Throwback Thursday: Channel's spirit of 76

A 1976 issue of National Home Center News, the forerunner of HBSDealer, included an article examining the patriotic advertising campaign from Channel Home Centers.

As the national Bicentennial Celebration was raging, the Whippany, New Jersey-based home center appealed to the home owner's sense of patriotism and craftsmanship.

"Channel salutes the American Craftsman, today's Do-It-Yourselfer who, in the Best American Tradition, practices the Creativity and Thrift that come from Improving and Maintaining his Home," reads the copy.

The series of ads included some of America's greatest founding fathers, including Ben Franklin, described as "Perhaps the most many-sided handyman in American history."

Channel was a strong brand in history-rich Philadelphia, New York and New Jersey, until the company was acquired by a venture capital firm and merged into its competitor Rickels.

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