Sales of existing homes declined by 1.9 percent between August and September, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association. The third consecutive monthly decrease, it was only about half as large a decline as August’s. Declines in Greater Vancouver and the Greater Toronto Area offset gains in Edmonton, Montreal, and Kitchener–Waterloo. The actual (not seasonally adjusted) number of transactions in September 2023 came in 1.9 percent above September 2022.

Through its Dick’s Lumber division, the company’s commercial and contractor business, RONA has completed the acquisition of ZyTech Building Systems, a manufacturer and distributor of building components and engineered wood products headquartered in Balzac, Alta. The deal is intended to allow Dick’s Lumber to expand its design and manufacturing footprint to developers and builders in Western Canada.

(More on this strategic acquisition in next Monday’s mind-boggling edition of Hardlines Weekly Report. Don’t miss it! Click here to try out Hardlines Weekly Report for yourself!)

Mary Ng, the federal minister whose portfolio includes international trade and small business concerns, has welcomed the NAFTA dispute resolution panel’s latest finding on softwood lumber production. The arbitration process ended in a report calling on the U.S. Commerce Department to review its latest round of tariffs on Canadian softwood.

Ng announced in August that Canada would seek judicial review of the countervailing duties. At the time, U.S. trade rep Katherine Tai insisted that Canada would have to abolish its system of stumpage fees in order for any negotiations to take place. The U.S. has long held that rates are so advantageous to lumber producers as to constitute a federal subsidy, a position consistently rejected by international trade regulators.

Amazon.com Inc.’s move into supply chain logistics is the third plank in its domination of e-commerce, says an analysis published by Fortune, as reported by Bloomberg yesterday.

The logistics plank could be worth $100 billion in revenue annually, according to Truist Securities analyst Youssef Squali.

Amazon’s two major planks have recently been e-retailing and cloud services (Amazon Web Services, which it abbreviates as AWS). Amazon’s revenue this year is forecast to be US$570 billion. Its logistics foray will include ocean freight, customs, ground transport, and inventory storage for off-Amazon third party companies, Fortune said.

BMR Group has announced the appointment of business development advisors over recent months. The group has brought them on board to support the growth it says it’s seen from stores joining from competing banners.

Fady Faddoul, previously at Ford Motor Co., joined BMR in July as business development advisor. Cris Morton has been in the same role since May. His experience includes 12 years with Unilever and seven years with Church and Dwight Co. Melanie Johnson recently joined BMR as business development advisor for Atlantic Canada.

These individuals join fellow business development advisors Gilles Parenteau, who has been with BMR since 2017, and Patrick Cadieux, who came on board in 2015 after 13 years as a hardware store owner. The team is overseen by Simon Gouin (pictured), BMR’s senior director of business development for eastern Canada since 2021.

Joanne Moore has joined Derby Building Products as territory sales manager for the province of Quebec, representing Derby’s Tando Composites and Novik brands. In her new role, Moore will focus on strengthening relationships with distributors and dealers to drive business growth and expand the company’s key product lines. She will also work with installers and specifiers, as well as siding and renovation contractors, builders, architects, and designers.

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

Having acquired Beaver Lumber in 1999, four years later Home Hardware was preparing to close Beaver’s Markham, Ont., head office.

In our Oct. 14, 2003, edition, Hardlines (now our flagship Weekly Report) ran an interview with Eric Konecsni, at the time Home Hardware’s VP of operations, about the move. (Editor’s Note: Konecsni had spent 32 years with Beaver Lumber before the takeover.)

According to Konecsni, only three people were still working at the Markham office at that time. They were providing services to the fewer than 20 remaining Beaver locations. By April 2004, Konecsni said, those Beaver stores would be converted to the Home banner and the office closed.

A new promotion from Home Hardware Stores is designed to encourage its customers to use Home’s newly adopted Scene+ loyalty card. Called the “Scan and Win” contest, the promotion automatically enters a customer into a draw to win a million points every time they scan their Scene+ card when making a purchase at Home Hardware.

The contest continues until Dec. 31, with a draw for the winner on Jan. 10.

Wolseley Canada will hold a grand opening this week for its newest store, in Port Coquitlam, B.C. The 16,000-square-foot facility is one of two stores set to open in British Columbia over the next year, as part of Wolseley Canada’s planned expansion in the region. “We are looking forward to building a strong customer base,” branch area manager Michael McRae said in a release, “built on the reputation we have for great service, expertise and product selection.”

Bill Simon, CEO of Walmart U.S. from 2010 to 2014, gave an insightful interview with CNBC on Monday in which he talked about the recent change in retailer pricing strategies.

Inflation, among other factors, is hampering retailers’ ability to offer bargain prices, Simon said. This has resulted in some retailers changing their price promotions. You can see the signs when you enter mass merchants’ stores, Simon said—if you pay attention.

“They usually say, ’50-inch TV, $199,’ or something like that. And now they say, ’50-inch TV, 40 percent off.’ You use percentages when you’re not real proud of your price point,” Simon observed.