Jeff Kinnaird, the Canadian who was the top merchant at The Home Depot in Atlanta, has left the company. He has been replaced by William “Billy” Bastek, who was promoted to the EVP merchandising position, effective immediately.

Formerly the president of The Home Depot Canada, Kinnaird moved to Atlanta in October 2020 to head up merchandising at the retailer’s head office. Before that, he spent almost five years running the Canadian division of the company. Kinnaird is well known for his modest beginnings at the company: he got his start working in the yard at the Home Depot store in Richmond, B.C. From there, he worked his way up to the VP merchandising role in 2011, before taking the top job at Home Depot Canada at the beginning of 2016. Along the way, Kinnaird earned an MBA at Queen’s University, Kingston, Ont.

“Jeff has made significant contributions to The Home Depot since starting in the lumber aisle nearly 27 years ago and progressing through every role in our stores,” said Ted Decker, chair, president, and CEO of The Home Depot in a release. “His leadership of our Canadian division, and more recently of our merchandising, marketing, and online businesses, is greatly appreciated.”

“Jeff has been a champion of our culture and values,” Decker continued, “and I would like to thank him for his hard work and numerous contributions across his career. I wish him well in his future endeavours.”

The reasons for Kinnaird’s departure are not immediately clear. The release stated simply that Kinnaird had “decided to leave The Home Depot.” Kinnaird has confirmed to Hardlines that his next steps include returning to Canada.

Bastek, a 33-year veteran of the company, has served in several leadership positions across the merchandising organization, most recently as senior vice president of hardlines. He began his career in 1989 at HD Supply (formerly Maintenance Warehouse), which was first acquired by Home Depot in 1997. His titles through the years have included global product merchant, senior merchant, divisional merchandise manager, and merchandising vice president for building materials.

Lowe’s Cos. year-end results reflect the selloff of its Canadian business

For what will be the last time, Lowe’s Cos. supplied financials last month that included Canada when it turned in its 2022 year-end numbers.

The company enjoyed healthy results, dinged only slightly by the impacts of its Lowe’s Canada operations. The deal to sell that business to Sycamore Group was finalized Feb. 3. Excluding the $441 million of pre-tax transaction costs associated with the sale of the Canadian retail business (all figures USD), Lowe’s was able to generate fourth-quarter adjusted diluted earnings that were up 28 percent compared with the comparable period of 2021.

“This increase was driven by our continued focus on productivity, as well as disciplined capital allocation,” said Marvin Ellison, president and CEO of Lowe’s, on a call with analysts. “Fourth-quarter sales were $22.4 billion, which includes approximately $1.4 billion in sales generated in the 14th week. Comparable sales declined 1.5 percent.”

Ellison talked further about the deal to offload Lowe’s Canada. “We completed the sale of our Canadian retail business to Sycamore Partners this quarter. As a result, we are now solely focused on the transformation of our U.S. business, where we estimate we have a $1 trillion addressable home improvement market, enabling us to invest more into higher-return opportunities to grow our business and to take market share.”

The Canadian business had a negative impact on the business for a couple of reasons. One was the weakness of the Canadian dollar in the last quarter of 2022. The other was the impact of price deflation on lumber, which typically comprised a larger amount of sales for Lowe’s in this country relative to the U.S. stores.

“Sales in Canada totaled $958 million, a decline of 18 percent in USD on a comparable basis, partly driven by exchange rate unfavourability due to a stronger [U.S.] dollar and lumber deflation,” said Brandon Sink, Lowe’s executive vice president and CFO.

Peavey backs a winner with joint sponsorship of stock car racer

Peavey Industries LP has joined with Berne Workwear Canada in a sponsorship of Junior Farrelly Motorsports. Junior Farrelly is the owner and driver of a professional late model stock car and race team, Junior Farrelly Motorsports, which competes each season in the APC United Late Model Series on tracks across Ontario.

In partnering on this sponsorship, Berne and Peavey Industries will highlight and build awareness of their brands in the Ontario region via the sport of professional stock car racing. Through this partnership, the two sponsors will aim to promote the benefits of “workwear in action.”

“For Peavey Industries this sponsorship is more than just sticking our logo on a race car,” says Jest Sidloski, Peavey’s vice president, marketing. “It's an opportunity to actively engage with and contribute to the local communities we serve.”

Peavey Mart customers across Ontario will have the chance to get up close and personal with Farrelly when he and the Berne-Peavey Mart number 72 stock car visit Ontario Peavey Mart locations over the course of the 2023 APC Late Model Series race season. It kicks off at the Sunset Speedway in Innisfil, Ont., on May 20 and finishes with the championship race at the Delaware Speedway in Delaware, Ont., on September 23.

“With 46 locations, a regional office, and a distribution centre, Ontario is a vital market for the Peavey Mart brand,” Sidloski adds, “and we’re proud to be a part of the community. Expect to see us out and about cheering on Junior and the team as we continue to support and serve our local communities.”

Canadian Tire Corp. has launched its premium online membership service, Triangle Select. The fee-based subscription program, which “delivers an enhanced value proposition to customers” according to a release, is the retailer’s answer to enhanced loyalty programs like Amazon Prime.

For $89 per year, Triangle Select members can earn CT Money even faster on all eligible purchases in-store at Canadian Tire stores, as well as at Mark’s, Sport Chek, Sport Experts, Party City, and L’Équipeur, with bonus rewards. Shipping fees are reimbursed in CT Money on the first five Canadian Tire ship-to-home purchases and waived outright on online purchases over $50 from Sport Chek, Mark’s, and L’Équipeur.

Other incentives include a 10-times everyday in-store bonus on most in-store purchases at all CTC retailers and 20-times Canadian Tire money on in-store purchases of some private-label brands such as Helly Hansen, FWD, Denver Hayes, Mastercraft, and Canvas. In addition, Triangle Select members will receive 20-times bonus Canadian Tire money at the end of the subscription year on their largest eligible in-store purchase.

The company is confident consumers will find value in the annual fee. “In our beta test of Triangle Select, the average member’s annual incremental earnings through select-specific bonuses were more than three times the subscription fee—demonstrating the incredible value this program will bring to our customers this year and beyond,” said Jason Blanchette, senior vice president, loyalty and customer insights, at Canadian Tire Corp.

For 2022, Canadian Tire saw sales to its regular Triangle Loyalty member go up eight percent. The company reported that it has 11.3 million active members in the program and loyalty penetration came close to 60 percent in 2022.

Michael Simms, has stepped away from the position of general manager at Kent Building Supplies, which he held for almost 17 years. He remains at parent company J.D. Irving in his role as VP of retail. Rannie MacDonald has taken over the GM job at Kent. MacDonald comes over from Grainger Canada, where he spent almost seven years, most recently as VP of commercial sales.

Vicwest has appointed Toby Handley as western Canadian sales manager for light gauge. In this role, he reports to Brian Glen, director of sales for central and western Canada. Handley joined Vicwest in 2021 as business development manager for Ontario and then North America as a whole. Before that he was at Milwaukee Tool for two years.

DID YOU KNOW...?

... that the latest edition of Hardlines Dealer News hit inboxes last week? In this issue, we look at how independent dealers are slowly moving into online sales, plus UFA’s store updates and one RONA employee’s mastery of the store PA system. Hardlines Dealer News is monthly and it’s free: click here to subscribe now!

RETAILER NEWS

Two new members have joined Castle Building Centres. Rénocentre RDB in Chicoutimi, Que., has been in business for more than 40 years; the current owner is Normand Blanchette. In Nova Scotia, Beautiful Baths Renovations is a family-owned business based in Lower Sackville that’s been serving the Halifax, Dartmouth, Kentville, and Bridgewater markets since 1994 with bathroom sales and installations. The owners are Chris and Tori Bowie.

Busy Bee Tools is a tool retailer with 10 stores across the country and it plans to open more. According to Retail Insider, the specialty retailer of woodworking and metalworking tools has enjoyed strong growth in recent years and now has one location in British Columbia, two in Alberta, six in Ontario, and one in Nova Scotia. The family-owned business is headed by Hanif Balolia.

Lowe’s has introduced security robots at some of its U.S. stores to patrol the parking lots. With concerns of rising violence and thefts at some of its stores there, the giant retailer is using the self-driven, 400-pound Knightscope K5 robots  to enhance security. Pilot tests of the new technology are happening at stores in Philadelphia, Washington state, North Carolina, D.C., and California.

In-store automation continues at Canadian Tire stores. The retailer says that 80 percent of its CTR stores now have pickup lockers and more than half have electronic shelf labels. In addition, an online automotive service appointment system that was launched in late September 2022 has been used by over 80,000 customers using the system in more than 80 percent of its stores. 

SUPPLIER NEWS

The Quebec industry association AQMAT will host its annual Congrès des décideurs on April 27 at the Centre de congrès in Saint-Hyacinthe, Que. This year’s event is expected to host about 100 people, including retail leaders from a range of banners as well as industry vendors and service providers. The keynote speaker is Valentine Thomas, activist, thought leader, author, spearfisher, and freediver. (Click here for more information.)

3M has been honoured as a leader in ethics and integrity in business conduct and compliance. The designation was awarded by the Ethisphere Institute and was given to a total of 135 companies around the world that were recognized as the World’s Most Ethical Companies in 2023. 3M was recognized for the 10th straight year.

Doman Building Materials reported Q4 net earnings of $4.3 million, down from $11.6 million a year earlier. Revenues for the quarter declined to $572.9 million from $641.6 million in the comparable period of 2021, with construction materials accounting for 72 percent of sales. For the full fiscal year, net earnings came to $78.7 million, down from $106.5 million in 2021. Revenues of $3 billion were up 19.5 percent when compared to $2.5 billion the previous year.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

Investment in building construction increased 1.5 percent to $20.4 billion in January. Residential construction was up 1.9 percent to $14.9 billion, after posting four consecutive monthly declines at the end of 2022. Single-family home investment was up 2.4 percent to $8 billion. Multi-unit construction increased 1.3 percent to $6.8 billion.
The non-residential sector was up 0.5 percent to $5.6 billion. (StatCan)

Sales of existing Canadian homes rose 2.3 percent in February compared with the previous month. Gains were led by the Greater Toronto and Greater Vancouver areas. The actual (not seasonally adjusted) number of transactions in February 2023 came in 40 percent below an unusually strong February in 2022. The February 2023 sales figure was comparable to what was seen for that month in 2018 and 2019. (Canadian Real Estate Assoc.)

The annualized rate of housing starts rose by 13 percent in February to 243,959 units. The monthly rate of total urban starts was up 16 percent, with 222,663 units recorded in February. Single-detached urban starts increased eight percent to 48,918 units. Rural starts for the month were estimated at an annualized pace of 21,296 units. (Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.)

NOTED

This year’s Hardlines Conference will have a fresh look—and a new location. The annual summit for industry retailers and executives is moving to Whistler, B.C., on Oct. 17 and 18. Working closely with the Building Supply Industry Association of British Columbia, Hardlines will hold the conference at one of the most stunning locations on the planet—the luxurious Fairmont Chateau Whistler resort. (Hardlines weekly Subscribers get a 20 percent discount off the regular conference price. Contact Michelle Porter to get your Subscriber discount code!)