Metro by metro
The leading hardware store chains in every Connecticut metro area
Tracked hardware store chains ranked by consumer spend in each metro area, Q4 2025–Q3 2026. Harbor Freight Tools leads in 3 metro areas, Ace Hardware in 1 metro area, and Shagbark Lumber & Farm Supplies in 1 metro area. Against their share in Connecticut as a whole, Ace Hardware stands out in 3 metro areas, Harbor Freight Tools in 1 metro area, and True Value in 1 metro area.
By tracked consumer spend, Q4 2025–Q3 2026
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Ace Hardware
Relative #1 in 3 metro areas
Bridgeport, CT 0.9× · Norwich, CT 1.5× · Waterbury-Shelton, CT 2.1×
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Harbor Freight Tools
Relative #1 in New Haven, CT, 1.5× its share in Connecticut
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True Value
Relative #1 in Hartford, CT, 0.9× its share in Connecticut
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Harbor Freight Tools
#1 in 3 metro areas
Bridgeport, CT · Norwich, CT · New Haven, CT
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Ace Hardware
#1 in Waterbury-Shelton, CT
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Shagbark Lumber & Farm Supplies
#1 in Hartford, CT
A metro area shows a ranking once it has at least 2 tracked hardware store chains and 10 tracked stores. Relative to Connecticut compares a chain's share of the metro area's spend with its share in Connecticut as a whole. It ranks the 7 biggest chains in Connecticut and the chains that lead a metro area by spend, wherever a chain has at least 5% of the metro area's spend and 3 stores there. Metro areas are the Census Bureau's metropolitan statistical areas; the rest of Connecticut is light gray. Colors match the store map; other tracked chains are gray.
Growth ranking
Fastest-growing tracked hardware store chains
Ranked by year-over-year growth of share of tracked local spend. Arrows show movement in the rankings since last year. Each dot in the chart is one tracked chain: bigger market position to the right, faster growth higher up, more tracked stores in a bigger dot. Colors match the store map below. Ace Hardware and Plimpton & Hills sit in the high-growth half.
| Rank | Chain | Rank movement | YoY growth |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ace Hardware | - | +16.6% |
| 2 | Plimpton & Hills | ▲1 | +12.7% |
| 3 | Aubuchon Hardware | - | +10.4% |
| 4 | Harbor Freight Tools | - | +5.7% |
| 5 | True Value | - | -21.4% |
| 6 | Bender | ▼1 | -34.0% |
- Harbor Freight Tools
- Ace Hardware
- True Value
- Shagbark Lumber & Farm Supplies
- Holdridge True Value Hardware
- Steward's Hardware
- Fleming's Feed and Hardware
- Other tracked chains
Store footprint
Store map
162 tracked store locations in Connecticut. The 7 largest tracked chains are highlighted. The top 5 chains by store count run 58 of the 162 stores (36%); 95 of the 104 tracked chains have a single store here. 4% of the tracked retail stores here are hardware stores, the same share as across the United States.
- Harbor Freight Tools (15)
- Ace Hardware (24)
- True Value (12)
- Shagbark Lumber & Farm Supplies (1)
- Holdridge True Value Hardware (1)
- Steward's Hardware (1)
- Fleming's Feed and Hardware (1)
- Other tracked chains
Top tracked chains by store count
- 1 Ace Hardware 24
- 2 Harbor Freight Tools 15
- 3 True Value 12
- 4 Aubuchon Hardware 4
- 5 Bender 3
- 6 Plimpton & Hills 3
- 7 Taylor True Value Rental 2
- 8 Star Hardware 2
- 9 Lyon and Billard Lumber Co 2
- 10 True Value Hardware Of Litchfield 1
- 11 Huntington Paint & Wallpaper 1
- 12 Carlyn Paint and Hardware 1
- 13 East Windsor Star Hardware 1
- 14 Hemly Tool Supply 1
- 15 Poster Hardware 1
- 16 Washington Supply Company 1
- 17 Suffield Hardware 1
- 18 Back To Basics True Value 1
- 19 Winsupply of Willimantic 1
- 20 The Nutty Company 1
- 21 Target Enterprises 1
- 22 Newtown Hardware 1
- 23 New Milford Agway 1
- 24 Petersen's Hardware 1
- 25 Red Barn Feed and Hardware 1
- 26 Knight's 1
- 27 Newtown Power Equipment 1
- 28 Giant Oak Power Equipment 1
- 29 Keough's Paint & Hardware 1
- 30 Hartford Lumber Company 1
- 31 Sholes Ace Hardware & Supply 1
- 32 Sanford and Hawley 1
- 33 Valley Home Hardware & Garden Centre 1
- 34 True Value Of Bethel 1
- 35 Schmidt's & Serafine's True Value 1
- 36 Anthony's Hardware Store 1
- 37 Smith & Bishel Hardware 1
- 38 Red's Hardware 1
- 39 Lee Hardware 1
- 40 Village Hardware 1
- 41 Star Hardware Talcottville 1
- 42 Park Place Hardware 1
- 43 Greenwich Hardware 1
- 44 Hometown Tool 1
- 45 Manchester Hardware 1
- 46 Milford Wood Trim 1
- 47 Rice Hardware 1
- 48 Deep River Hardware Co Inc 1
- 49 Somers Star Hardware 1
- 50 Rutkowski Hardware 1
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