True Value Hardware Store Officially Files for Bankruptcy and Sells to Unlikely Rival

True Value hardware brand has filed for bankruptcy and plans to sell it all to a surprising rival. Operations for retail stores will remain open during the Chapter 11 process, so you'll still be able to shop there, for now. 

Avoid the fate of bankruptcy by learning creative ways to crush your debt, and find out what happened to True Value and what their future will be. 

The hardware wholesaler has been unable to beat the cash crunch caused by the housing market crisis. Fewer people can afford homes, and those who can are more hesitant to spend money on less-than-necessary home improvement projects. 

This has been a shared complaint in the home improvement hardware industry, tipping other brands into bankruptcy, too.  

Big Lots and LL Flooring cited the exact root cause when they filed for bankruptcy earlier this year. 

True Value began as a cooperative between four hardware companies and a wholesale supplier founded in 1948. Accounting irregularities were discovered in 1999, leading to a huge loss and plummeting stock prices. 

At that point, many hardware stores chose to leave, transitioning to competition such as Ace Hardware or Do It Best. 

True Value currently has about 4,500 independently operated retail locations that will remain open through the bankruptcy process. 

Rival hardware company Do It Best has submitted a $153 million bid to purchase the failing brand, which is expected to be completed by the end of the year — unless there are better offers. 

True Value is likely going to disappear and be transitioned into Do it Best, with final announcements expected to occur before the end of the year. 

The brand wasn't able to weather the economic storm, which is still ongoing. Prepare your own finances to withstand further downturns of the economy.