U.S. farm and hardware retailer Tractor Supply Co. reported that net sales for the first quarter of 2024 increased 2.9 percent to a record $3.39 billion, from $3.30 billion in the first quarter of 2023. The increase was driven by new store openings and growth in comparable store sales, which were up 1.1 percent. Gross profit increased 4.4 percent to $1.22 billion.

The latest edition of Hardlines Dealer News hits inboxes tomorrow. In this issue, we look at Ace’s centenary, Home Depot’s pro business, and one Home Hardware Building Centre’s outdoor grilling focus.

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Taiga Building Products reported Q1 net sales of $393.6 million, down four percent from $408.5 million a year earlier. The decline was attributed to lower sales volumes of commodity products. Net earnings fell to $12.8 million from $13.5 million in the comparable period of 2023.

Hardware stores are getting into the food business, on both sides of the border. Some Home Hardware stores in this country have featured M&M Food Markets as a store-within-a-store. Now Ace Hardware, south of the border, has debuted its own private-label line of barbecue sauces and rubs. The mid-priced assortment is called Loud Mouth, and it became available on April 25.

Marketing experts don’t expect them to have much impact, but a group of consumers, angry at the steep increases in grocery prices, have started a boycott of Loblaw Companies. They also want Loblaw to sign the industry-developed Grocery Code of Conduct. Organizers say the boycott will last the month of May.

The Reddit group behind the boycott, r/loblawsisoutofcontrol, currently has 69,000 members—but widespread media coverage of their boycott will likely swell those numbers. The boycott began Wednesday, the same day that Loblaw reported its first quarter profits, up 9.8 percent to $459 million. Revenues were $13.58 billion in the quarter, an increase of 4.5 percent over the same period last year. The company also owns Shopper Drug Mart, No Frills, Provigo, Pharmaprix, and City Market, among other banners.

Matériaux Pont-Masson is making buzz with its latest marketing campaign, a tribute to the 1977 film Slap Shot. The BMR-affiliated store network has partnered with Gravité Marketing since 2019 and the idea for the spot came out of a brainstorming session between the agency and the retailer. Although an American production, Slap Shot became a cult classic in Quebec due to its casting of local talent and extensive vernacular French dialogue.

Canfor Corp. will acquire Arkansas’s El Dorado lumber plant from an affiliate of Domtar Corp. for $73 million. According to Canfor, it will raise the mill’s capacity to 175 million board feet per year through planned upgrades. Meanwhile, the Vancouver-based company narrowed its Q1 loss to $64.5 million, or $0.54 per diluted share, from $142.0 million or ($1.17) in the comparable period of last year. Sales for the quarter edged down to $1.38 billion from $1.39 billion.

Canadian Tire and Canac have teamed up with the nonprofit Les Produits du Québec to display its three certification labels on applicable products in their stores. They join such retailers as BMR and Walmart who are already partnered with the organization. “They have wind in their sales and we want to be part of their growth,” Patrick Delisle, Canac’s marketing director, told Le Journal de Montréal. Les Produits du Québec’s deal with Amazon, signed in February, effectively killed off the provincial government’s own web portal, Le Panier Bleu.

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

Everybody knows it, but here is a reminder that consumer spending goes in cycles. Ten years ago, we ran a headline on May 5, 2014, that read: “Canadians are ready to start spending again.”

That wasn’t an actual recession we were coming out of, but we were emerging from a slowdown in the pace of growth. After that lull, CIBC, in conjunction with consumer data firm Nielsen, did its renovation intentions survey in the spring of 2014. It showed that average expenditures on home fix-ups were expected to leap a giant 29 percent, to $19,754 during the following 12 months.

The RONA Foundation, which oversees the philanthropic activities of RONA inc., is rolling out a new in-store fundraising campaign for its Build from the Heart program, which was launched last year. All through May, customers who visit a participating RONA store will have the opportunity to make a donation at checkout to support the construction or renovation project of an organization in the province.

Build from the Heart aims to help seven organizations across the country—one in each province or region where RONA is established—to carry out projects to revitalize living environments or make it easier to access housing for Canadian populations in need. (Shown here, l-r: Grace, Fiona, Sandra, Patrick, Lorna, Chris, Dani, John, Mark, and Peter from the RONA+ store in Niagara Falls, Ont.)

Last year, the RONA Foundation donated $500,000 to community projects across Canada. The goal this year is to double that amount.