Hubo is a Dutch

hardware store Hardware stores (in a number of countries, "shops"), sometimes known as DIY stores, sell household hardware for home improvement including: fasteners, building materials, hand tools, power tools, keys, locks, hinges, chains, plumbing ...

chain. Hubo Netherlands and

Hubo Belgium Hubo is a Belgian hardware store-chain. Hubo Belgium and Hubo Netherlands are two separate entities. The headquarters of Hubo Belgium is located in Wommelgem Wommelgem () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Antwerp. The munic ...

are two separate entities. Hubo is part of the franchise-organisation DGN Retail, which headquarters is located in

Apeldoorn Apeldoorn (; Dutch Low Saxon: ) is a municipality and city in the province of Gelderland in the centre of the Netherlands. The municipality of Apeldoorn, including the villages of Beekbergen, Loenen (Apeldoorn), Loenen, Ugchelen and Hoenderloo ...

.Hubo
on dgnretail.nl DGN Retail also owns the Hardware store-chains Multimate Service Bouwmarkt, Fixet and Doeland. Hubo is the oldest Hardware store franchise in the Netherlands, starting its franchising business in 1969.DOE-HET-ZELFBRANCHE TUSSEN HOOP EN VREES
franchiseplus.nl, reviewed on 25 February 2012. As of 2011, Hubo has over 200 stores, all of which are located in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, making it the largest Hardware store-chain in the Netherlands in number of stores. In 1996, Hubo had a revenue of 116 million euro.DHZ wereldje in tien jaar fors veranderd
, mixpress.nl, 2008-09-03. In 2004, the revenue of Hubo was 151 million euro and Hubo, Doeland and Big Boss had a combined revenue of 291 million euro. In 2009, Hubo, Doeland and Big Boss had a combined revenue of 237 million euro.

History

Hubo was founded as Houthandel Utrecht Bedrijven Organisatie. Houthandel is Dutch for trade in wood. Houthandel Utrecht started in the 1930s as a wood shop. When the organisation started delivering hardware to customers this got a bad reaction from some building companies, and they decided to separate this selling of hardware from the wood industry. Several shops were opened under the name Houtribo, and the amount of shops grew quickly, which would be the base for the Hubo Hardware store-chain. From 1967, the organisation started franchising, and in 1969 the name Hubo was used for the franchise organisations. In 1972, Hubo also started opening shops in

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

, and in 1974 there were over 200 Hubo shops. In the 1970s, ownership changed a couple of times and in the 1980 Hubo was sold to KBB (the current

Maxeda Maxeda is a Dutch retail company owned by American investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) which is currently a market leader in the DIY retailing in The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. When Maxeda acquired Vendex KBB (KBB = ...

), together with Formido which was also founded by Houthandel Utrecht. The Hardware store-chain

Praxis Praxis may refer to: Philosophy and religion *Praxis (process), the process by which a theory, lesson, or skill is enacted, practised, embodied, or realised * Praxis model, a way of doing theology * Praxis (Byzantine Rite), the practice of fai ...

was already part of KBB at the time. In the 1990s, Vendex/KBB sold

to three Belgian investors and sold Hubo Netherlands to the HDB-group, the franchise organisation behind Houtland, Doeland and Big Boss. HDB-group decided to limit itself to three chains and the 120 Houtland stores were merged into Hubo. In 2004, Interdetail, the franchise organisation behind Idee voor Vakwerk, went up into HDB-group. The Idee voor vakwerk stores were merged with Hubo and Doeland. In July 2007, HDB-group fused with Serboucom from

Enschede Enschede (; local ) is a list of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the province of Overijssel and the Twente region of the eastern Netherlands. The east of the urban area reaches ...

, the franchise organisation behind Multimate, Oxxo en Hout-drive. From the fusion came the new organisation Doe-het-zelf Groep Nederland, DGN Retail. After the fusion Big Boss and Multimate were combined into Multimate Service Bouwmarkt. On 1 January 2011, DGN Retail merged 24 Doeland stores into Hubo. Some larger Doeland shops went over to Multimate Service Bouwmarkt. At the same time the Hubo slogan was changed from 'Hubo, de eerste, de beste' (hubo, the first, the best) into 'Hubo, Overtref jezelf' (Hubo, surpass yourself). On 1 January 2011, Reesink Retail bv, the franchise organisation behind Fixet, joined DGN-Retail.Fixet gaat samen met Multimate en Hubo
,

Leeuwarder Courant The ''Leeuwarder Courant'' is the oldest daily newspaper in the Netherlands. Founded by Abraham Ferwerda, it first appeared in 1752. The ''Leeuwarder Courant'' was the first paper in the Dutch province Friesland and its capital Leeuwarden. It is ...

, 2011-01-04.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Hubo.nl
Official website of Hubo
Hubo
on dgnretail.nl Retail companies of the Netherlands Hardware stores