True Value Hardware Stores

True Value was founded already in 1948 and developed soon as leader in the hardware industry. With its huge product selection and nowadays over 7,000 stores, True Value is a trusted resource for do-it-yourselfers in big cities and small towns alike. In 1963 True Value merged with Cotter & Company, founded in 1948, too. In the year 1976 two calculators manufactured by Texas Instruments, the TI-1200 and TI-1250 were sold under the label of the True Value Hardware Stores.

Cotter & Company grew fast, in 1979 sales topped the first time $1 billion. But Cotter & Company didn't stop there! It had grown to a retail cooperative of over 5,000 stores with a wholesale volume of more than $2.4 billion by July 1997 when it merged with ServiStar Coast to Coast Corporation to form TruServ.

Source : Joerg Woerner, Datamath Calculator Museum