Fastenal history

The change turned out to be exactly what the stores needed to become profitable, and Kierlin left IBM in 1973 to run Fastenal full time.

Importantly, in 1981 Fastenal purchased the inventory and customer list of the fastener lines of Briese Steel in Rochester.

By 1985 the chain had grown to a total of 35 company-owned stores.

In 1992 Fastenal opened a fourth distribution center in Dallas and agreed to purchase a fifth in Atlanta.

Founders Remake a Tiny World-Class High School,” Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News, December 12, 1993.

Most of the initial planning was done during the weekends and other times when the group could get time off from work. "It was almost like a hobby," Remick reminisced in the November 1994 Corporate Report Minnesota.

The company was also experimenting in 1995 with a small Fastenal/FastTool combination store for small towns with 5,000 to 8,000 residents.

HD Supply profile and corporate video HD Supply was formed in 1997 as the professional services division of Home Depot.

By this time, the company had nine distribution centers; it then opened two more in early 1998, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and Kansas City, Missouri.

There were eight such locations at the beginning of 1999 and 21 at the end of that year.

In 2000 Fastenal began operating a second manufacturing facility at its Fresno, California, distribution center.

Another cause for optimism was the continued leadership of the thrifty Kierlin, who remained firmly in charge as chairman, president, and CEO, and who continued to hold a 10.6 percent stake in the firm he cofounded, a stake worth more than $250 million as of mid-2001.