Type Privately held company Genre Retail Headquarters Mississauga, Canada | Industry Metalworking Website metalsupermarkets.com Founded 1985 | |
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Number of locations 85 locations in 4 countries Products Metals
Stainless Steel
Other Metals Founders William “Bill” Mair, William Mair | ||
The difference between hot rolled and cold rolled steel
Metal Supermarkets is a Canadian franchise that primarily focuses on selling small quantity metals, cut to the customer’s desired size. Metal Supermarkets is the largest franchise in the small quantity metals industry and the only one with international reach. Metal Supermarkets’ main headquarters are located in Mississauga, Ontario. The company’s franchise locations spread across Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. Currently, Metal Supermarkets operates 85 locations worldwide.
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History
Metal Supermarkets was established in 1985 as a single location in Mississauga, Ontario. Its founder, William “Bill” Mair, wanted to address the demand for small quantities of metal that large metal warehouses could not satisfy, while providing efficient and reliable service. Therefore, Metal Supermarkets adopted a business model based on cut-to-size metals and no minimum order size. Metal Supermarkets began franchising in 1987 as the company did not have enough funds at the time to finance an expansion. Due to the franchise’s success in Canada, stores were opened for the first time in the United Kingdom and in the United States in 1994 and 1995 respectively. In 2007, Metal Supermarkets acquired Metal Express, a metal distributor based in the United States. The company recently celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2015, and it continues to expand its operations. Metal Supermarkets currently operates 85 stores worldwide and also operates its own online store.
Metal Products
Metal Supermarkets sources many different kinds of metal, some of them being: Alloy Bar, Aluminum, Cold Rolled Steel, Hot Rolled Steel, Stainless Steel, Brass, Copper, Tool Steel. Additionally, they source hard to find metals for customers with specific requests.
Metal Supermarkets offers over 8,000 metal products, shapes and grades through physical locations and its online store. The requested metal can then be cut to size and delivered.