About Us - Economy Hardware & Citylivingstores.com

Our History

Economy Hardware Inc. is a local business that has been around for almost 60 years. It was started as a hardware store by the current owner's parents Herb and Harriet. It was initially relocated several times up and down Massachusetts Avenue before landing at its current location, number 219, in 1979. That same year Herb and Harriet's son, Larry, started working at the company which was later handed over to him in 1993 after they retired.

In 1990 Economy opened its second location at 438 Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge and then Larry opened two more stores; one in Brookline in 1996 and a second in Allston in 1997. Unfortunately after 10 years of service in the community we had to say goodbye to our Allston location as it’s doors closed for good.

Boston Store	Cambridge Store	Brookline Store

All three stores are within 2.5 square miles of each other; however, each serves a unique trading area. To keep up with the ever-changing needs of a dynamic city, Economy Hardware has evolved its merchandise to include not only hardware, but also many household and storage solutions and contemporary home furnishings.

This year we’ve joined the online social community to get in touch and build a continuous conversation with our customers. Facebook and Twitter have been great platforms to start this great relationship. Tying this up with our biweekly newsletter has given us a chance to explore and open new doors in our business finding ways to make our customer’s experience even better.

Our Goals

We understand the importance of being a local business; being a contributor for the local economy and bringing good practices into our neighborhoods. Our main goal is to become a strong member of the community by:

• Offering great customer service to all our customers
• Providing job opportunities for the local community
• Working hand in hand with local groups and associations towards community related projects
• Working towards our commitment to become a more environmentally sustainable business

Working towards more sustainable practices

For some time Economy Hardware has worked towards becoming a more sustainable business. Some years ago we worked on energy efficiency at our Boston store by changing old light bulbs with T8 CFLs. A couple of years ago True Value our biggest vendor introduced an environmentally focused program called Greener Options where they started offering a large assortment of environmentally friendly products.

Last year we applied and got accepted for the Sustainable Business Leader Program, a rigorous six-step process that focuses on reducing businesses carbon footprint. After working under their guidance, support and technical assistance during the whole year we finally got certified as a ‘Sustainable Business Leader’.

Progress has been done in Energy Efficiency with the help of NStar’s business incentives; Water Conservation with MWRA’s low-flow faucet aerators and some staff training; Waste Reduction with our new service provider Save That Stuff and a new recycling program; Transportation with programs that give incentives to customers with bikes, Pollution Prevention with the use of low toxic cleaners and the correct dispose of all fluorescent light bulbs; and finally Sustainability Management with the creation of a green team within our staff, and educating signage system for our staff and the inclusion of sustainable practices in our biweekly customer and our weekly employee newsletters.