Throwback Thursday is a regular weekly feature in which we dip into the archives of the Hardlines Weekly Report.

About ten years ago, on June 30, 2014, we reported that Kent Building Supplies had just launched Air Miles in Atlantic Canada. Previously, TIM-BR MART (as it was then spelled) and RONA were the joint licence holders in Canada.

“But starting last Tuesday, Kent launched its own Air Miles program with heavy promotion and a contest that will give away a total of 250,000 points through its 40-plus stores,” we reported. “TIM-BR MART has some 70 dealers of its own in Atlantic Canada, many of them in direct competition with Kent stores.”

ABC Supply Co., a wholesale distributor of roofing, siding and other select exterior building products in Canada, has announced the promotion of Michelle Dagenais to Western Canada District manager.

Dagenais joined ABC Supply in 2023 as the exterior products business manager for Canada. Prior to ABC Supply, she was a sales leader for James Hardie, serving western Canada.

Canadian Thermos Products Inc. is celebrating 120 years this year for the Thermos brand. To commemorate the milestone, the company has launched a new product line called the Icon Series, while renewing its commitment to product designs that meet or exceed applicable government standards and rigorous internal standards.

Canadian Thermos is also hosting contests. From June 17 through August 12, contestants will get a chance at a Canadian vacation as well as one of 20 Thermos prize packs.

Barrie, Ont.-based CanSave, the wholesale distributor and manufacturer is expanding its team. The company is  seeking a dynamic and motivated individual to fill the role of Territory Sales Manager in Southwest Ontario. For more details, check out our Hardlines Classifieds page!

More than 500 participants attended AD Canada’s second annual meeting in Vancouver earlier this month. Three-time Olympic champion and Canadian ice hockey icon Cassie Campbell-Pascall was among the guest speakers at the event.

“The dynamic discussions and enthusiastic engagement that I witnessed in all sessions ignite my personal excitement to see the outcomes of these opportunities through the lens of our mission to grow together,” AD Canada president Rob Dewar said in a release.

The 2025 AD Canada Annual Meeting will be held May 26 to 29 at the Westin Harbour Castle in Toronto.

Today is the day (June 25) that the capital gains tax increase comes into effect, as promised by the federal Liberals in their recent budget. Before the budget, the capital gains “inclusion rate” was 50 percent. In other words, 50 percent of the profit from sales of an asset—for example a hardware store or building supply store—was taxed as income, while 50 percent was tax free.

Now that same capital gains tax will be applied to 67 percent of the sale of any capital gain, including stocks, secondary residences, and the sale of a business. Business groups have heavily criticized the hiking of the capital gains tax inclusion rate as disincentivizing business ownership in Canada.

The latest instalment of our podcast series What’s In Store goes live tomorrow! In this episode, we talk with Dave and Duane MacDonald, who have added a Leon’s franchise to complement their existing business at Callbecks Home Hardware Building Centre in Summerside, P.E.I.. Sign up now to get updates about the latest free podcasts in your inbox!

Following an unprecedented pandemic run that resulted in three years of solid gains for Canadian hardware and home improvement dealers, the industry slowed right down in 2023, according to the latest data from Hardlines.

As we crunch the numbers on the overall size of the industry year over year, brand new data reveals that overall top-line sales from all hardware, building supply, and big box retailers in the country dropped by almost four percent last year.

(These numbers are part of our larger annual Hardlines Retail Report, which will be released next month. This incredible report provides a detailed breakdown of the retail players in Canada: their 2023 sales, store counts, regional breakouts, trends, and strategies for 2024 and 2025. It’s a mammoth report featuring more than 150 PowerPoint slides. Click here to reserve your copy!)

Some 130 members of the Teamsters union are on strike at Richelieu Hardware’s Montreal warehouse, but the impact is limited, according to a report by the Quebec trade association AQMAT. The workers have been without a collective agreement since the end of 2023. The relation between wages and inflation is at the heart of the dispute.

A storage rack that had visible damage or wear, according to a WorkSafeBC report, cost a Penticton, B.C., RONA store $330,507 earlier this month.

WorkSafeBC is the province’s safety agency. It sometimes conducts random investigations of workplaces involving construction materials. The rack in question was subject to a “stop use” order from the agency. However, the store did not repair or replace the rack, the report said.

In addition to the worn or damaged racking, “No information was available about the rack’s rated capacity or loading or unloading instructions,” the WorkSafeBC report said.