Customer discontent and the risk of theft are driving some large-scale retailers away from self-checkout, CBC News reports. Dwayne Ouelette got rid of the machines at North Bay, Ont.’s Canadian Tire after taking over last year. “I’d rather my customers see my cashiers and if there’s any questions or concerns, at least there’s somebody they can talk to,” said Ouelette. His counterpart in Mississauga, Ont., recently followed suit.

Retail analyst David Ian Gray, a speaker at the latest Hardlines Conference, told the CBC that self-checkout “was heralded as a really great technology play to help improve the customer experience” when it was introduced, “but the truth is, there’s a lot of friction,” including technical glitches. From a loss prevention standpoint, he adds, “at the self-checkout area, you don’t have the eyes on you like you would with the cashier.”

Harry Jacobs

The Canadian Home Products Trade Association held a second

round of Hall of Fame inductions last night Dock619 venue in Longueuil, Que. The honourees were VP of sales and marketing at Ideal Security, and Richard Lépine, who retired as partner and VP with LM2 Marketing.

Richard Lépine

The event followed one held earlier this month in Toronto. At that ceremony, Peter Stojanov, founder of Onward Sales and Marketing, and McDonald Sales veteran Al Tulloch were recognized.

Home Hardware Stores Ltd. is challenging neighbourhoods across Canada to deck their streets with the retailer’s 12-foot inflatable Santas. To enter the contest, homeowners can visit www.santachallenge.ca and submit a photo of the neighbourhood dressed in holiday style.

The winning neighbourhood and participating residents will receive $500 to donate to a charity of their choice, along with a community barbecue sponsored by Broil King that will be held next summer. Each participant in the winning group will also be awarded a $50 Home Hardware swag bag. The contest runs until Dec. 15. For full contest rules and regulations, click here.

Retail sales increased 0.6 percent to $66.5 billion in September, according to new StatCan data. Sales were up in four of nine subsectors, led by a 1.5 percent increase at motor vehicle and parts dealers. LBM and garden equipment sales were up 0.5 percent to $3.9 billion. Core retail sales, which exclude automotive and fuel categories, were down 0.3% in September.

Kent Building Supplies has begun selling heavy appliances in some of its stores and, effective last week, the new assortments were supposed to be available online as well. The company boasts that the major brands, including Samsung, Whirlpool, and GE, are represented in the new offering and the retailer is promoting the fact that it will ship the products directly to one’s home.

(We know not all of you reading our free Dailies are directly involved in the retail home improvement industry, but if you are, you’ll want the full story on this important retail player’s latest initiative. And you’ll get it in the next issue of Hardlines Weekly Report! Our weekly newsletter is read by every major retailer, head office, and supplier in Canada. Please check out our amazing Hardlines Premium Membership to learn more!)

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

Twenty years ago tomorrow, we reported on Sodisco-Howden’s effort to push its newly-acquired Ace banner. The Montreal-based hardlines wholesaler had acquired the shares of Ace Hardware Canada Inc. in February 2003. Nine months later, it announced that it was converting 75 of its customers in Quebec to the Ace banner, which was huge in the U.S., but barely present in Canada.

Sodisco-Howden was trying anything to reverse its poor performance—and was rumoured to be on the block. Indeed, about a year later, on Nov. 10, 2004, it was acquired by Vancouver-based CanWel Building Materials Ltd.

Even though our American friends are celebrating Thanksgiving six weeks too late this year, we wish them a happy day with family and friends, if possible. If you’re reading our Daily News this morning, we really appreciate it. Black Friday starts tomorrow on both sides of the border… something that was a non-issue in Canada about 25 years ago!

The federal government unveiled its fall economic update yesterday, including an array of measures aimed at improving access to affordable housing. Finance minister Chrystia Freeland announced up to $15 billion in loans to incentivize construction of rental units. Another $1 billion would be set aside for an affordable housing fund that would support the building of 7,000 new homes in co-op, non-profit, and public housing settings. The government also signalled its intention to create a new Department of Housing, Infrastructure, and Communities.

Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer, has announced that it will provide free AI skills training for up to 2 million people by 2025—whether they are Amazon employees or not.

The company is launching its unusual “AI Ready” initiative because “AI is the most transformative technology of our generation,” it said on its website. “If we are going to unlock the full potential of AI to tackle the world’s most challenging problems, we need to make AI education accessible to anyone with a desire to learn.”

The company promises eight new and free AI and generative AI courses, Amazon Web Services (AWS) scholarships for 50,000 high school students globally, and a new collaboration with Code.org designed to help students learn about generative AI.

A kiosk has opened at a chic shopping and art enclave in downtown Toronto selling toques and work socks emblazoned with the Home Depot logo. It’s an initiative by Home Depot Canada’s charitable arm, the Home Depot Foundation, to raise money for the foundation’s designated cause, helping homeless youth.

This is actually the third year that Home Depot Canada has been selling toques in its stores and online to raise money at this time of year, but it’s the first time socks have been added to the line, and the first time it’s tried out a live location. It’s located at the Stackt Market, a public space with shops built entirely from shipping containers.

The kiosk will operate until Nov. 26, with all proceeds going to charities that support homeless and at-risk kids in this country. The kiosk also offers tea, hot chocolate, and live Christmas trees, the last being sold for only $30.