Founded in 1953 by 20-year-old Harvey Katz, Harvey's Hardware took off, overcoming the odds of being in a town saturated with hardware-related stores. Harvey was soon joined by his two sons, Jeff and Gary, and eventually by each of his 7 grandchildren. Today, you may still find the "retired" Harvey selling his wares, overseeing his sons who now run the show. David H. Freedman of Inc. Magazine says it best: "just about anyone in the town of Needham, Mass., as well as a surprisingly large percentage of the population of the surrounding western suburbs of Boston, could have warned me that I was doomed to succumb to the near-supernatural level of service and almost comically extensive inventory at Harvey's. People in these parts often express the sentiment that Harvey's is not merely the best hardware store in the area but that it is--as if they've actually scouted the tool-and-gardening emporia of Buenos Aires and Copenhagen--the best hardware store in the world."