Smaller hardware and home improvement chain stores, which face retail challenges from big-box chains, are choosing to close their stores when faced with extreme financial hardship.
West Ashley Hardware, an independently owned affiliate of the True Value Hardware cooperative, permanently closed its business in Charleston, S.C., on Aug. 15, 2026, after its landlord increased its rent by $3,000 a month.
The 10-year-old hardware store’s owner Waylon Cain said the landlord of the Ashley Oaks shopping center in the West Ashley neighborhood of Charleston, S.C., raised the rent because of property tax increases, according to The Post and Courier.
Rising costs force store closure
“When the new owners bought the building, they increased my monthly rent by $3,000 because of property tax increases. When I called them, they said that’s the business as usual,” Cain said.
West Ashley Hardware’s property insurance costs tripled over the last six years, according to Cain, and the retailer’s credit card fees also increased significantly.
The hardware store owner opened his store in 2016, shortly after Charleston Hardware closed at a nearby location, WCIV-TV4 reported at the time.
Cain was not immediately available for comment.
Despite the closure, the West Ashley Hardware store was still listed on the TrueValue.com website on Aug. 18.
Property taxes increased
The shopping center’s owner Ziff Davis Real Estate Partners paid $12.75 million for Ashley Oaks in 2022, which was more than twice the $5.49 million that the seller paid to purchase the property in 2015, according to county records, which led to a significant increase in the property value and property tax.
Ashley Oaks is co-anchored by a Crunch Fitness location.
Ziff Davis Real Estate Partners operates a portfolio of 49 properties in 16 states, consisting of shopping centers and self-storage facilities, according to its website. The commercial real estate investor in March 2026 acquired another Charleston shopping center property, West Ashley Shoppes, for $22 million, according to The Post and Courier.
West Ashley Shoppes is anchored by World Market and Dollar Tree retail stores.
Home Depot and Lowe’s located nearby
Aside from the rising costs of doing business, West Ashley Hardware also faced fierce competition from a nearby Home Depot store that was 2 miles from the shop and a Lowe’s store that was 3 miles away, according to Google Maps.
True Value Hardware Stores have faced extreme competition from leading brick-and-mortar home improvement and hardware retailers, Home Depot, Lowe’s, and Harbor Freight.
Home Depot captured about 29.5% of the home improvement market share, or portion of sales, in the first quarter of 2026, according to London data firm Passby Technologies Ltd., while the No. 2 home improvement retailer, Lowe’s, claimed about 23.2% of the market. Harbor Freight rolled into third place with about 14.7% of market share.
Amazon was not listed in Passby’s survey.
Smaller hardware store competitors Ace Hardware, Do It Best, and True Value are battling the big-box retailers for market share of the home improvement market, capturing a much smaller percentages of the market.
Smaller retailers fight for market share
Ace Hardware held about 11.4% of the market, Do It Best grabbed about 10.7% of the industry’s business, while the True Value cooperative captured only 7.1% of the market.
West Ashley Hardware’s closure follows on the heels of an iconic True Value Hardware store’s closing, as Vernon Hardware & Auto Parts, an 87-year-old retailer affiliated with True Value Hardware and Napa Auto Parts, closed its doors permanently on July 24.
The Vernon, Mich., hardware and auto parts store’s owners did not say whether they were experiencing any financial or competitive challenges. A Home Depot store operates about nine miles away in Owosso, Mich.
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