November 14, 2016 Volume xxii, #43

“Money won't buy happiness, but it will pay the salaries of a large research staff to study the problem.”
—Bill Vaughan (American columnist and author, 1915-1977)

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Lowe’s expansion continues with first Victoria-area store

BOUCHERVILLE, Que. — Lowe’s celebrated the grand opening of its first store in the greater Victoria area last week at Tillicum Centre mall in Saanich. Saanich Mayor Richard Atwell and City Councillor Judy Brownoff joined Jim Caldwell, Lowe’s Canada’s executive VP for big box retail, and Lowe’s employees for an official board cutting and community grant donation presentation.

The Saanich Lowe’s marks the company’s 52nd store in Canada under the Lowe’s banner, and the 11th new store since the beginning of this year. Both Lowe’s and RONA have aggressive expansion plans: Lowe’s bought up a dozen former Target stores, plus its distribution centre in Milton, Ont., in May 2015 and has been converting those outlets to Lowe’s. In addition, it is continuing to develop greenfields sites of its own.
Lowe’s store openings for this year were:

• Ancaster, Ont., in January;
• Cornwall, Ont., in May;
• North Regina in June;
• Toronto (Danforth Ave.) in June;
• Calgary (Signal Hill) and Abbotsford, B.C., in July;
• Calgary (Shawnessy), Thunder Bay, Ont.; Prince George and Nanaimo, B.C., in August;
• and Victoria-Saanich in November.

The company’s 53rd store will open later this month at Centrepoint Mall in North York, in Toronto. In addition, the company opened two big boxes in Quebec under the Réno-Dépôt banner at the beginning of September.

To support the expansion, Lowe’s is working to backfill its infrastructure. That includes adding bodies at its regional distribution centre in Milton, Ont., to fill three shifts. The company is hosting job fairs throughout November, and the warehouse will hire general labour and forklift operator positions, with both full- and part-time positions.

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Business building and networking highlight Home Improvement eRetailer Summit

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Some of North America’s leading eRetailers gathered in one room recently for the first-ever Home Improvement eRetailer Summit.

Held October 26 to 28, 2016 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., this invitation-only event was a ground-breaking forum for cutting-edge eRetailers to meet, share ideas, and connect with forward-thinking suppliers eager to increase their online business. The Home Improvement eRetailer Summit is the first of its kind to focus specifically on hardware, housewares, home storage and organization, furnishings, and building materials.

The eRetailer Summit also featured a powerful roster of retail experts, who provided valuable insights into the future of e-commerce, and how it will integrate with bricks and mortar. The program started with retail expert Robert Howard of Kurt Salmon, who outlined how the retail experience is being disrupted and described the digital experience gap. “And 20% off doesn’t do it anymore. Be an inspiration and influencer,” he added.

Deborah Shearer, founder and designer of TableandDine.com, found the entire event beneficial. “It was a great few days of meeting, networking, learning, and sharing ideas with some really fabulous industry colleagues,” she said. “The event was insightful, filled with interesting topics, relaxed, and intimate.”

But important insights came from fellow eRetailers, as well. Jeff Golden from TheShops.tv talked about the importance of “telling a story around the product,” while Mike Hargrave of Sears.com and Kmart.com shared that “personalized experiences is where everyone is going.” Jessica Jay of ATGStores.com told potential new vendors, “Our most successful partners are the ones who aren’t afraid to try new processes with us.”

Sonya Ruff Jarvis, managing member, Jarvis Consultants, is the event’s founder. “The eRetail leaders at this inaugural Summit reported conclusively that they enjoyed meeting vendors and very much enjoyed meeting fellow eRetailers,” she said. “A combination of great content and solid business-building interactions made this event a success.”

The date and location of next year’s Home Improvement eRetailer Summit will be announced soon. Home Improvement vendors interested in exploring or expanding their online presence and learning more about how to optimize the internet as a distribution channel can contact Beverly Allen: bev@hardlines.ca; or Sonya Ruff Jarvis: sonya@eretailersummit.com.

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TIMBER MART announces new location for B.C. distribution centre

VAUGHAN, Ont. — TIMBER MART plans to relocate its distribution centre in Surrey, B.C., which has been purchased outright, to a new facility at 5671 Production Way in Langley, B.C. The new DC encompasses an office space, 27,000 square feet of warehouse space, and a three-acre yard.

Following TIMBER MART’s sale of its hardware distribution business to Memphis-based Orgill, Orgill continued to use TIMBER MART’s Western facility to warehouse its hardlines products for Western customers. At the new facility in Langley, Orgill will continue to manage hardlines products, but once the move is complete in January 2017, these will be cross-docked from Orgill’s new facility in Post Falls, Idaho. The shift of hardlines to Orgill will allow TIMBER MART to expand the range of building materials it can warehouse. 

“Our new TIMBER MART distribution centre will provide us with greater square footage to house LBM products, as well as a more suitable and cost-effective distribution solution for our members in B.C.,” says Bernie Owens, president of TIMBER MART. “The new facility will continue to provide great competitive advantage to our membership in the province and I thank them for their feedback and input in selecting the new location.”

TIMBER MART currently operates two distribution facilities. Besides the DC in Surrey, which houses both LBM and Orgill hardlines products, the buying group maintains a DC in St-Nicolas, Que., which handles LBM exclusively. By January 2017, TIMBER MART’s distribution network will consist of LBM distribution only—through both the new Langley facility and the existing DC in St-Nicolas.

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Home improvement industry growth varies by format, region

SPECIAL REPORT — The hardware and home improvement industry’s rate of growth in 2015 was in line with forecasts, with modest growth. Among the store formats that comprise this industry, the big box format was one of the fastest growing in the country last year, thanks largely to the expansion efforts of Lowe’s.

Regionally, growth was varied, as well. Many parts of the country enjoyed healthier sales despite the downturn in the energy sector, which affected the country in general and Alberta in particular and to a lesser extent Newfoundland and Labrador. But despite a slow start to 2015, the market maintained strength during the latter half of the year.

British Columbia began to enjoy an uptick in 2015, especially in the Lower Mainland, but that growth was late in coming and focused mostly on the Lower Mainland for much of the year. As a result, the province was down overall. B.C. has been showing greater growth in 2016 across the province and is expected to sustain that growth through next year, as dealers catch up to improving conditions there.

The Prairies continue to suffer a downturn, with Alberta showing the greater dip in dollar terms: it lost almost $1.5 billion in home improvement sales in 2015. Last year, total retail home improvement sales coming out of that province totalled just over $5 billion, down 1.1% from the previous year.

The Atlantic provinces showed healthy increases, albeit on smaller overall sales. New Brunswick showed the greatest growth, up 0.6%, while the other provinces were virtually flat in 2015. Newfoundland and Labrador managed to show a slight increase, up 0.1%, despite the downturn there. That region is forecast to show negative sales growth in 2016.

(Find out how the provinces have gained or lost market share, and learn which retail formats are winning and losing. It’s all in the incredible 2016-2017 Hardlines Market Share Report. Click here to buy it now!—Editor)

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At Building Products of Canada Corp., Jacques Bibeau has been named to the position of VP Sales and Marketing. Most recently Regional Director of Sales for Eastern Canada and the U.S. with Dow Chemical, Bibeau comes to BP with 35 years of sales experience. He replaces Robert Caron, who will retire effective March 31, 2017, after eight years at the helm of BP’s commercial team. BP has operations in Quebec and Alberta, manufacturing residential and commercial roofing and wood fibre products, and paper and chipboard.

At Reed Exhibitions, Kimberly Fox has joined the National Hardware Show team to lead buyer programs and extend relationships with hardware and home improvement professionals. Fox comes to the National Hardware Show with over 20 years' experience in the tradeshow industry. She will kick off her role visiting key buyers and actively participating in industry events. (kfox@reedexpo.com)

Target has announced the appointment of former Wal-Mart stores executive Shekar Natarajan for the new position of senior VP, network planning and operational design. Natarajan will be responsible for overseeing the company’s direct-to-store and direct-to-customer supply, reporting to Executive VP and Chief Supply Chain and Logistics Officer Arthur Valdez.

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