Our original location in Durham was opened in 1952 by Dave DeMoulpied who ran the operation under the name Hardware House.  My parents, Dick and Gail Houghton have lived and worked in the Durham/Madbury area since my father attended UNH in the early 60’s. My father worked for Town and Campus while at college and then full time following college.  In the fall of 1978 my parents purchased the Hardware House when I was a freshman at UNH and re-named the business: Houghton Hardware. 

   I graduated from college in 1983 and returned to work full time.  My parents experienced rapid growth in the 1980’s which lead to the opening of our second store in Newmarket in 1989.  At about this same time I left the family business to explore my options in the corporate world.  In 1999 I returned to the business as part of a planned transition of ownership of the business.  In the spring of 2004 we opened our third store at the traffic circle in Lee, NH, and in July of 2006 my parents officially retired and I took over ownership of the business. 

                                                                                                            Jim Houghton