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In 1997, in the early, optimistic, post-Soviet days, I visited Odesa, Ukraine, to lead discussions about democratic governance systems for the region’s public officials. That beautiful, historic city on the Black Sea, once a polyglot center of commerce — now horrifically targeted by Russian bombs — was just awakening from socialism.
Private hotels and restaurants had opened, even as Soviet-era “sanitoria” — government-owned resorts for labor unions — continued to operate. But the green shoots of private ownership had not yet reached its housing market — such as its long blocks of “Khruschevka” concrete slab, three-to-five-story, 1950s-era apartment blocks, named for the former Soviet premier who once promised to “bury” the U.S. Public housing was the rule, not the exception, under socialism.
That helped explain the absence of a type of business I noticed was missing on the streets of the city made famous by Sergei Eisenstein’s film, “SS Potemkin:” pe They are ubiquitous in the U.S., of course, from the Home Depot and Lowe’s giants to the hundreds of small-town “True Value” affiliates. Their absence during the hangover from the socialism period led me to realize that the outlets for everything from lumber to wall plaster to bathroom grout hold a significance that goes beyond their thousands of inventory items. They say much about America — from private homeownership to personal agency and required responsibility that go along with it. In other words, freedom.
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In contrast to the dreams of city planners during the Depression, public housing — a la Moscow, literally, to which early government housing advocates looked as a model — never took root in the U.S. Instead, homeownership increased from 44% in 1930 to 65% today. We tend to think of ownership in terms of the extent to which it’s affordable — but not to pay enough attention to what it implies about the American way of life — and, yes, the freedom we celebrate on July 4.
That’s where hardware stores come in. Homeowners must rely, first and foremost, on themselves to maintain their properties, their key source of personal wealth. Yes, we can now call on Angie’s List to find contractors and handy-persons — but it’s our responsibility to notice the leaks that can destroy a ceiling, to take care that pipes don’t freeze during a cold snap, to make sure gutters and downspouts are clear so roofs and clapboard siding don’t rot. We can’t call the property’s landlord — we are that person.
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The stakes are high. Pew Research reports that among “households that own their primary residence – home equity accounted for a median of 45% of their net worth in 2021.” In other words, almost half our personal wealth is tied up in a home we own. Surprisingly, it matters the most to some minority households. Per Pew, “Home equity is especially important for Black and Hispanic homeowners. In 2021, they derived 63% and 66% of their net worth from home equity, respectively, at the median.”
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Not surprisingly, then, 90% of hardware giant Home Depot customers are DIYers (do-it-yourselfers), though professional contracts are also a key part of their revenue stream. Of course, it’s typically a homeowner who retains that professional contractor who goes to Home Depot for flooring and kitchen cabinets.
Software may be the future — but hardware remains big business in America. Home Depot’s 2,300 outlets brought in $159 billion in 2024. Competitor big box chain Lowe’s’ 1,700 stores brought in $83 billion. Some 1,700 smaller, local hardware stores use the True Value brand logo. In each of these, every day, some homeowner is coming in for the right size dry wall — or asking for advice, something Home Depot long ago realized drew in customers.
There’s a Home Depot in Odessa, Texas — but not in Odesa, Ukraine. There is good news about the latter, though. Since the time of my visit there, the Ukraine-owned “hypermarket” home improvement chain Epicentre started with one store in Kyiv in 1996, and in 2009 opened locations in Odesa. There’s now a private market for those Khrushchev-era apartments — an Odesa real estate website lists one for $21,000.
One can only hope that, to go along with homeownership and hardware stores, Odesa residents will be able to be secure that they will not have to continue to do repairs — from bomb damage. That combination — homeownership, hardware — implies the sort of freedom Americans too often take for granted on July 4.
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