Hardware Stores Have a Secret Weapon for Wooing Customers

Daniel, a team member at Shoppers True Value Hardware, sleeps on the job, leaves food lying around and lets his co-workers clean up after him.

But the hardware store’s father-daughter owners, Thomas Simpson and Jessica Simpson, let him slide. That’s because many customers come into their South Portland, Maine, store specifically to see Daniel, and while they’re there, they buy something. Daniel has become such a draw that the store introduced Daniel-branded merchandise, including stickers that say, “I enjoy romantic walks to the hardware store to see Daniel.”

Not bad for a cat.

Like the Simpsons, many hardware-store owners have long adopted a kitty or two at their shops to help keep mice out of the bird feed and grass seed. But increasingly, they are discovering that the cats are more than just mousers. Customers—and their children—bond with the cats, who become beloved fixtures in the stores and inspire people to keep coming back. Many social-media-savvy stores feature their cats in online marketing to create buzz and build their customer base.

“People come in from all over the world just to see them,” says Shoppers True Value manager Lauren Springer of Daniel, who wears a bow tie, and the store’s other cat, an orange tabby named Bigfoot, who wears a necktie.

In 2023, Springer posted a tongue-in-cheek TikTok video in which Daniel was named “Employee of the Month.” The Dodo, an animal-lovers website, reposted the video across multiple platforms, including Instagram, where it got almost 67,000 views. Since then, Springer has increased her marketing efforts on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.

“We definitely work hard to bring in the younger demographic,” Springer says. “And it’s working. We can see by what’s selling.”

East Bay Hardware made a cat part of its logo and supersized the feline on a billboard just outside of Charleston, S.C. But East Bay’s actual cats make the biggest impact when they’re virtually invisible.

Store co-owner Merissa Ellis, along with Dominique Moton, an associate in the garden department, started a series of social-media posts challenging people to spot cats Max and Emma hiding in the merchandise. One picture of Emma crouching amid some chain saws went viral, including appearances on major news sites, generating both national exposure and free advertising.

The cats are an “easy marketing solution that brings people in. They’re on our logo and our window paintings,” Ellis says.

At Country Ace Hardware in Granby, Colo., owner Amy Kaplanis says her cats help create a sense of community.

“Cats humanize the hardware store,” she says. “We want to be a place where [customers] do more than just come in and buy something. People come in and see people they haven’t seen in a while, they chat, they see the cats and talk to each other.”

Because of the cats, “dwell time has increased,” Kaplanis says. “People come in to say they specifically want to see the cats. And they buy something while they’re here.”

One of her cats, Morris, got so popular that one year he was named “Best Shop Cat” in all of Grand County. He even made headlines after he disappeared in 2022 and Kaplanis posted a Facebook plea for his safe return. Security footage showed the cat being scooped up from a nearby parking lot by a couple driving a blue Subaru. Using the car’s license-plate number, Granby police tracked down the couple in Denver and drove about four hours round-trip to retrieve the pet. (The couple said they thought he was a stray.)

To celebrate Morris’s return, the town’s mayor officially designated Sept. 14 as Morris the Cat Day. Unfortunately, Morris disappeared again in 2024 and hasn’t been found. Another cat, Purdy, was adopted from the local animal shelter to join Kaplanis’s other cat, Sheba, at the store.

It is difficult to quantify how hardware-store cats in social media impact the bottom line. But a study in the Journal of Advertising Research last year found that people were willing to spend more money on products advertised by “petfluencers” on social media than products touted by humans.

In feedback from audience testing, respondents said that animals had no hidden agenda, making them seem more genuine and sincere, says lead author Laura Lavertu, an associate professor of marketing at Grenoble School of Management in France.

While Lavertu studied the effects of petfluencers in fictitious ads, she reasoned that hardware-store cats could elicit similar reactions, especially since customers could interact with them in person.

Aubuchon Ace Hardware stores may be as well-known for their cats as they are for the hardware. With nearly 150 stores in the U.S., Aubuchon is the country’s oldest family-owned hardware-store chain. And most of them have at least one cat.

“The cats were originally for pest control,” says Ben Aubuchon, marketing manager for Aubuchon and great-grandson of the founder. “Now, we fully admit that we get cats for the community connection. Our cats are local celebrities.”

With over 100 cats at its stores, company leadership at the Westminster, Mass., headquarters drafted a playbook for store cats. Included are a checklist (bed, litterbox, a specific brand of food) and guidelines, such as precautions to take for cats that like to climb.

Still, cats involve a certain amount of…unpredictability. Aubuchon Ace Hardware in Old Town, Maine, posted an Instagram reel showing the aftermath of a cat that crashed through some ceiling tiles (unharmed). It has been viewed over 30,000 times, Aubuchon says. At Shoppers True Value, whenever Daniel dutifully kills a mouse, he leaves the head behind somewhere in the store. And at East Bay Hardware, Emma chased a squirrel into the store that took two days to remove.

Last year, Aubuchon created the Hardware Store Cat Calendar featuring kitties from across the company. The calendar raised over $36,000 for the Aubuchon Foundation, which contributes to animal shelters, rescue groups and other community organizations. Four versions of the 2027 calendar were printed based on geography because customers wanted to see more cats from stores in their area.

When May comes around, some calendar owners will get to see a glossy photo of Oreo, the store cat at Aubuchon Hardware in Ayer, Mass. Last August, after 10 years of service, Oreo roamed the aisles for the last time.

“Oreo decided to retire,” Aubuchon says. “She’s slowing down, growing older.”

To celebrate, the store threw her a party, which included a petting zoo, ice-cream truck and, yes, fried Oreos. Customers with purchases of $40 or more received a $10-off coupon featuring Oreo’s face.

And when the festivities ended, one Aubuchon customer, a woman who had recently lost her own cat, arranged to take home something very special. Oreo.