Industrial Distribution's 2022 Watch List

Our 10th annual feature honors a group of independent industrial distributors for their recent growth and successful reputation.

When we take a look at the most-read news and blogs on Industrial Distribution at the end of each year, it's expectedly dominated by some of the biggest names in this industry. Very large distributors like Grainger, Motion and Fastenal garner frequent headlines due to their market presence and the fact that they are literally putting out the most news.

But what about the companies that are too small to make The Big 50? While dwarfed in size compared to those national distributors, independent firms still comprise the vast majority of the industrial supply market — even amid rapid consolidation in this space that has considerably accelerated in recent months. Many of these small- and mid-sized distributors are family-owned and have been quietly operating under the radar for generations.

Tricor IndustrialThat's why we at ID began our annual Watch List in 2012. While our Big 50 List is always our most anticipated annual feature, our Watch List shines a light on a batch of deserving distributors that are too small to make it on to the Big 50, but warrant recognition either for recent growth, innovation or just their reputation as a well-run company.

To produce our Watch List, we called upon a handful of industrial distribution buying groups and cooperatives to nominate one or two member distributors for us to recognize. From there, we reached out to those nominees with a brief information questionnaire, asking those companies to provide only as much information as they were comfortable sharing. We used that info to then create the resulting mini-company profiles you’ll find over the following pages, listed in no particular order.

A look inside Tricor Industrial's branch showroom in Wooster, OH.Tricor IndustrialWe congratulate this year's four companies for earning a spot on Industrial Distribution's 2022 Watch List, and give our thanks to the buying groups, associations and cooperatives that nominated them. This year's list is actually the shortest in the feature's now 11-year history, but not for lack of trying. Those industry groups did a fantastic job nominating over a dozen companies combined, but despite multiple attempts at contacting the remainder of the nominees and via a variety of methods, respondents were limited. Perhaps those distributors were still in mid-pandemic recovery; perhaps they just wanted to stay under-the-radar; or, they may have just been too busy with operations closing out the end of 2021 and starting 2022. It's all understandable.

If you’d like to be considered for next year's Watch List list, send an email to [email protected] and we’ll make sure to send you a nomination form when the time comes.

— Mike Hockett, Managing Editor

The staff of Weisser Distributing outside its location in Tea, SD.

From Left: Hose of South Texas' management team of Craig Glasson, Gilbert Perez Sr., Sam Jenkin, Tripp Batey and Jay Glasson.Hose of South Texas

Tricor Industrial's location in Belmont, OH.

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