BRAMPTON, Ont. — How do you keep track of inventory when it’s all donated, and much of it is one-off or one of a kind? That’s the challenge that confronted Rob Lee as he tried to move his stores’ sales online.

Lee is the vice president of retail operations for Habitat for Humanity’s ReStores in the Greater Toronto Area. It’s Habitat’s largest ReStore network, with 13 locations stretching from the inner city to its surrounding communities such as Markham and Vaughan.

Lee says the move to an online purchasing function had been in the works for a couple of years, but the advent of the COVID-19 crisis and the need for non-contact retail accelerated the process.

Products for the ReStores range from full kitchen cabinet sets supplied by contractors doing tear-outs for new renovations to myriad items from suppliers and retailers happy to get rid of overstock or slow-moving merchandise. The money raised through the ReStores goes toward Habitat’s core mandate: to build and arrange financing of homes for those who otherwise couldn’t afford them.

That means inventory is different in every store—and changes constantly. Keeping track of what goes into inventory, and what needs to come off once it’s purchased, posed a huge challenge for Lee and his team.

But that system is now live. Staff and volunteers take photographs of the products and post them as they come into the store. The online purchasing system allows shoppers to view products remotely or right in the store, then choose and pay for them over the phone or through contactless checkout with a staff member in person.

“And once it’s paid for, you get an email saying the product has been shipped. So, as soon as you purchase something, it comes offline,” Lee says. “It’s all part of the system.”

The stores now have 1,700-plus products online and Lee expects that number to exceed 5,000 by year’s end.

Everyone is now being trained in e-commerce, he adds. “It’s actually part of the sales process.” The unique needs of the ReStores were met using a POS system by Lightspeed. “It’s an out-of-the-box system. We didn’t customize anything.”

As the stores have gradually been reopening, six of the 13 outlets have had the system installed. On May 26, four of the remaining stores reopened with the system as well. Lee says the company’s efforts will continue to be of use even after the pandemic ends. “I think it’s going to add to our business in the long term. But even if there’s something like a second wave, we’ll still be able to deal with it in the future.”

SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. — While big players like Home Hardware and Orgill have made news by moving their shows to virtual platforms, even independents are trying them out in their local markets.

When the chamber of commerce in Sault Ste. Marie, in northern Ontario, moved its spring home show online, Lyons TIMBER MART jumped aboard. The “We Are The Soo Home Show,” which ran from May 22 to June 5, was held through a partnership with a local news site, SooToday.com. The show hosted local vendors representing electrical and plumbing services, home furnishings, window and door installation, photography, farming, HVAC and general building products and services. 

The virtual show let consumers “walk” the show and visit different websites linked to the virtual show platform and leave comments. Lyons TIMBER MART offered the chance to win a $200 gift card. Scott Beaumont, president and general manager of Lyons TIMBER MART, which has three locations, saw the virtual show as a way to connect with potential customers who may be doing more work.

With a participation fee of $1,000, Beaumont was sceptical of just how effective the promotion would be, particularly because his company does so much on its own through social media to build contacts. Nevertheless, he felt it was a good way to support local business.

His hunch paid off. Nearing the end of the two-week show, he received a message from the organizers informing him that he’d received 2,150 entries to the draw, representing solid leads. And 797 people opted in to receive future email promotions.

“The goal is to try and generate leads for the stores from customers who are interested in a home project this season,” he says. He adds that he’s encouraged by how many people appear to be eager to undertake home projects.

CHICAGO — The Home Improvement eRetailer Summit has been rescheduled to March 7 to 9, 2021. It will remain at the Aloft Chicago Downtown River North Hotel in Chicago. The Summit was originally scheduled for October, but it was moved due to the travel and public health uncertainties created by the spread of COVID-19.

The Home Improvement eRetailer Summit is a face-to-face North American event that focuses on home improvement e-commerce through networking, education and one-on-one meetings. It’s designed for all types of retailers, manufacturers, distributors and industry professionals who are interested in gaining intelligence and insights on how to optimize the internet as a distribution channel to sell more home improvement products.

“With the acceptance and expansion of e-commerce, the Summit is more relevant than ever,” says Sonya Ruff Jarvis, the event’s founder. “Nowhere else will online retailers with a focus on hardware and home improvement products have access to knowledgeable peers that the Summit affords.”

The COVID-19 crisis has served to accelerate online sales, which pre-pandemic had already been steadily climbing as a percentage of total retail volume. In fact, digital commerce has grown by 20 percent in the first quarter of this year, according to the Salesforce Shopping Index, which analyzes the activity of one billion consumers worldwide.

Ruff Jarvis works closely with an advisory council of major online retailers to shape the event, which is now in its fifth year. What advisory council member Asa Farquhar, VP for the online retailer Spreetail, especially likes about the Summit—and what separates it from other industry events—is “the intimate environment and its specialized nature.”

The shift in dates allows the Summit to honour its mission to invite leading online retailers, suppliers and technology solution providers to gather face-to-face for meaningful conversations, educational sessions and reciprocal pre-scheduled meetings, all focused on the hardware and home improvement industry.

(To request your invitation to attend the Summit, or for more information about the event, please contact Sonya Ruff Jarvis, founder at sruffjarvis@eretailersummit.com,
or at 203-295-3385.)

SPECIAL REPORT — Before Ace Canada, True Value was the banner of choice for small independents across Canada, especially in the West. And before it was called True Value, the company was known by the name of the hardware wholesaler that had established the banner in the U.S.: Cotter & Co.

Twenty-five years ago here in Canada, Cotter Canada Hardware and Variety Co., based in Winnipeg, managed the True Value hardware banner. It also had something called V&S Variety, a junior department store concept that would, within a few short years, become a victim of Walmart’s expansion into small-town North America.

Cotter itself would end up exiting Canada in 2001. But the brand would continue under a license agreement, through TruServ Canada, to serve as many as 600 dealers at one time during the early part of the century.

The June 5, 1995 edition of Hardlines reported that Cotter Canada had adopted the parent company’s “Just Ask Rentals” program. The banner had already signed two dealers to the program, with another dozen or so expressing interest. “It includes everything from picnic tables and tents to jack hammers and disco balls,” said Wilf Gerhardt, then-projects manager Cotter Canada. Gerhardt would remain with True Value, through its various incarnations, for 43 years. He retired in 2013.

The article went on to explain that Cotter had already signed 52 new stores as members, including 10 Castle dealers who used the program to beef up their hardware assortments.

Also in that week’s edition: Sexton Group marked its 10th year, with strong growth prospects ahead. “New dealer growth is up, and as of today, we’re now at 223 members,” reported Bob Mondy, Sexton’s general manager at the time. Steve Buckle took over at Sexton in 2008, with Mondy staying on for two more years to work on special projects. Mondy passed away just five months before TruServ’s Gerhardt retired. 

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MINNEAPOLIS — Industry leaders were among those responding to recent incidents of police brutality in the U.S. as well as the outbreak of violence during ongoing protests. “As the father of a young black male, I can only imagine their pain [and] emptiness,” Lowe’s CEO Marvin Ellison tweeted in reference to the families of victims of police violence. Home Depot CEO Craig Menear announced the company would contribute $1 million to the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, declaiming “the senseless killing of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and other unarmed black men and women in our country.”

VAUGHAN, Ont. — Kingdon TIMBER MART, which has served Lakefield, Ont., since 1927, has moved to a new location just west of the town. Owners Don and Kevin Dyck and Dave Breukelaar have opened the new store with appropriate hygiene protocols in place. The 50,000-square-foot building sits on a 23-acre lot. Kingdon’s other location in Peterborough continues operations.

BOUCHERVILLE, Que. — Since it began charging customers for plastic bags at its corporate stores in 2018, Lowe’s Canada has managed to reduce the use of plastic bags by 58 percent, or about 10 million bags. All profits from plastic-bag charges are donated to the Nature Conservancy of Canada. Between June 2018 and December 2019, these profits amounted to more than $125,000.

INDIANAPOLIS — The North American Retail Hardware Association has unveiled its 2020 Young Retailer of the Year honourees. The seven accolades are distributed in three categories: Under $2 Million in Annual Sales, Over $2 Million and Multiple Stores. The last category includes one Canadian laureate. Ryan Buck is the owner of two Nova Scotia Home Hardware dealerships: Buck’s Home Building Centre in Bridgewater and New Germany Home Hardware Building Centre.

MARKHAM, Ont. — Habitat for Humanity’s ReStores has built its largest store yet in the Greater Toronto Area. The 16,000-square-foot outlet will open on June 12 in Etobicoke, in Toronto’s west end. It replaces a 6,500-square-foot store that has been in the area since 2012. Habitat has 13 locations in the GTA.

ISSAQUAH, Wash. — Costco’s Q3 net sales increased 7.3 percent to $36.45 billion, compared to $33.96 billion last year. Comp sales in Canada declined by 2.5 percent but rose three percent on an adjusted basis. In a bid to entice customers, the company also announced it will reopen most of its remaining food courts by mid-June as well as starting a “slow roll-out” of in-store food samples.

SUPPLIER NEWS

SURREY, B.C. — The Building Supply Industry Association of B.C. has a cohort set to graduate in a training program aimed at helping people overcome barriers to entering the industry. The building supply warehouse and distribution certificate program is six weeks in duration. The first 10 students are set to graduate this week. Three more classes are slated for summer and fall both at the Surrey office and in Victoria.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

Total investment in building construction decreased 3.6 percent to $15.4 billion in March, with declines in both residential and non-residential investment, down 3.3 percent and 4.3 percent respectively. Construction in March was negatively affected by COVID-19 restrictions, especially in Quebec which shut down all non-essential building construction on March 25. However, residential investment in the first quarter over Q4 2019 increased by 0.8 percent. Non-residential investment decreased in March by 4.3 percent, but was up quarter over quarter, by 1.2 percent. (StatCan)

OVERHEARD...

“Surviving retailers will need to be more nimble. We’re not looking to go back to where we were. We’re not looking to go back to ‘normal.’ I’m excited to see what will happen at retail.”
—Rob Lee, VP of retail operations for Habitat for Humanity’s GTA ReStores.