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About the Magazine


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Hardware Retailing magazine is the hardware and home improvement industry’s leading trade publication.

Distributed to more than 35,000 readers in the independent home improvement industry across the U.S. and Canada, Hardware Retailing magazine covers hard-hitting issues many retailers face. Editorial coverage doesn’t stop at practical profitability advice. Content also includes up-and-coming new products from the industry’s leading manufacturers.

For retailers, it’s the best way to stay in tune to what is going on in the industry, and for manufacturers it’s the best way to get their product seen by the industry’s retail decision-makers.

Hardware Retailing is published by the North American Hardware and Paint Association.

The NHPA Mission

The North American Hardware and Paint Association’s mission is to provide services and information to help hardware/home improvement retailers be better and more profitable merchants. It does this by:

  • Helping retailers develop techniques that will enable them to operate successful and competitive businesses.
  • Providing services and programs that retailers cannot provide for themselves.
  • Representing retailers’ interests at all levels of government.
  • Providing an unbiased and reliable source of industry information.

Our History

With plans of uniting, state hardware associations created a national organization. The national association met for the first time during a 1903 national convention.

One of the first things the national group did was to start the National Hardware Bulletin. It believed that members deserved regular communication from their national organization. It also believed that the Bulletin was a venue for members to express concerns and share ideas. That pocketsize, 16-page folder he first published in March 1901 would become the industry’s leading trade magazine.

Throughout the 1920s, National Hardware Bulletin continued to grow. The Bulletin had become “the most widely circulated and most influential [magazine] in the hardware field.” The national association felt it was time to recognize that fact and give the publication a name that reflected its position in the industry. In 1924, the National Hardware Bulletin became Hardware Retailer. It was known as Hardware Retailer for many years and is known today as Hardware Retailing magazine.

The name was chosen because it was distinctive and at the same time is wholly in harmony with the ownership of the magazine and its function primarily to represent independent home improvement retailers across the U.S. and Canada and to help these retailers become better and more profitable merchants.