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Phone: 416-489-3396
Michael McLarney, Editor & President
mike@hardlines.ca
Beverly Allen, Publisher
bev@hardlines.ca
Brady Peever, Client Services Manager
brady@hardlines.ca
John Caulfield, Contributing Editor
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| July 6, 2009, Volume xv, #27 | |
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“Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labour in freedom” — Albert Einstein (Nobel Prize-winning German physicist, 1879-1955) |
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| Lowe’s overcomes red tape as it expands in Canada | |||||||||||||||||||
TORONTO — Lowe’s has 14 stores to its name in Canada, and wants to open two more this year. The latest openings were in Scarborough (West and North). Those stores, says Don Stallings, president of Lowe’s Cos. Canada, were well-received by their respective communities, “and we expect another couple of stores to open before the end of our fiscal year [Jan. 31, 2010].” He spoke with Hardlines at the recent opening of the Scarborough West store. Each of these stores conforms to Lowe’s format, with 117,000 square feet of retail space and an additional 31,500 or more square feet of garden centre. They carry about 40,000 SKUs.
The next two stores will be in the Ottawa region, in a specific site that is still pending final approvals, and in Sudbury, Ont.
“We have found that there are a greater number of municipal approvals here than we’re used to in the U.S.,” says Stallings. He notes that Lowe’s has a rigorous policy of organic growth, with stores that are built along carefully developed guidelines. Rather than deviate from those guidelines, he says, the company seeks to obtain necessary approvals — even if it takes longer than expected. “That, coupled with the longer winters here, pushes our lead times out a little longer than we are used to in the U.S.”
Lowe’s has plans to open up to 100 stores in this country over the next eight years.
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| KMS Tools builds on House of Tools closures | |||||||||||||||||||
| CALGARY — House of Tools has closed its doors once and for all. The specialty tools and equipment retailer, which once had 13 outlets in Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia, first sought protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act. Unable to restructure, quickly slipped into bankruptcy.However, the vestiges of HOT have been subsumed into a similar company, KMS Tools and Equipment. It all began with the decline of HOT’s parent company, Western Tool, an Oregon-based specialty tools retailer, which bought the Canadian company back in 2003. Hammered by the economy in the U.S., Western filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. HOT, feeling the effects of last year’s slowdown in the West, closed its stores in British Columbia — in Langley , Victoria, and Campbell River. Eventually, all stock was liquidated through a few stores and the entire chain was shuttered entirely, putting more than 200 out of work. KMS Tools and Equipment, which is based in Coquitlam, B.C., has taken over the three stores in B.C. Though it didn’t buy the business outright, it re-hired the HOT staff and renegotiated the leases on those sites, says Ryan Hare, general manager of KMS. It now has seven stores in British Columbia and one in Red Deer, Alta. One of the aspects of HOT that KMS is emulating is its strong outside sales force. Hare says KMS hired three former HOT commercial service reps. They have became part of a new 12-person outside industrial sales force, serving industrial and corporate accounts, schools and institutions, and insurance claims. “We see that as an area of tremendous growth,” especially in Alberta, says Hare. With the closing of HOT, “There’s a huge void in that market.” | |||||||||||||||||||
| BMR gains traction with new stores | |||||||||||||||||||
LONGUEUIL, Que. — Le Groupe BMR, the wholesale buying group, has been signing more members to its hardware banner, BMR Hardware. The program, launched last year as a way for BMR to attract more dealers who could benefit from the group’s growing hardware distribution business, began with 12 signups and has recently added three more: Paint & Flooring Warehouse Inc., Mississauga, Ont.; H&T Hardware, Perth-Andover N.B.; and Émile Charette et Fils Ltée, Gatineau (Buckingham) Que. BMR’s core business still resides with its membership of approximately 165 building centre dealers. The latest recruit is Les Construction M.R.S. Inc., Iles de la Madeleine, Que. In addition, three dealers have held grand openings under the BMR banner of late: JLS in Bryson, Que., which more than doubled the size of the store to 5,000 square feet (shown here: owners Jean-Guy and Connie Lasalle); Amqui BMR, Amqui Que.; and Les Matériaux 3C Ltée, Grande Rivière, Que.
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| Home Depot scrutinizes spending for expansion | |||||||||||||||||||
| This year, Home Depot has budgeted US$1.024 billion for capital expenditures. That’s about $800 million less than it spent in 2008.The company’s CFO Carol Tome projects that, through 2013, Home Depot’s annual capital budget would be between $1.2 billion and $1.5 billion, with a larger chunk than before being earmarked for systems improvements. The average age of a Home Depot is 8.1 years, and over the next five years the company will need to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to maintain and upgrade its existing stores. That effort has been made a little less daunting, though, now that the company operates only one retail format, having closed all of its specialty stores and Expo Design Centers. Despite its rather modest plans for store expansion for the foreseeable future, Home Depot officials still believe that it can take market share from other competitors, especially if the market itself grows at a 5% to 7% annual pace, as projected. Home Depot currently captures about 20% of all U.S. home-improvement retail sales, and its officials say that it’s been gaining share in several product categories, even during the recession. “There’s plenty of room for growth,” says Tome. | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Coming in July: Update your business library with the Hardlines 2009-2010 Who's Who and the 2Q Quarterly Report on the state of the industry.Hardlines helps you know more for better planning and decision-making. |
| NEWS IN BRIEF |
| WINNIPEG — TruServ Canada Inc. will hold its Fall National Merchandise & Planning Markets October 3-6, 2009. This Western-based wholesale distributor prides itself on having some of Canada’s most efficient warehousing, product buying and distribution systems, and dealer customers get support in a full range of areas, including merchandising, advertising, technology and store accounting. More than 700 independent retailers, who operate under the True Value, V&S and Country Depot banners, have the opportunity to attend the Markets to plan their business and coordinate their seasonal product purchases. More than 400 manufacturers will showcase a wide selection of spring and summer products, plus specials on everyday products. For more info, |
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PEOPLE ON THE MOVE |
| At Coop fédérée, Gabriel Côté has been appointed manager of supply, hardware division, at the organization’s headquarters in Trois-Rivières, Que. According to Quart de Rond Xpress, Côté has more than 20 years experience in hardware distribution and logistics.Garth Wallin has joined Hitachi Power Tools as director of sales and marketing. He was formerly with Black & Decker. (905-564-9477, ext. 227; garthw@hitachi-powertools.com) EDRA, the European DIY Retailers Association, has named a new president. Régis Degelcke, of Groupe Adeo, was appointed by the EDRA board on June 15 after ex-Kingfisher exec George Adams stepped down. Adams’ new job is in another industry. To place a listing in our “People on the Move” section, please send me the information, including the person’s name, title and contact email or phone number, if desired at mike@hardlines.ca. We reserve the right to edit items for length. —Michael |
| ECONOMIC INDICATORS |
| Real gross domestic product declined 0.1% in April. This follows decreases of 0.3% in March and 0.1% in February. Value added in retail trade fell 0.6% in April, as the volume of activities at food and beverage stores and new and used car dealers declined. (Stats Canada) |
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