Derby Building Products has announced its Tando division has been officially renamed Tando Composites. Tando Composites offers two exterior cladding options:  the Beach House Shake composite shingle and TandoStone composite stone. “Updating the brand’s name to Tando Composites reflects decades of manufacturing development,” Derby CEO Ralph Bruno said in a release.

At the close of day one of the WRLA’s Building & Hardware Showcase, which continues today at the Winnipeg Convention Centre, a gala reception was held next door at the Delta hotel. During the festivities, Murray Finkbiner took to the stage as the WRLA’s 2023 Industry Achievement Award recipient. “Winning the Industry Achievement Award is, for me, an industry pinnacle,” he told the crowd.

A long-time supporter of the WRLA, Finkbiner joined AFA Forest Products in 1988. In 2014, he took over as president and COO, and led the company until its acquisition by Gillfor Distribution in 2022. Finkbiner remained with Gillfor as a senior advisor until his retirement in June of last year.

Entrepreneur magazine has published  its list of the top 500 franchises worldwide, and Ace Hardware ranked fifth. Industry analysts will always question the methodology behind such lists, but in its write-up on Ace, the magazine dropped a hint as to why it feels Ace is so successful.

According to Entrepreneur, it centres around the $23 million increase in digital ad spending by Ace in 2023 which led to “a 17 percent bump in digital business.” Ninety percent of digital orders at Ace are picked up from local stores, driven by Ace’s “hyperlocal” marketing. Ace likes hyperlocal marketing (digital marketing that pops up on customers’ phones prompting them to visit local businesses) so much that it will increase digital spending by a further $25 million this year, Entrepreneur says.

According to the findings of the Dye & Durham Canadian Pulse Report for Q4 2023, only 20 percent of Canadians felt better off financially than they were the previous year, down from the 25 percent who thought so in Q3. Conversely, the number of Canadians who say they are worse off financially today rose to 44 percent in Q4 from 39 percent in Q3. High interest rates and inflation have played a considerable role in this.

Canadians are also now more pessimistic about the overall economy in 2024, with 59 percent believing there will be a recession in the next 12 months. That’s considerably higher than the 54 percent who expected as much in Q3. Only nine percent believe Canada will avoid a recession in the next 12 months, with 31 percent believing we’re already in one.

Long-time Castle member Peacock Lumber in Oshawa, Ont., has opened their second location in Colborne, Ont.

Peacock Lumber has been a Castle member for over 55 years. Owners Cara and Glen Peacock “are excited to expand into new geography and are well-positioned to service customers from across the region with their lumber, building materials, and hardware needs,” Castle said in a release.

Oshawa is 80 km east of Toronto. Colborne is 60 km east of Oshawa. Peacock Lumber’s general manager is Mathew McMullin.

The federal government has confirmed there will not be a third extension for repayment of loans taken under the Canada Emergency Business Account. The choice, however, is not between paying in full and going under. Businesses can forgo the partial loan forgiveness on offer (up to $20,000) and continue paying back the loans at an advantageous interest rate of five percent.

They can also refinance the loans through a financial institution. That will usually mean a significant increase in interest rates, but it allows the business to qualify for partial forgiveness. “No matter how you slice up percentages or dollars, you know, the simple math is you end up way ahead if you can repay,” David Gens, founder and CEO of Vancouver financial tech firm Merchant Growth, told CBC News.

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

“Target’s poor performance good for shoppers,” read the headline of a story in our Jan. 20, 2014, weekly Hardlines e-newsletter.

The “good for shoppers” idea had been the idea of Toronto Life magazine, which in an article predicted that Target would have to lower prices to stem its red ink. (We realize, quoting Toronto Life on retail strategy is not exactly MBA-level brilliance.—Editor)

Target Canada, which had opened its first store in this country in March 2013, had just posted a 2014 fourth quarter loss of 45 cents per share. Eventually, the company’s failed Canadian experiment would rack up $2.5 billion in losses before Target shuttered its 133 Canadian stores in April 2015.

Have you seen the latest issue of Hardlines HR Advisor? In this edition, which went out this week, we look at one industry veteran’s outreach to high school students and a business coach’s focus on the home improvement industry. If you’re not already receiving HR Advisor, click here to sign up for free!

Investment in building construction rose 1.7 percent in November to $19.8 billion, according to new StatCan data. Spending in the residential sector was up 2.2 percent to $13.7 billion. The increase was led by a 10.4 percent hike in Nova Scotia as well more activity in Alberta, Ontario, British Columbia, and Quebec. These increases were partially offset by declines in the other provinces as the pace of new construction slowed from earlier in 2023. Investment in detached single-family homes increased 1.2 percent to $6.6 billion.

Costco is testing out a new procedure requiring customers to scan their membership cards at store entrances in a bid to curb unauthorized sharing of cards. The pilot project has begun in Costco’s home state of Washington and builds on previous moves to verify membership at self-checkout in the same way as for those in cashier lanes. “It speeds up the process at entry and speeds up the process at the checkout,” EVP and CFO Richard Galanti told CNN.