Derek Taylor is bringing Highlands Hardware & Lumber Co. back decades after his father ran the original. The new store is designed for contractors and weekend projects, with a person on the other end of the phone.
Now open: Highlands Hardware & Lumber Co. opened its doors on Monday, November 2, 2026, the company announced on Instagram. The store is at 3824 Cashiers Road, next to the Dollar General.
This story first appeared as Episode One of What Are They Building? in the Fall 2026 issue of ELEVATE: A Field Guide to the Plateau & Beyond.
A new hardware and lumber company on Cashiers Road
At 3824 Cashiers Road, Highlands Hardware & Lumber Co. occupies roughly 28,000 square feet on two levels. Derek Taylor, president of the company, calls it “a brand new hardware and lumber company.”
The store is meant to serve two kinds of customers from the start: contractors buying lumber, doors and windows, and people coming in for a repair or a weekend project. Taylor has a shorter way to describe it.
“We want to be your small, friendly hometown lumber and hardware company.”
Highlands Hardware & Lumber Co. at 3824 Cashiers Road. Futral Enterprises was the general contractor.
The building is new. The name is not.
Highlands Hardware dates to about 1983. Mike Bryson started the business, and Taylor’s father later bought it from him. It occupied the building that now houses 4118 Kitchen + Bar, Taylor says, with the lumber yard out back.
Taylor’s father eventually left the business. Taylor later took on the doors-and-windows side for a time, then sold it. Years later, he described the decision to return to hardware and lumber as coming “full circle.” The store at 3824 Cashiers Road is a new company at a new site, not a relocation of the earlier operation.
A Do it Best member store
Highlands Hardware is a member of Do it Best.
The other name on the exterior is Do it Best. Highlands Hardware is a member of the Fort Wayne, Indiana-based cooperative of independent hardware and lumber retailers. In November 2024, Do it Best acquired True Value. The cooperative says the deal expanded its network to more than 8,000 locations and made it the world’s largest home-improvement cooperative.
For Taylor, the scale shows up in purchasing. Members buy shares to gain access to the cooperative’s warehouses, collective buying power and brokers who can place bulk lumber orders.
“We can order railroad cars of lumber through Do it Best.”
Built for two kinds of customers
The store is designed around the two customers Taylor expects to walk through the door. The hardware side is for the person coming in for a repair or a project at home.
“Maybe picking up a fishing pole for the grandkids and some snacks to go out on a Saturday.”
Contractors get the other half of the equation. Taylor says the company supplies lumber, windows and doors for larger jobs. As of our August site visit, plans also called for a full hardware and paint store, with the building-materials side extending into framing lumber and engineered wood, siding, roofing and jobsite delivery. Below the retail floor is about 14,000 square feet of storage, giving the lumber and building-materials side of the business room beyond what customers see upstairs.
Derek Taylor stands on the unfinished retail floor during an August site visit.
A person on the other end of the phone
Derek Taylor, president of Highlands Hardware & Lumber Co.
When Taylor talks about service, he starts with the phone.
“Our plan is to be a very high-touch company. You’re not going to get an automated system. You’re going to be able to talk to somebody. If you have a bookkeeping problem, you get the bookkeeping department instead of an automated machine running you through a bunch of menus.”
He expects the people answering it to be people from the area, people customers already know. “From our family to your family kind of idea,” he says.
Old Highlands families, still working together
Futral Enterprises was the general contractor on the new building, and the relationship predates the project. Taylor’s doors-and-windows business was supplying Futral projects long before Futral began building this store. Bill Futral says his company relies on the Highlands Hardware team for interior doors and windows, and Futral Enterprises now lists Highlands Hardware among its commercial work.
Then there is the sitework. Bryson’s Grading helped build this one, and Taylor pointed out the connection himself: “My father used to run Highlands Hardware, and he bought it from Mike Bryson, and Bryson’s Grading is helping do this job.”
“It’s kind of neat that all these old Highlands families are still working together.”
Visit Highlands Hardware & Lumber Co.
- Address: 3824 Cashiers Road, Highlands, NC, next to the Dollar General
- Phone: (828) 482-5000
- Opened: Monday, November 2, 2026
- What’s there: A full hardware store and lumber yard, plus the El Guacamole Loco food truck, which the company says is a permanent addition
- Size: Roughly 28,000 square feet on two levels
- Cooperative: Do it Best member
- President: Derek Taylor
- Built by: Futral Enterprises, general contractor, with sitework by Bryson’s Grading
- Online: highlandshardware.com and @highlandshardware on Instagram
Building a home in Highlands?
If you are deciding between an existing home and a homesite, start with our guide to buying existing or building new in Highlands, NC, then explore homes and land in Highlands with our team.
FAQs
Where is Highlands Hardware & Lumber Co.?
Highlands Hardware & Lumber Co. is at 3824 Cashiers Road in Highlands, NC, next to the Dollar General. The phone number is (828) 482-5000.
Is Highlands Hardware & Lumber Co. open?
Yes. The store opened its doors on Monday, November 2, 2026, according to the company’s Instagram.
How is it connected to the original Highlands Hardware?
Highlands Hardware dates to about 1983, when Mike Bryson started the business. Derek Taylor’s father later bought it from him, and the original store occupied the building that now houses 4118 Kitchen + Bar, with the lumber yard out back. The store at 3824 Cashiers Road is a new company at a new site, not a relocation of the earlier operation.
What does Highlands Hardware & Lumber Co. sell?
It is a full hardware store and lumber yard. As of August, plans also called for a full hardware and paint store, plus lumber, windows and doors for contractors, with the building-materials side extending into framing lumber and engineered wood, siding, roofing and jobsite delivery.
Is Highlands Hardware a Do it Best store?
Yes. Highlands Hardware is a member of Do it Best, the Fort Wayne, Indiana-based cooperative of independent hardware and lumber retailers.
Who built the new store?
Futral Enterprises was the general contractor, and Bryson’s Grading handled the sitework.
About Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Meadows Mountain Realty
Since 2003, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Meadows Mountain Realty has helped buyers and sellers across the Highlands-Cashiers Plateau. If you are planning a move or a build in Highlands, talk with our team.
More stories in ELEVATE
Episode One of What Are They Building? runs on pages 52 to 55 of ELEVATE Fall 2026. Keep reading in the same issue:
- What Grows After You Arrive: The Reserve Charitable Foundation
- Taking Shape at Laurel Village: New Cottages at Old Edwards Reserve
- A Signal in the Trees: A Deeper Look at Fall Foliage on the Highlands-Cashiers Plateau
- Where I Go in October: Ilona Vos’s Favorite Fall Drive
- Order Out of Chaos: Mahjong with Mountain Mahj Collective
- A School for Life: 100 Years of the Folk School
- Built for the View: Builder Spotlight on Bill Futral
- From Our Family to Yours: Tricia’s Slow-Roasted Pernil
