Prime online real estate

There are about 20,000 hardware stores in the United States. But there is only one hardwarestore.com .

This valuable online real estate belongs to the 101-year-old family owned business Aubuchon Hardware.

“It’s our number one store by multiples of three,” said Will Aubuchon, director of e-commerce for the company with more than 125 stores throughout New England.

The Website generated $5 million in sales last year, about 4% of its total sales volume, said Aubuchon.

“It wasn’t cheap. Buying it from this other company was an investment,” he said. “It’s a nice piece of real estate in an ever-growing part of our world—online.”

Aubuchon said the company was online since 1995, initially providing customers with store locations and contact information. In 1999, the Aubuchon brand was made aware of the possibilities of Web-based sales through its previous affiliation with Do it Best . After Aubuchon ended its agreement with the co-op, it knew pursuing online sales was going to be a key element in the company’s future business.