Highland Hardware started out as a small, ordinary hardware store in downtown Atlanta in 1978. It was founded by a young couple who met at Georgia Tech, and after graduating and getting married, went to work together for an old Atlanta company known as King Hardware (which incidentally had the distinction in 1886 of selling to the druggist next door the washtub used to mix the first batch of Coca-Cola). After a four year bootstrap education in the tool and hardware business at King, the couple took out an SBA loan, rented a storefront near their home and cast their bread upon entrepreneurial waters.
Good fortune in the form of loyal customers and bright, hardworking sales people led to a prospering business which soon identified itself as a specialist in woodworking tools and supplies. Always committed to quality and value, Highland Hardware built a reputation as a source of reliable advice on the purchase and use of the tools it sold.
Part of Highland Hardware's mission over the years has been to fan the flames of interest and excitement in the craft of woodworking, and contribute to its growth throughout the country.
In 1980, the company began a weekend woodworking seminar program, bringing to Atlanta the likes of Tage Frid, Sam Maloof, Roy Underhill and Michael Dunbar to teach students attracted from the Atlanta area and around the country. The first seminars were held in the basement of the original store. When Highland Hardware renovated a larger store building across the street in 1984, the seminars moved into an old warehouse behind the new store.
Thousands of woodworkers endured the hard, splintery bleachers and drafty conditions of that rustic facility to spend weekends with Mark Duginske, Toshio Odate, Rude Osolnik, Dale Nish, Ernie Conover, and numerous other gifted teachers. In 1995, 8000 square feet of space was added to the store, including a large comfortable room where seminars are now taught. Nationally known woodworking teachers like Brian Boggs, Phil Lowe, Gary Rogowski, Curtis Buchanan and Bob Flexner continue to appear regularly as part of our visiting faculty.
In 2000, Highland Hardware took woodworking education to an exciting new level with construction of its Demo Shop adjacent to the store. In this well-equipped model shop, participants receive intensive, hands-on training ranging from basic woodworking skills to the design and construction of major projects from popular instructors like Frank Bowers, Alan Noel, Jim Dillon and Sabiha Mujtaba.
Before ever publishing a tool catalog, Highland Hardware began sending out to its customers a product-oriented newsletter called Wood News. Published two or three times a year, it soon grew into a small woodworking magazine, actually one of the early examples of what came to be known as a "magalog." Our Wood News newsletter was the store's number one way to keep our customers informed and help them learn more about woodworking. When we merged Wood News into the the store's tool catalog in 1992, the old out-of-print issues eventually became collectors items.
Highland Hardware's comprehensive tool catalog, which now appears in three editions each year, has won consistent praise over the years from customers, journalists and tool manufacturers for its in-depth analysis of the tools we sell.
In 1996, Highland Hardware took the plunge into cyberworld technology as one of the first woodworking tool companies to create a major website. Within the last several years, www.highlandhardware.com has evolved into a major interface with our clientele, and is currently the fastest-growing part of our enterprise.
Besides illustrating our comprehensive selection of woodworking products, the website offers a huge resource of free "how-to" information, downloadable in the form of PDF files. Our full schedule of classes and seminars is also updated regularly on the website.
The internet also brought about the rebirth of Wood News. In June of 2005, Highland Hardware began publishing Wood News Online, a monthly electronic newsletter. Highland Hardware customers who've subscribed receive Wood News Online every month via e-mail. Each issue features articles about new tools, techniques, projects, books, events and other items of interest to woodworkers.
In May 2006, Highland Hardware changed the name of its website to Highland Woodworking to reflect the company's departure from a traditional hardware store inventory to a selection of specialized woodworking and finishing supplies, tools and educational programs. The one year anniversary issue of Wood News Online in June was accompanied by the launch of www.woodnewsonline.com. Based upon the newsletter, the website features archived issues, articles, tips and other resources to help woodworkers of all experience levels further their skills.
Today our customers include modern artists and accomplished woodturners, as well as studio furniture designers, heirloom craftsmen and professional cabinetmakers. Perhaps numbering more than any other category, men and women with a small shop in their basement or garage have come to depend on Highland Hardware for quality tools, sound advice and fast, reliable service.