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

As Home Hardware’s purchase of Beaver Lumber was being finalized, the Oct. 25, 1999 edition of Hardlines reported on Home’s re-organization of various senior management roles, including the departure of Beaver’s president and CEO, Doug Robinson. His removal was certainly not a surprise. Robinson’s mandate upon replacing Ralph Trott four years earlier was to prepare the home improvement retail chain for sale. Beaver had been owned by Molson.

Other Beaver executives were repositioned under the new ownership. Eric Konecsni was appointed general manager, reporting to Paul Straus, VP and CEO of Home Hardware Stores Ltd. Joel Marks was named director, merchandising. Both individuals ended up remaining with Home Hardware, successfully helping to build the company’s LBM business, until their respective retirements.

At Derby Building Products, Patrick McKernan has been named territory sales manager, home improvement retail, for the mid-Atlantic region. In this new position, McKernan will work to expand Derby’s penetration into Home Depot’s U.S. stores with Novik Stone, Derby’s line of stone siding. Based in Lafayette Hill, Penn., he has previously worked at East Coast Roofing Systems, an exterior residential remodeling company. Most recently, McKernan was at Colonial Electric Supply, a family-owned electrical distributor in the U.S.

AD reported owner-member sales through nine months of 2023 of $57.6 billion, an increase of three percent and a record for Wayne, Penn.-based contractor and industrial products wholesale buying group. Eighty companies have joined the group so far this year, have of them through acquisitions by existing members. Another 35 of AD’s existing 866 members were sold to outside entities.

Owner-member same-store sales grew six percent through the first nine months of 2023. By country, same-store sales in the U.S. were up seven percent, while comps for Canada were up six percent. The AD division with the highest growth was Safety at 13 percent. Electrical, Industrial, and Bearings/PT all enjoyed growth of nine percent.

Franchise Times released its annual Top 400 list recently. The list, which measures the largest franchise systems in the U.S. by global sales, placed Ace Hardware at number five, the same ranking it held in 2022, behind Burger King, KFC, McDonald’s, and 7-Eleven.

Ace posted $23.1 billion in retail sales, a 3.4 percent increase from the prior year. It opened 168 new locations in the U.S. and 232 total new locations worldwide in 2022 for a 2.9 percent unit growth. Ace dealers own their individual stores and are also shareholders in the organization. They do not pay royalty fees or ongoing franchise fees.

The value of building permits issued in Canada decreased 6.5 percent in September to $11.2 billion, StatCan reports. Most of the drop was attributed to a monthly decline in the institutional sector. The value of residential permits increased 4.3 percent to $7.2 billion, led by a 37.2 percent increase in construction intentions in British Columbia. Gains in the value of residential permits in Quebec, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador offset declines in the remaining five provinces.

Small business owners are holding out hope for a further extension of the deadline to repay loans under the Canada Emergency Business Account, The Globe and Mail reports. At present, debtors can be forgiven up to one-third of the amount of their loans if they pay back the outstanding sum by Jan. 18, 2024.

“I really worry that if government pushes too hard and keeps to its current CEBA deadline, there will be many businesses, we estimate up to 250,000 small businesses that will fail, if they lose out on the forgivable portion of this loan,” said Dan Kelly, president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.

All 13 provincial and territorial premiers have backed calls for an extension, along with the federal NDP, Bloc Québecois, and Green Party.

IKEA Canada is expanding its network of plan-and-order points with additions in Ontario and Quebec, according to Retail Insider. The new points, in London, Ont., and Lachenaie, Que., are slated to open next spring. The spaces allow customers to consult with specialists to plan purchases for complex projects. The retailer has also opened a pick-up location in Thunder Bay, Ont.

The Canadian Home Products Trade Association (CHPTA) hosted its English-language Canadian Industry Hall of Fame awards lunch last week. Held at the Clubhouse at the Royal Woodbine Golf Course, the event honoured two industry veterans.

Al Tulloch (shown left) joined McDonald Sales in the early 1970s and built the company into a national agency, growing it from six employees to a team of 65 over the years. He was introduced by Bryan Gilbart of Envirogard, and Krista Hamilton, now president of McDonald Sales.

Peter Stojanov, retired owner and president of Onward Sales & Marketing, Burlington, Ont., was the second Hall of Fame recipient. At the podium, Stojanov (shown here, centre, with Sam Moncada, president of the CHPTA, and Bryan Gilbart) thanked a range of people with whom he’d worked through the years, adding, “I have a special respect for the folks at Home Hardware.

Since 1984, the CHPTA has honoured 73 individuals in its Hall of Fame.

RONA inc. is holding the third edition of its PROvember event in most of its Lowe’s, RONA+, RONA, and Réno-Dépôt stores from Nov. 2 to 29. The event, linked to the VIPpro program, will feature in-store lunch and learns, special offers, surprises with purchase, and contests for building and home improvement professionals. In addition, participants can choose at checkout to support the RONA Foundation’s Building from the Heart campaign, which aims to renew living environments and make housing accessible for those who need it.

Quebec’s government will accelerate training and offer stipends to candidates in a bid to recruit between 4,000 and 5,000 new construction workers. In a press conference last week, Premier François Legault said Quebec is short some 6,500 workers in the field.

The government is investing $300 million in the initiative, which will involve trainees pursuing programs of four to six months while receiving a $750 weekly salary. Five trades will be covered, including carpenter-joiners, tinsmiths, and refrigeration mechanics.