This profile is in active compilation — some details are awaiting a cited source.

Euston’s Waldo Hardware is the neighborhood hardware store at 126 W 75th Street in Waldo, Kansas City, Missouri, trading out of a former A&P market building with art deco lines. It belongs to the Euston Hardware family of stores, which Ken Euston started in the Kansas City area in 1971 and which his son Kevin Euston has run; the Waldo store itself dates to about 1999 and was expanded and remodeled in 2018. It is a full-service neighborhood hardware counter — fasteners by the piece, old-fashioned repair parts, paint, lawn and garden — and it buys through the Do it Best cooperative.

Description

Euston’s Waldo Hardware is the hardware store on 75th Street in Waldo, a block west of Wornall, in a building that was originally an A&P grocery and retains art deco detailing.1 It is the kind of store the big boxes displaced almost everywhere else: a small, deeply stocked floor where fasteners are sold by the piece, obsolete repair parts are still on the pegboard, and staff walk customers to what they need. Reviews across a decade return to the same point — that the service and product knowledge exceed what the warehouse retailers offer.2

The store belongs to the Euston Hardware group, which the Euston family built in the Kansas City area beginning in 1971.31 It buys through Do it Best, a retailer-owned cooperative headquartered in Fort Wayne, Indiana. That affiliation is a purchasing arrangement, not a corporate parent: co-op member stores are independently owned, and the co-op is owned by its retailers.45

In August 2018 the Waldo store was remodeled while staying open — exterior refresh, taller and longer shelving, updated lighting, the checkout moved to the east side of the floor, and more than 5,000 new items added across tools, fasteners, lawn equipment, and cleaning supplies.1

Goods and services

  • Hand and power tools, and tool accessories14
  • Fasteners — nuts, bolts, screws, and specialty hardware, sold loose1
  • Plumbing and electrical repair parts, including older and hard-to-find items42
  • Paint and sundries4
  • Lawn, garden, and outdoor power equipment14
  • Cleaning and household supplies14
  • Counter advice — one-on-one repair guidance, the store’s most-cited attribute in customer reviews2

History

Ken Euston began Euston Hardware in the Kansas City area in 1971.31 The group grew to four stores under the family: Euston Hardware at Red Bridge, Euston Hardware in Prairie Village, Kansas, Waldo Hardware in Kansas City, and Pack’s Hardware in Smithville, Missouri, with the founder’s son Kevin Euston running the business and other family members involved.3 The Waldo store, in the old A&P building on West 75th Street, has been in operation since about 1999.1

In 2021 Waters Hardware, a Kansas-based hardware group affiliated with Do it Best, added four locations — two Euston Hardware stores, Pack’s Hardware, and a former Oskaloosa Lumber site.6 The Waldo store is not itemized in the accounts of that transaction reviewed here, and it continues to trade under the Waldo Hardware name. Whether it changed hands with its sibling stores is not established by any source located in this pass; the question is flagged below and in the tier note.

The store was remodeled and restocked in 2018 and remains in operation, with customer reviews and directory listings current through 2026.12

Sources

Footnotes

  1. Inside Brookside (And Waldo) — “Waldo’s Euston Hardware is Remodeling,” August 7, 2018 — asserts: the Waldo store has been in operation since 1999; owned by Kevin Euston, son of founder Ken Euston; four Kansas City-area locations; the store occupies a former A&P market building with art deco styling at 126 W 75th St; the August 2018 remodel kept the store open and included exterior work, taller and longer shelving, updated lighting, relocation of the checkout to the east side, and more than 5,000 new items across tools, fasteners, lawn equipment, and cleaning supplies. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10

  2. Yelp — Waldo Hardware, 126 W 75th St, Kansas City — asserts: the store is open and reviewed through 2026; customer characterization of service, staff knowledge, and stock of old-fashioned repair items. Aggregator listing, cited only as evidence of current operation and of the store’s service reputation, not for ownership or founding facts. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  3. Kansas City Tent & Awning Company — “Euston Waldo Hardware,” customer feature, July 21, 2016 — asserts: Euston Hardware has operated in the Kansas City area since 1971; founded by Ken Euston; run by his son Kevin, with wife Kathy and other family involved; four locations — Euston Hardware Red Bridge, Euston Hardware Prairie Village KS, Waldo Hardware in Kansas City MO, and Pack’s Hardware in Smithville MO; more than 65,000 products carried. (Body text read via search-engine extraction; direct fetch returned only the page header. Vendor-published customer feature — a promotional source, treated as supporting rather than sole evidence for the founding facts.) ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  4. Do it Best — store locator entry, Waldo Hardware, Kansas City, Missouri — asserts: Waldo Hardware is a current Do it Best member store in Kansas City, Missouri, carrying the co-op’s general hardware categories (automotive, building materials, cleaning supplies, electrical, lawn and garden, plumbing). This is the freshest first-party-adjacent evidence of current operation. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  5. Do it Best — Wikipedia entry — asserts: Do it Best is a retailer-owned hardware cooperative headquartered in Fort Wayne, Indiana, whose member stores are independently owned. Cited only for the structural point that co-op membership is not corporate ownership. ↩

  6. Waters Hardware — “About Us,” hosted on Do it Best — asserts: in 2021 Waters Hardware added four hardware locations — two Euston Hardware locations, Pack’s Hardware, and an additional Waters location formerly Oskaloosa Lumber. (Page content read via search-engine extraction 2026-08-14; direct fetch returned the site’s navigation shell only. Company store index: watershardware.com) This source does not state the disposition of the Waldo store. ↩

Categories

On the record — ks.city/registry/eustons-waldo-hardware · record updated 2026-08-14