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Fastenal Company

Fastenal sells nuts, bolts, tools, and safety gear to businesses that build and fix things.

Fastenal is basically the hardware store for companies instead of homeowners. If a factory needs ten thousand bolts, a construction crew needs safety goggles, or a plumbing outfit needs a new drill bit, Fastenal sells it — mostly to businesses, not to you and me. Its main business is fasteners (screws, nuts, bolts), which is roughly a third of sales, plus tools, safety gear, and industrial supplies like gloves, tape, and cutting blades. It has two main ways of selling: its network of thousands of branches, where customers walk in or call, and its on-site locations, where Fastenal puts its own staff and vending machines inside a customer's factory or job site. The on-site business is the fast-growing part and now generates well over a third of sales, because it locks in customers with a steady, recurring relationship.

Think of it as the supply closet that restocks itself. Fastenal installs vending machines and small storerooms full of the things a customer burns through every day. When a worker grabs a box of gloves, the machine knows, Fastenal knows, and a new box shows up before anyone runs out. That's why customers stick around. Switching is a hassle, and Fastenal makes the whole thing feel effortless. The company runs on thin margins but makes it up on volume and steady repeat orders. As long as factories, builders, and maintenance crews keep working, the stuff keeps flowing.

Fastenal started in 1967 in Winona, Minnesota, where it's still headquartered, and grew from a small fastener shop into a nationwide network, partly by buying up smaller distributors along the way. It makes good money — annual revenue runs around $8 billion, growing at a modest single-digit pace in recent years — and turns a healthy chunk of profit into cash. A lot of that cash goes back to shareholders, both through dividends and through buying back its own stock. It reinvests the rest into opening new on-site locations, since each new site is essentially a bet that a customer will buy more from Fastenal over time.

Saved answer · last researched 10 Oct 2026