Mateo Leal saw the burgeoning growth of Rio Grande Valley cities in the early 2000s and noted a gap in how some markets were served.

“How about the communities on the fringes of the Valley?”

It’s a question Edward Leal recalled his father asking when the family first envisioned the hardware stores that today dot Hidalgo County. Rural areas on the outskirts of city limits were poised for growth but had few businesses servicing them.

“There were plenty of building supply stores back then, but my dad saw they were mostly located in McAllen and Pharr, far away from western parts of the county,” said Edward Leal, who is the chief operating officer for Los Pinos Hardware Co. “We came up with an idea to be closer to those communities.”

The first batch of what would be six locations began with two stores in then rural Mission. Los Pinos got its start on north Schuerbach Road and West Mile 5 Road. It was 2004. Next came a store on what was far north Conway Avenue in Alton on the northern edge of Mission. 

Those first stores would set the framework for locations to follow in Penitas, Edinburg, San Carlos and Weslaco. The Monte Christo Road store in Edinburg was the first to go up within a town’s city limits. Next up is opening a store in Rio Grande City next year. The Leal family is also actively looking for a Cameron County location. A recent visit to the Weslaco store models the Los Pinos template. Well-stocked stores contain inventory neatly stacked and arranged in multiple departments, with store staff quick to help customers.

“You don’t have to wait in long lines at our stores or look for someone to help you,” the younger Leal said. “We try to create a family-type environment where the communities located around our stores know us and we know them.”

Supply Side Issues

A weekly “lumber market insider” report from Los Pinos went out in mid-July with an eye on supply chain issues. It also addressed the current hurricane season.

“We’ve been talking about getting close to a bottom on most lumber products in the last couple of reports, and I think this just might be it,” Leal wrote in the report that is read by contractors and Los Pinos’ many do-it-yourself customers. “Forecasted ahead in the near future are slight increases in pricing … until the end of the year, with possibilities to shoot up sharply if a hurricane with a path towards the Gulf forms.”

Los Pinos, like businesses of all types, has seen wide revenue and supply fluctuations since early 2020. Business was robust in 2020 as people stayed closer to home for DIY projects.

“We did see a lot of movement in those months,” he said. “It was a great period for a short time.”

Leal says DIY customers make up 75 percent of the hardware chain’s business.

The era has also been disruptive, Leal said. Now, there are pressing supply chain issues, especially with lumber and concrete.

Lumber shortages have eased, but as Leal noted in his report, a Gulf Coast hurricane would disrupt that supply. First there would be runs on plywood. Then would come a skyrocketing demand for pine and various lumber hybrids to rebuild after a storm has passed. Concerns regarding concrete are growing, Leal said. Supplies of that material are increasingly hard to find.  

“If it’s not one thing, it’s another,” Leal said. “We move supplies from one store to another. There’s a lot of uncertainty right now, but the need to keep a customer going on a project is still there and we do our best to meet that need.”

Family Traditions

Making the right calls on when to buy supplies with the swings in inventory and market prices are the toughest part of the business right now, Leal said.

Still, the youthful operations director of his family business is enthusiastic and bullish about Los Pinos. He spoke enthusiastically about the new store to come in Starr County. Leal’s own home base is usually the Monte Cristo Road location with Edinburg. His parents, Mateo and Lucilla, stay close to their Mission-area stores as the top executives of the family business.

The RGV hardware chain was inspired by Ferreteria Los Pinos of Reynosa, a business venture started years ago by Lucilla’s father. “Ferreteria” is the Spanish word for hardware store. Edward represents the next family generation of hardware operators. He has the spirit and knowledge to keep things going. 

“I enjoy visiting all of our stores and working with our employees and seeing our customers,” Leal said at his Weslaco store. “I feel like we’re all growing together.”