Since being sold off by Lowe’s Cos. in a deal that closed early in February, RONA inc. has been developing a strategy to manage the future of its 60-plus Lowe’s-bannered stores in Canada. Now, five months in, the retailer has announced its transition plan.

RONA is beginning the Lowe’s stores’ conversion to the RONA banner, but with a twist. The stores will bear a new RONA designation, RONA+. The conversions will start at the end of July and will take place over several months. The first 10 Lowe’s stores to be converted, all located in Ontario, are in Ancaster, Brantford, Cambridge, Hamilton, Kitchener, Niagara Falls, Sarnia, Waterloo, and the banner’s two stores in Windsor.

“This is an important step in our vision for the future of RONA,” said Catherine Laporte, vice-president of marketing at RONA. “With these conversions, we are making a significant investment and renewing our commitment to the RONA brand.” Laporte called the new signage “the first step in a wider plan aimed at redefining how Canadians shop for home improvement, creating new opportunities to improve how we serve them.”

Once considered the retailer’s lead brand while under the ownership of Lowe’s Cos., the Lowe’s stores made some inroads with Canadian consumers, but never achieved the critical mass of its competitor, Home Depot Canada. Of the roughly 440 stores in RONA’s stable of corporate and dealer-owned locations, 61 are Lowe’s big boxes, although none are in RONA’s home province of Quebec, where RONA’s own big box stores are firmly established.

By comparison, Home Depot has 182 stores in Canada, including 22 in Quebec.

As the Lowe’s stores are converted, they will remain open, while guarantees offered by Lowe’s will be honoured, gift cards will still be accepted, and the Lowe’s private brands will remain in the stores’ offering. RONA says it will also continue to maintain its commitment to Canadian vendors and to its affiliated dealer network, who are a key component of the company’s vision.

Vaughn Crofford, former head of vendors’ association CHHMA, dies at 73

Vaughn Crofford, former president of the Canadian Hardware and Housewares Manufacturers Association, has died. After a brief illness, he succumbed to cancer at Lakeridge Health in Ajax, Ont., on June 25.

Born in 1949 in Craik, Sask., Crofford began his career in the late 1960s working part-time at the Federated Co-op in Salmon Arm, B.C., before becoming a full-time clerk in Calgary in 1968. As he once told a CHHMA gathering, “If you grew up anywhere on the Prairies, you know what co-op is all about.”

Crofford rose through a series of management roles in British Columbia and Alberta over the course of 16 years, then moved to Federated Co-operatives’ Saskatoon head office as part of a management team charged with turning around the hardware department. Crofford served as FCL’s director of marketing until 1994, when he made the leap to Ontario—and to the vendor side of the industry—as president of CHHMA, which would become the Canadian Home Products Trade Association in 2021.

During his tenure, the vendor community had to navigate the rise of the large retailers and the power they bring to the negotiating table. He was also front and centre as the industry confronted changing environmental standards. Crofford was a key player in establishing the Canadian Electrical Stewardship Association, which recycles appliances and power tools in British Columbia. “If the important thing is that we reduce the landfill and leave our world a cleaner place, then focus on that and say, ‘how do we get there?’” he once said. “If it’s by adding 10 cents onto the price of a can of paint, then let’s do it.”

Hardlines editor Steve Payne recalls Crofford as a “very collegial and community-minded individual,” who always took time to share his thoughts with the trade media. “He was one of the first people I met when I started at Hardware Merchandising magazine in 1995. He’d patiently explain the industry to me and never failed, at the same time, to tell me an entertaining story.”

Crofford and his life partner, former CHHMA operations director Maureen Hizaka, retired from the organization in 2018. Prior to his retirement, the CHHMA recognized Crofford’s more than 50 years in the industry by inducting him into its Hall of Fame.

In addition to Hizaka, he is survived by his daughters Susan (Ryan) and Sandra (Jamie) and grandson Austin Vaughn Kerr.

We go behind the scenes of Hardlines’ Retail Report in our latest podcast

The Hardlines Annual Retail Report will be published later this month, giving readers access to an exclusive and comprehensive overview of the state of the industry in Canada. In anticipation of the report’s launch, Hardlines president Michael McLarney has shared a preview of its insights in a new podcast.

The industry has evolved in the years since the first editions of the Retail Report were published. With the consolidation of smaller groups and chains, there are simply fewer players to keep track of in absolute terms.

“We’ve seen so many players come and go,” McLarney says, “but that just means the remaining players are more complex, more multifaceted, and with further reach.” Fewer regional banners, for instance, has translated into more data to crunch at the national level.

Hardware, home improvement, and building materials make up a sizeable—and growing—chunk of retail sales in Canada. The Retail Report puts the annual sales total at more than $61 billion. “That’s almost 10 percent of all retail trade in Canada.”

It’s a figure that “shows tremendous growth through [the pandemic]. That’s something we’ve all known anecdotally but Hardlines is the only organization that actually measures that.”

The report, however, goes beyond the scale of the industry as a whole. “We’re also drilling down to understand a whole series of things about the industry … not just sales in total but how much comes from big boxes” and other formats, McLarney adds. That includes a breakdown of online sales, a new metric for the report.

To get all this data, Hardlines carefully examines the records of publicly traded companies, while a survey of dealers helps to fill out the picture for the independents. “It’s a lot of work: we do a lot of number crunching. We have a spreadsheet the size of a JumboTron scoreboard at a Blue Jays’ game.”

“What we do is completely exclusive; no one else has this information,” the Hardlines founder stresses. When major newspapers report on industry stats, “they’re quoting our numbers.”

(You can sign up now for free and get an email alert when new podcast episodes are released!)

The North American Hardware and Paint Association will host its 2023 NHPA Independents Conference, Aug. 2 and 3 in Dallas. The industry-wide event brings together retailers, wholesaler representatives, vendors, and other channel supporters.

Over the course of two days, the conference will share retailer success stories, provide opportunities to share experiences and best practices, and help members of the independent channel expand their networks.

“We are counting down the days until we can gather with exceptional members of the channel who are committed to the continued growth and evolution of the independent home improvement industry,” says NHPA president and CEO Bob Cutter. “We are honoured to be the place where the industry’s most innovative, progressive minds come together to learn from each other and choose to excel.”

In addition to opportunities to network with peers and partners, the conference also features keynote addresses from former executives of Amazon and Google. Panels of leading retailers will discuss how they have used technology to solve some of their toughest operational challenges.

“We have business problems, and we have to leverage technology to combat those problems because consumers are engaging with businesses through technology,” says keynote speaker Chris Hood, former head of business innovation and strategy for Google. “It’s no longer about trying to adapt. It’s about accelerating your digital outcomes so you can keep up with consumer demands.”

“We are very excited to be supporting the NHPA Independents Conference,” says Boyden Moore, president and CEO of Orgill, a key sponsor of the event. “This conference serves as a hub of innovation and idea generation for independent dealers of all shapes, sizes, and distribution affiliations. We look forward to the opportunity to connect across the channel at this year’s event.”

(A limited number of tickets remain for the industry event of the year. For the best rate, go to www.YourNHPA.org/conference to purchase an individual ticket or a table of six or eight.)

DID YOU KNOW...?

... that the latest episode of the Hardlines podcast series, What’s In Store, is now live? In this instalment, Hardlines’ own Michael McLarney discusses the forthcoming edition of our Annual Retail Report. Learn how Hardlines measures the size of the industry, what we count, what trends and challenges dealers are facing, and where their sales are headed. Sign up now for free and get updates about our latest podcasts in your inbox!

RETAILER NEWS

The Home Depot Canada Foundation is releasing a new summer hat, with proceeds going to the foundation’s TradeWorx program. TradeWorx offers youth experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness access to resources and training for a career in the trades. (Order one for this good cause here.)

Home Hardware Stores Ltd. has won the top large fleet award from the Private Motor Truck Council of Canada. Judging is based on each fleet’s overall safety regime and over-the-road safety records. Home Hardware currently runs 148 tractors and 605 trailers. The fleet ran 20.8 million kilometres last year. According to trucknews.com, Home Hardware is a 10-time winner of the award.

IKEA Canada has revealed a new mascot on TikTok and is inviting feedback on its name. Social-media followers are asked to choose from Billy, Vän, Hex, or Blue as the moniker for the cartoon-like builder. Several commenters, however, sought a fifth write-in option: Meatball, after the familiar staple of the chains’ restaurants.

Home Depot will pay US$72.5 million to settle a long-standing class action lawsuit from 272,000 employees in California. The grievances, which date back to 2012, include the company making employees wait, unpaid, while stores were locked at the end of shifts, the suit alleges. Employees were told to be off the clock while they collected and put on aprons, the lawsuit also claims. Home Depot, contrary to state law, also allegedly rounded clock-in and clock-out times to the nearest quarter hour. Home Depot denies the claims but will settle.

Overstock.com is the winning bidder for Bed Bath & Beyond’s intellectual property and digital assets. The bankrupt housewares retailer’s stores are not included in the deal, which is valued at US$21.5 million. Its terms still need to be okayed by a New Jersey bankruptcy court. A separate auction for Bed Bath & Beyond’s Buy Baby Buy franchise was slated for last week.

SUPPLIER NEWS

Gesco Industries LP has completed the sale of its assets to Ironbridge Equity Partners. Gesco consists of floor-covering distributor Shnier; Division9, which supplies commercial flooring products to the architecture and design sectors; and Tierra Sol Ceramic Tile. Ironbridge, a Toronto-based private equity firm, previously owned Gesco from 2007 to 2013.

Chervon has reached an agreement with John Deere that will allow its Ego brand of battery-powered lawn care equipment to be carried by John Deere dealers. The complete Ego range of mowers, blowers, trimmers, edgers, chainsaws, and snow blowers will be available at John Deere dealers in the U.S. and Canada starting in the fall.

Ipex has announced the closure of its acquisition of the Valencia Pipe Co.’s plastic pipe and fittings manufacturing division. This deal brings into the Ipex fold two manufacturing facilities (in Walla Walla, Wash., and Kingman, Ariz.) and a distribution centre, also in Kingman.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

The Consumer Price Index slowed to 3.4 percent in May. That’s down from a year-over-year inflationary increase of 4.4 percent in April. Gasoline prices were the biggest reason for the slower rate of inflation. If gasoline prices were removed from the basket of goods that the CPI uses for its calculations, inflation would have been running at 4.4 percent, as gas prices have dropped more than 18 percent on a year-over-year basis. (StatCan)