"There are no strangers here, just friends we haven't met" -Dave Karp, Founder
Our Story
Family-owned since 1920
Our
roots
Cole Hardware has been around since the 1920s, when it first opened to serve the Cole Valley neighborhood of San Francisco. Our company’s founder, Dave Karp, ran the entire operation out of the tiny space that is now the warehouse for our Cole Street store. Margie, his wife, came on as cashier, and the store thrived. Dave wanted to help everyone who walked through the door—ideally making them laugh along the way! His approach was summed up by the sign he hung over the entrance: "There are no strangers here, just friends we haven't met."
Rick Karp, our company’s current CFO and “Keeper of the Karma,” started as the official floor sweeper at thirteen. It wasn’t always Rick’s plan to make a career in hardware, but Cole Hardware grew to occupy a special place in his heart, and a few years after graduating from college he happily joined Dave as a business partner. Over the years, Rick was able to grow our business to serve other neighborhoods around San Francisco, opening one store roughly every ten years. Cole Hardware looks a lot different today from those early days when Dave and Margie were running the show on their own, but we're still guided by Dave's doctrine that our stores be welcoming, fun, and customer oriented.
Dave passed away in 2015. His Cole Hardware family never ceased to bring him joy, and he lived to see his grandchildren Adrianna and David join the business. It is our mission to carry on Dave’s legacy, making sure that Cole Hardware is both a great place shop and a great part of our community.
Green Business
Cole Hardware has always been a leader in environmental efforts through public outreach and education and partnerships with various city agencies. Nearly thirty years ago, Rick Karp partnered with the City of San Francisco to launch a spent battery recycling drop-off program. In 2006 we began our green-certification process with San Francisco’s Department of the Environment’s Green Business Program. We complied with the city’s stringent regulations for recycling, composting and water reduction, energy and water conservation, and pollution prevention. Over the next twelve years all of the stores earned Green Business certification, including our Rockridge store, which is certified with Alameda County.
