Fastenal began as five men trying to vend nuts and bolts.
In 1967 Bob Kierlin and four friends in Winona, Minnesota, set out to sell nuts and bolts from vending machines. The machines could not hold a length of rebar, so the five opened an ordinary store instead. Fastenal’s stock rose 38,565 percent from the 1987 crash to 2012, beating Apple and Microsoft. The vending machines finally came back in 2008.
Fastenal on Brandseum