Mitre 10 Mitre 10 Mitre 10 is an Australian retail and trade hardware store chain. Operations are based on a cooperative system, where the store owners are members of the national group and each has voting rights. The chain name references the mitre joint. There are over 400 "Mitre 10" and its associated "True Value Hardware" franchises throughout Australia. The move to set up a co-operative group of hardware stores originated from a meeting of five men who would become Mitre 10's founders — Tom Molomby, Tom Danaher, Reg Buchanan, Jack Womersley and Ian Nisbet — held at Buchanan's home in Balwyn,
Mitre 10 and Western Australia soon started running their own state-based co-operatives, and attention turned to crossing the Tasman. In June 2004 Mitre 10 Australia opened its first "destination hardware" or "big-box" chain at Beenleigh, Queensland. In late 2008 Woolworths Limited and Mitre 10 Australia held talks on the potential acquisition of the company. The "Australian Financial Review" reported that Mitre 10 Australia had held talks with other companies since beginning to find a major buyer or investor, although in early 2009 Woolworths decided the company structure was too complex for a takeover. Mitre 10 Australia was believed to be in talks