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

Exactly 25 years ago, on May 8, 2000, we reported on the activities of Kent Building Supplies.

It was “bracing” for the arrival of Home Depot in Atlantic Canada after the world’s largest home improvement retailer had just expanded into the province of Quebec. “Kent Building Supplies is continuing expansion of both its big box and traditional formats as it braces for the arrival of Home Depot in Atlantic Canada,” we wrote.

Kent was opening another big box, its sixth, in Saint John, N.B., in the fall of 2000. Home Depot would finally arrive in Atlantic Canada in 2003, with a store in Moncton.

Retail sales reached $56.9 billion in February, an increase of 1.0 percent compared with the same month one year earlier, according to StatCan. The largest monthly increase in dollar terms coming from food and beverage sales, up 1.9 percent year over year.

The largest decline in February was in hardware, tools, and renovation and lawn and garden products, which tumbled by 7.5 percent. In dollar terms, the leading decrease within this product class came from 7.6 percent lower sales of lumber and other renovation materials and supplies.

For the ninth consecutive year, Turkstra has been recognized as one of Deloitte Canada’s Best Managed companies. The company achieved Platinum status in 2023 (the seventh consecutive year) and has maintained this standing into 2025.

Canada’s Best Managed recognizes excellence in Canadian-owned and managed companies. The caliber of management and practices is evaluated across the following key four pillars: Strategy, Culture and Commitment, Capabilities and Innovation, and Governance and Financials.

Jeld-Wen Inc. has announced it will begin steps to permanently close its Chiloquin, Ore., facility. In a statement the company said 104 jobs would be lost during the closure adding that “the plant closure and resulting layoff will be permanent, and bumping rights do not exist at this facility.”

On Tuesday, Hardlines reported that Jeld-Wen Holdings had posted Q1 revenues of $776.0 million, down 19 percent driven by the court-ordered divestiture of the company’s Towanda, Penn., facility. The company further posted a net loss of $179.8 million compared to $27.7 million in the same quarter last year.

Hardlines’ own Michael McLarney moderated a panel discussion on the Buy Canadian movement yesterday. It was part of a morning seminar hosted by the Canadian Home Products Trade Association (CHPTA) in Toronto.

Five retail leaders were on the panel, including Shawn Ettinger, senior national procurement manager at TIMBER MART; Chris Parsons, formerly senior director of omnichannel marketing at Home Hardware Stores; and Tracy Platt, associate vice-president for product development at Canadian Tire.

Ettinger (second from left in the photo) said that the Buy Canadian movement which has sprung up from the Canada-U.S. trade war “is a very sensitive topic, and a very easy campaign to jump on.” But he pointed out that he works for shareholder dealer-owners across Canada. “We can educate the dealers on where things are coming from, but if you’re in procurement, your role is to provide options. The last thing I’m going to do is to tell dealers where they should be buying.”

(A full report on this incredible panel discussion appears in next Monday’s edition of our sister publication, Hardlines Weekly Report. HWR is reserved for Premium Members only. Click here to learn more about becoming a Premium Member of Hardlines!)

Castle Building Centres Group is currently seeking candidates for the position of Executive Administration Manager. This full-time position reports to the President and CEO. The role requires a high degree of personal motivation and the ability to interact with a wide variety of personalities. For more details, check out the Hardlines Classifieds page!

Jeld-Wen Holdings posted Q1 revenues of $776.0 million, down 19 percent driven by the court-ordered divestiture of the company’s Towanda, Penn., facility. The company further posted a net loss of $179.8 million compared to $27.7 million in the same quarter last year.

“While market conditions remained very challenging during the first quarter, they developed mostly as expected,” said CEO William J. Christensen. “We continued to execute our transformation, removing cost and improving focus across the business. However, the pace of market deterioration continues to outweigh the benefits of our cost actions. We are beginning to see signs of improvement in our quality and service levels, and we expect further gains in the second quarter.”

The latest BMO Real Financial Progress Index reveals that 67 percent of homebuyers are waiting for interest rates to drop before purchasing a home, a five-percent decrease from 2024. Additionally, 74 percent are reporting they are taking a “wait and see” approach to buying a new home due to economic concerns.

Thirty-eight percent of respondents said they are waiting for rates to drop below three percent before purchasing or refinancing a home. A further 52 percent reported they would move to a different province or country to afford a home.

“Canada’s housing market remained under pressure heading into the spring, with sales and prices both weakening further,” said Robert Kavcic, senior economist, BMO Capital Markets. “There is some clear underlying weakness as inventory builds and investors remain absent. Suffice it to say, homebuyers are losing confidence and motivation, especially in areas of B.C. and Southern Ontario.”

Forty-five percent said they would consider buying a home with friends, family members, or other people they are not romantically involved with, with Gen Z (63 percent) and Millennials (50 percent) being the mostly likely to consider a shared homeownership approach.

Tariffs are still not affecting Canadian home improvement retailers en masse. But the supply chain is starting to fill with products that are subject to tariffs. But some suppliers are eating the difference.

The first tranche of American products—$30 billion annually—to get hit by Canadian government counter-tariffs includes a significant number of back-end LBM categories, ranging from plywood and OSB to engineered wood.

Kelvin Johnston, senior buyer, commodity lumber and panels, at Castle Building Centres Group, points out that some vendors are currently absorbing the tariffs. “They have a lot of product on the ground that was brought in before the tariffs were in place. Some vendors have already changed their pricing. And some will do it on a SKU-by-SKU basis as they run through their current inventory.”

(A deeper examination of lumber tariffs appears in this week’s edition of our sister publication, Hardlines Weekly Report. HWR is reserved for Premium Members only. Click here to learn more about becoming a Premium Member of Hardlines!)

A live event on the “Repatriation of the Canadian Consumer” will be held tomorrow, and it’s going to feature a serious lineup of senior retail buyers and experts. Hosted by the Canadian Home Products Trade Association, the symposium is being sponsored by Global Furniture.

One panel, called “Canadian Retailers and the Buy Canadian Movement,” will feature five Canadian retail professionals representing hardware and LBM, housewares, and office products, and include representatives from Canadian Tire and TIMBER MART.

Hardlines’ own Michael McLarney will moderate a multi-faceted and insightful discussion on how retailers’ businesses are affected by a consumer-driven Buy Canadian movement. Panelists will give first-person accounts on how customers are buying from retailers of different sizes across different category verticals. Retail data experts will provide an in-depth analysis on the growing rise of “patriotic purchasing.”

The CHPTA symposium promises to be both enlightening and insightful. It’s being held TOMORROW, May 6 from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. EST at the headquarters of Global Furniture, 1350 Flint Road, Toronto. (Click here now to register!)