About Us

For more than 175 years, Barrett has done one thing better than anything else: adapt.

Our story starts in 1850, when William F. Barrett opened a small tin shop and hardware store at the corner of Bluff and Jefferson Streets in Joliet. The Illinois & Michigan Canal had only been open a couple of years, and Joliet was a young town finding its way. In fact, Barrett is older than the City of Joliet itself, which wasn’t incorporated as a city until 1852. William was a volunteer firefighter, a city alderman and one of the builders of First Presbyterian Church, where a stained-glass window still carries his name. From the beginning, Barrett was part of the community it served.

Generations of Barretts

The Barrett family led the business for more than 75 years. William started out in partnership with W. A. Strong but soon became the sole owner. In 1872 his son John O. Barrett joined as a partner, and the firm became W. F. Barrett & Son. When William died in 1879, he left debts behind; John paid off every one of them and took over the business. In 1891 the company was incorporated as Barrett Hardware Company, with John O. Barrett as president and his younger brother Edward C. Barrett as secretary-treasurer. When John retired in 1927, the next generation stepped up, and W. Franklin Barrett became president. From there, the history goes grey. Records of who led Barrett in the decades that followed are scarce, and much of that chapter lives on only in old city directories, newspaper archives and the memories of the people who worked here. What we do know is that the business kept going, kept serving Joliet and, as always, kept adapting.

Changing with Joliet

As Joliet grew, Barrett grew with it. The family came through a store fire and a move to the Akin Block, and in 1883 the store moved into the Munroe Block at Chicago and Clinton Streets, which locals called the “Barrett Block.” On April 4, 1908, fire destroyed the Barrett Block. Barrett kept serving customers from a temporary location at Van Buren and Des Plaines Streets and rebuilt, eventually moving into its four-story building on North Ottawa Street. As plumbing, gas fitting and new building methods changed the trades, Barrett changed what it carried and who it served. By 1928 the Joliet Herald-News called Barrett “the largest of its kind in Illinois outside of Chicago.” Barrett even supplied the hardware for the Joliet Public Library.

We’re not the downtown hardware store anymore.

For generations of Joliet families, “Barrett’s” meant the big hardware store on North Ottawa Street. But that store was only half the story. Barrett was also a wholesaler, supplying the trade as well as the local hardware stores. When the Robinson-Patman Act required wholesale and retail to be kept separate, Barrett adapted again. In 1937 the wholesale company moved to the former Bates Machine factory at 324 Henderson Avenue, while the hardware store stayed downtown.

In 1987 the company’s stockholders sold Barrett to the Robert Pierson family. In the early 1990s, with Joliet’s economy shifting, we added industrial supplies and began rebuilding Barrett into the industrial distributor it is today.

Barrett today

Today Barrett Industrial is a full-line MRO and safety supply distributor serving the contractors, manufacturers and facilities that keep our region running. We cover:

• Industrial and MRO supplies
• Safety and PPE
• Lifting equipment and rigging
• Cutting tools and tooling
• Construction materials and contractor essentials

And we’re still adapting. Our field sales reps come to your job site or plant, and you can order online whenever you like.

Service is our most important product

Through every change, one thing has stayed the same. For more than 175 years, service has been our most important product. Barrett has always been a family business, first under the Barrett family and, since 1987, under the Robert Pierson family. The times will keep changing, and so will we. Whatever your next job needs, we’re ready for it.