Company Snapshot: Orchard Supply Hardware Stores

Address:
6450 Via del Oro
San Jose, CA 95119-1211

Telephone:
408 281-3500

Internet Homepage:
http://www.osh.com

Year Founded:
1931

Total Stores:
88

Total Annual Sales:
$660,472,000

Senior Executive:
Mark R. Baker; President and CEO

Founded in 1931 during the Great Depression, much as the result of a pair of severe droughts, Orchard Supply Hardware (commonly and affectionately known as OSH) has long remained close to its humble community roots.  With stores averaging 44,000 sq. feet OSH management long portrayed itself as an almost hybrid home center.  Management took pride in the assumption that if customers did not find a needed product at its stores, it didn’t exist.

Long considered a unique entity due to its vast size and product mix and a model for success within the industry, Orchard Supply Hardware was purchased by Sears in 1996.  Shortly after this acquisition, Sears announced that its proprietary chain of hardware stores would be converted to the OSH model and eventually to the Orchard name.

This conversion never actually took place.  Through the years the OSH and Sears Hardware chains maintained a kinship but were essentially separate entities.  In 2005 Sears sold a minority interest of OSH to Ares Management and announced expansion plans which never came to fruition.  In late 2011 OSH was spun off by Sears Holdings and became a public company.  It is believed the company seeks to regain its strong community-based reputation and revert to the exemplary retailer it once was.

In keeping with this recently reacquired positive theme, Orchard Supply Hardware will open a 50,000-sq.-ft. store in Torrance, Calif. next month, showcasing the company’s new retail format.  Interestingly, as if a blast from the past, the site of OSH’s newest location will occupy a former Kmart store.