160 Years and Counting

The next company on Industrial Distribution’s 2025 Watch List is marking an astonishing 160 years in business this year.

Hubbard Supply Company, founded as Newton & Hubbard Hardware Store in 1865, remains headquartered in its original home of Flint, Michigan, but has grown from a hardware storefront into a distributor of MRO products, safety and jan-san supplies and material handling equipment with additional Michigan locations in Saginaw and Battle Creek.

The company provides some 250,000 products to a wide range of industries — from general manufacturing and construction to the region’s auto sector to food processors, pharmaceutical companies and local governments.

See earlier Watch List profiles here, here and here, and read the complete feature in the latest issue of Industrial Distribution magazine.

Hubbard Supply Co.

Company name: Hubbard Supply Co.
Nominated by: ISA
Top executive(s): Jeff Bigelow, president; Tim Brooks, COO
Headquarters: Flint, Michigan
Year founded: 1865
Website: www.hubbardsupply.com 
Number of locations: 3
Key product categories: Industrial supply - general MRO, safety, material handling, janitorial-sanitation
Total employee headcount: 75
Total SKU count: 250,000

Company commentary: Founded in 1865 in Flint, Michigan, Hubbard Supply Co. has thrived for 160 years by continuously adapting to the evolving economic and industrial landscapes. Our resilience through Hubbard Supply Co.historical challenges like the Great Depression, two world wars, the Great Recession, and recent pandemic underscores our commitment to partnerships, innovation, tailored solutions and the success of our customer. Initially serving the retail, wholesale and lumber markets, the company pivoted at the turn of the century to fully support a growing industrial manufacturing sector as a dedicated industrial distribution company. Today, the company supports a robust manufacturing segment that includes OEM automotive, automotive tiers, general manufacturing, food processing, pharmaceuticals, commercial construction, municipal and institutional businesses. Our success is built on strong customer and supplier relationships, working closely with end users to understand their needs and introduce innovative solutions — with the goal of enhancing their operational efficiency. We believe that our customers’ success is our success.

Key services include core distribution, commodity management, integrated supply, vendor-managed inventory, industrial vending, store room solutions and management.

Recent awards or recognition: 2024 AD Conversion Campaign - Network Champion; 2023 AD Centurian Award; 2022 AD Category Growth Award (Tools and Material Handling); 2021 Best of Michigan Business Small Business Winner; 2019 AD Best Conversion of the Year (Metalworking).

Do you offer an e-commerce platform? Yes, we launched our initial e-commerce platform in 2005. It was URL-specific, customizable and offered a unique digital engagement opportunity with specific end-users. We re-platformed our e-commerce tools in 2013 to allow for broader rich content and to expand the user profile we could accommodate through our site. We re-platformed again in 2021 which has allowed us to accommodate punchout and other end-user integrations. It also allows us to create broader commercial customer catalogs, user customizations, customer specific dashboards and analytics tools. Additionally, the platform supports special quotes, orders, invoices, VMI and custom order lists furthering the tailored experience.

Additional comments: As we celebrate our 160th anniversary in 2025, we take pride in our legacy of building strong relationships. Our commitment to innovative solutions and partnerships with top manufacturers has earned us the trust and loyalty of our customers, keeping us at the forefront of their minds. We are looking forward to number of program installs for 2025 that are part of our planned growth trajectory.