MEMPHIS — Orgill has announced new responsibilities for members of its executive team beginning in the new year.

Ron Beal, Orgill’s long-time chairman, president and CEO, will drop the president title but continue in his other roles. Beal, who has been with the company for three decades, was first introduced to Canadian audiences when he spoke at the Hardlines Conference in 2008. At the time, he was vice president of merchandising for the hardware distributor. Back then, Orgill was focused on expanding across the U.S. and had yet to set its sights on the Canadian market. (Also presenting at the Hardlines Conference that year was Greg Wessling, senior vice president of another little-known U.S. company at the time, Lowe’s.―Editor)

Replacing Beal in the role of president is Boyden Moore, who currently serves as Orgill’s general manager of retail. He is also president of the company’s subsidiary, Tyndale Advisors, a management, consulting and marketing firm that provides a range of services to dealers including strategic management, store operations, finance, merchandising, marketing and human resources.

Brett Hammers will become Orgill’s EVP of worldwide sales and supply chain. Hammers will be responsible for all sales and product sourcing in support of Orgill’s U.S., Canadian and international customer base. He currently holds the COO title. CFO Eric Divelbiss will take on the additional role of EVP of finance and administration.

Under Beal’s leadership, the company began selling to Castle dealers in Canada at the end of 2010. That grew into a full-blown North American strategy for selling hardlines to independent dealers, which included the acquisition of Chalifour Canada in 2015. Canadian dealers are now serviced out of Chalifour’s former DC in London, Ont., and a facility in Post Falls, Idaho, which serves Western Canada.

TORONTO — Canadian Tire has expanded its e-commerce offerings with self-serve options in-store, as it battles to refine its presence as a mobile shopping destination.

The retailer has installed automated, 16-foot self-serve pick-up towers at four of its busiest stores across the country: in Vancouver, Calgary, Saskatoon and Toronto. It claims to be the first-ever Canadian retailer to use the concept. Customers at these locations can pick up their online purchases by scanning a QR code from their phones at the towers. The product is searched and delivered to the tower, all within a minute, the company claims.

The concept is being further rolled out at one of its Ottawa stores. There, self-serve lockers and automated check-in terminals are being tested. To use the check-in terminals, customers enter a unique PIN code on the in-store tablet, prompting store staff to bring their order directly to them. The aim of these new options is to reduce in-store pickup times.

Canadian Tire has been searching for ways to connect online effectively with its customers. With a network of 501 stores, and a boast that 90% of Canadians live within a 15-minute drive of one of its stores, Canadian Tire has a substantial bricks-and-mortar presence. But the road to becoming an effective online seller has had its share of obstacles, including delayed test programs and inadequate in-store fulfillment.

“We’re a test-and-learn culture and a big part of that is finding new ways to help our customers shop when they want and how they want,” says Greg Hicks, president of Canadian Tire Retail.

These new additions to Canadian Tire’s e-commerce offerings follow a recent rollout of nationwide ship-to-home, following a test in the Ottawa market, and the launch of Triangle Rewards, the company’s updated loyalty and credit card program.

MONTREAL — AQMAT, the Quebec association for the home improvement industry, has finalized the creation of a not-for-profit organization aimed at encouraging consumers to buy Canadian when shopping for hardware and building supplies.

Called Bien fait ici-Well Made Here, the federally chartered organization will promote awareness of products made in Canada. It will provide comprehensive information to consumers on local, quality products, where to buy them and where to get good trades to perform renovation work.

The qualified products will stand out from imported and low added-value products by providing technical information and promotional offers directed at both DIYers and contractors.

The group’s initial efforts over the first year will be focused in Quebec. By spring 2019, thousands of hardware products and building materials bearing the Bien fait ici-Well Made Here label will be listed at 2,500 hardware stores and home improvement centres in that province at Ace, BMR, Castle, Home Hardware, Lowe’s Canada, Patrick Morin, Reno-Depot, RONA, TIMBER MART and Unimat stores.

“When it comes to building materials and hardware products, homeowners want to use the best products on the market, provided that the price is justified,” says Richard Darveau, president and CEO of AQMAT, and founder of the project.

To give customers more understanding of the advantages of homegrown products, the program requires manufacturers to provide accurate information about their products’ Canadian characteristics, which must account for at least 51% of direct manufacturing costs. Authorization includes place of manufacture, origin of components, warranty and compliance to codes.

Darveau says that retailers can have their brand associated with the growing movement to buy local, offer sustainable products and support domestic employment.

BOUCHERVILLE, Que. — Lowe’s Canada has expanded the range of products sold under the Craftsman brand.

The selection of Craftsman products has been enhanced to include power tools, hand tools and a select assortment of outdoor power equipment such as snow throwers and leaf blowers. The strategy is to round out the lines in time for the holiday selling season.

“We have seen a lot of enthusiasm from our customers since we added the brand to our offering last June,” says Igor Halencak, EVP, central customer services at Lowe’s Canada. More products will be added over the coming months, he notes.

Lowe’s has been selling Craftsman in both Canada and the U.S. since it made a proprietary deal with Craftsman licensee Stanley Black & Decker. The giant hand and power tool maker made a deal with Sears, which owns the venerable Craftsman brand, to license it and pay royalties to Sears over the next 15 years.

The company expects the full range of Craftsman products to be available both in stores and online by the spring of 2019 at Lowe’s, RONA, Reno-Depot and Ace Canada. Once the roll-out is complete, Canadian DIYers and home improvement professionals will have access to hundreds of Craftsman items, including power and hand tools, storage products and outdoor power equipment.

Coast Distributors has added Will Dugger to its outside sales team. He will cover the Central British Columbia territory. Dugger spent 20 years with Sherwin-Williams in various management and sales positions, most notably as a sales representative working directly with some of the largest developers in the lower mainland. Most recently, he was with another distributor.

...that Hardlines will honour some of Canada’s top retailers and managers in home improvement at the upcoming Outstanding Retailer Awards Gala? Vendors and retailers alike will join us during our 23rd annual Hardlines Conference on November 13 in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont. Click here for tickets!

HAWKESBURY, Ont. — The Eastern Ontario town of Hawkesbury will be the site of the first Ontario store for the independent retailer, Canac, and the home improvement banner’s first location outside Quebec. It’s part of an overall plan by the town to re-purpose a former Amoco oil plant. The $71 million development project includes an expansion of the existing shopping centre on the site.

MISSISSAUGA, Ont. — Castle Building Centres’ newest member is Falls Hardware in Nestor Falls, Ont., located some 300 kilometres from Winnipeg in the Lake of the Woods region. The business was founded in 1955 by Alex Pope. His son Bill took over the store with his wife Nancy in 1978 and the pair have operated it ever since.

TORONTO — Global reputation research firm Reputation Institute has ranked Mountain Equipment Co-op and Canadian Tire as the nation’s corporate responsibility leaders. The 2018 CR RepTrak reflects public perceptions of corporate performance across three key dimensions of corporate reputation: citizenship, workplace and governance.

BOUCHERVILLE, Que. — Lowe’s Canada has managed to raise $1.1 million for local non-profit organizations and public schools nationally. Throughout September, every Lowe’s, RONA and Reno-Depot corporate store in the country collected donations to help the cause of their choice. The retailer matched 50% of all funds raised through the in-store campaign, up to a maximum of $2,000 per store. The funds are being donated to more than 260 community organizations.

BRENTWOOD, Tenn. — Tractor Supply Co. reported that net sales for the third quarter increased 9.3% to $1.88 billion from $1.72 billion a year ago. Comparable store sales increased 5.1%, as compared to an increase of 6.6% in the prior year’s third quarter. Net income rose by 27.1% to $116.8 million from $91.9 million.

SUPPLIER NEWS

LEVIS, Que. — Maibec Inc. has announced a new partnership agreement with Brunswick Valley Distribution, a division of Gillfor Distribution, for the distribution of its exterior siding products in the Maritimes. Maibec has had a presence in the Maritimes for several years, including its Eastern White Cedar shingle plant in Balmoral, N.B. It will now count on the Brunswick Valley team to distribute its entire range of genuine and engineered wood siding products. The new partnership takes effect January 1.

DELSON, Que. — Goodfellow Inc. has announced a new alliance with Sherwin-Williams. Starting this fall, Goodfellow will use Sherwin-Williams finishes on its outdoor wood siding products across Canada. Goodfellow says the partnership will strengthen its position in high-end exterior siding products with an increased production capacity, a wide range of products and a large variety of specialized finishes.

NEW BRITAIN, Conn. — Stanley has announced that The Home Depot will now be the exclusive home improvement retailer for the Stanley hand tools and storage product portfolio, both in store and online, beginning in 2019. In addition, the retailer will gain exclusivity across the Stanley Fatmax product line.

CLEVELAND — The Sherwin-Williams Co. reported that net sales increased 5% in Q3 to $4.73 billion. Comparable sales at U.S. and Canadian stores increased 5.2%. The increase in the quarter was due primarily to higher paint sales volume in the Americas and Consumer Brands groups and selling price increases.

SAINT-JEAN-SUR-RICHELIEU, Que. — Soleno has begun construction of its new corporate headquarters. Soleno President Alain Poirier was accompanied at the first symbolic dig by Saint-Jean Mayor Alain Laplante; Judith-Ann Bélanger, VP of business development at Proservin; local councillors and members of the economic council. The two-storey facility covers 14,250 square feet and represents a $3 million investment, allowing the creation of eight new jobs.

SEATTLE — Weyerhaeuser Co. reported Q3 net earnings of $255 million, or $0.34 per diluted share, on net sales of $1.9 billion. The results compare with earnings of $130 million, or $0.17 per diluted share, on net sales of $1.9 billion for the same period last year. Excluding a special tax benefit of $41 million, the company reported net earnings of $214 million, or $0.28 per diluted share for the quarter.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

Sales of new single‐family houses in the U.S. in September 2018 were at a rate of 553,000 seasonally adjusted. That rate is 5.5% below the revised August rate of 585,000 and 13.2% below last September's estimate of 637,000. The median sales price of new houses sold in September 2018 was $320,000. The average sales price was $377,200. (U.S. Census Bureau)