped them compete more effectively against its rivals.
Here are some other places you can browse for your next home project:
1. Lowe’s
Lowe’s is one of the best home improvement stores. Lowe’s advertises itself as offering “quality, savings, and selection.”
Yet, you might be able to do better. Lowe’s offers a wide variety of products that may not be available at your local store.
Lowe’s started as a small family-owned hardware store in Mooresville, North Carolina, in 1921.
Since then, it has grown into a national chain with more than 1,700 stores across the country.
Lowe’s operates many different stores, including Home Depot and Sears.
Lowe’s offers more than 1 million products for all types of home improvement projects.
It also has a huge selection of tools, plumbing supplies, and other home improvement items.
Lowe’s offers a wide selection of products that can help you get started on your next project.
Lowe’s is one of the top five retailers in the United States. It has been voted “Best Store” by Consumers Digest magazine for nine consecutive years.
Lowe’s is also ranked as one of the top 100 companies to work for by Fortune magazine.
2. Ace Hardware
Ace Hardware is the largest retailer-owned hardware cooperative in the world, and unlike Home Depot, you can find them in every state.
They typically have a larger selection of paint than Home Depot, and they’ll even tint it for you in-store.
They have an incredible selection of grills, but what sets Ace apart is their customer service.
If you need help picking out the right one, you’ll be helped by a real person who knows everything there is to know about grills.
Ace Hardware stores are primarily owned by independent retailers who operate under the Ace Hardware name.
However, the company also operates its retail locations, called “Company Owned Stores.”
The first Ace Hardware store opened in 1924 and was started by a group of Chicago hardware store owners with the goal of pooling resources to improve their bargaining power with suppliers.
3. Menards
Menards is a privately owned store, much like its biggest competitor, Lowe’s.
This company has over 300 stores in 14 states and is known for carrying more than 60,000 products in both its online store and retail outlets.
Menard’s offers exclusive brands ranging from appliances to building supplies and is known for having some of the cheapest prices on lumber in the Midwest.
Menards has a lot of similarities to Home Depot, but it also has a few differences that set it apart.
For example, Menard’s isn’t as big as Home Depot and doesn’t offer quite as many products and services.
However, if you live near a Menards location, it might be worth stopping in to see if they have what you need before heading straight to Home Depot.
4. True Value
True Value is a smaller home improvement store chain founded in 1948 as a member-owned cooperative company known as Associated Retailers.
The company currently has over 4,000 independently owned hardware stores across the United States that sell tools and construction supplies to homeowners and contractors.
True Value sells exterior paints, interior paint supplies, lawn care equipment, and gardening tools through its retail locations as well as online.
True Value also operates a wholesale distribution center located in Chicago that provides products to its affiliated retailers across the country.
5. Northern Tool +Equipment
Northern Tool is a tool and equipment retailer that has been in business for 30 years.
It specializes in selling generators, pressure washers, heaters, welders, air compressors, and other power tools.
The company is headquartered in Minnesota, but it has 130 retail locations across the United States.
Northern Tool + Equipment is one of the biggest competitors to Home Depot.
While Northern Tool sells similar products as Home Depot, it focuses almost entirely on selling tools and equipment rather than hardware and lumber.
It offers an extensive online catalog with detailed product descriptions and customer reviews. The company also has 100 brick-and-mortar stores throughout the United States.
6. ILDC
ILDC (Independent Lumber Dealers Co-operative) is one of Canada’s largest cooperatives dedicated to the sale of building materials and tools, founded in 1964.
The association is made up of 21 of the most important organizations in the construction and home renovation materials industries, each of which operates under its brand.
ILDC is a member of the Spancan hardlines purchasing group.
With over 600 locations in both urban and rural areas across the country, ILDC is one of the four most important home improvement sales players in terms of revenue, competing with multinational behemoths such as Home Depot and Lowe’s. Its annual revenue is $4.3 billion.
7. Home Hardware
Home Hardware is the largest chain of construction and renovation materials in Canada.
Its businesses include a dealer-owned retail system, a corporate-owned store system, and an international export business.
Home Hardware’s dealer-owned retail system consists of more than 1,100 independent Home Hardware stores that serve the needs of consumers and contractors in rural and suburban areas across Canada.
The corporate-owned store system comprises nine corporate stores operating under the Home Building Centre, Home Furniture, and Homestead brands.
Home Hardware’s international export business services markets in over 50 countries around the world.
8. Canadian Tire Corporation
Canadian Tire Corporation is one of the strongest Home Depot competitors in Canada.
The company has more than 1,700 retail and gas outlets across Canada.
Canadian Tire sells auto parts and accessories, home improvement products, sports and leisure items, apparel, and more.
The company was founded in 1922 by two brothers, Alfred Jackson Billes and Wilfred Billes, along with their friend, John William “Jack” Billes.
The Billes family had roots in the tire business with an uncle who owned the McLaughlin Tire and Rubber Company.
9. Amazon
Amazon is the most obvious and arguably the most serious competitor. Amazon is known for its competitive pricing and aggressive marketing strategies.
The company offers hundreds of thousands of items in its Home Improvement category, including tools, hardware, and home appliances.
In addition to its online sales, Amazon also has a growing network of physical bookstores that sell home improvement supplies.
Although the physical stores only offer a small number of products, they include things like paint, light bulbs, and other items that are too fragile or overstocked for Amazon’s warehouses to handle.
Amazon has also been rumored to be developing plans for a chain of brick-and-mortar hardware stores that would rival both Home Depot and Lowe’s.
10. At Home
At Home is a decoration superstore founded in Garden Ridge, Texas in 1979 and acquired by the AEA Investors investment group in 2011.
It now has 180 locations in 37 states and employs 5,300 people.
It is a constantly growing brand that competes with Home Depot only in the decoration segment, with annual revenues of $ 1.1 billion.
Its strategy is based on providing a wide range of decorative items and home furnishings to suit all budgets.
Its implementation suggests specialized in-store merchandising with visual navigation elements and a self-service model that reduces staffing requirements.