ST. JACOBS, Ont. — Home Hardware’s president and CEO, Kevin Macnab, has been in place for a year now, and his reorganization of the company has affected every corner of the business.

Those changes have included a wholesale overhaul of the company’s buying teams, with new faces on board, and existing buyers taking on new portfolios. But behind the scenes, changes are unfolding that will impact Home Hardware’s vendor base.

For example, tougher guidelines are being put in place for vendors. On one hand, these threaten to undermine Home Hardware’s reputation as the “good guys”, but they also bring the company more in line with standards imposed by other home improvement retailers and aim to make it more competitive.

Vendors now face fines for incomplete orders, while Home is looking to rationalize overlapping or duplicate SKUs, especially among suppliers who do less than $50,000 with the company or are listed in fewer than 50 stores. This, Macnab admits, may mean fewer vendors and fewer products for Home Hardware over time.

There’s been much talk around head office about changing Home Hardware’s focus from that of a wholesaler to one of a retailer. That refers to being more attentive to the perceptions of the end consumer, “whether it’s a pro, DIY or furniture shopper,” to see the company “from a consumer lens,” Macnab says. “It’s a different focus.”

It does not mean ignoring the reality of Home Hardware’s role as a wholesaler, but with a look at the end user. And meetings with suppliers have challenged them to review assortments, marketing programs and data, using it in different ways.

“It’s about building a business with our supplier partners,” Macnab explains. “That means adding programs rather than just products, while relying on vendors that goes beyond just dollars. Which vendors want to lean in with us?”

Macnab expects the process to result in a reduction of vendors, and more reliance on the ones who remain. “We’re about growth—and vendors will have more clearly defined expectations of their roles.” These will include those fines for incomplete orders. He says the goal is to strengthen relationships with vendors, but part of that is expecting vendors to live by their commitments.

BOLTON, Ont. — TORBSA Ltd., the Ontario-based buying group for building centres and commercial yards, has named its board of directors for the year ahead.

Greg Drouillard of Target Building Materials in Windsor, Ont., has been elected as president. Drouillard is well known for his involvement in the Lumber and Building Materials Association of Ontario and was honoured with the LBMAO’s Lifetime Industry Achievement Award in 2017—the same year his company celebrated its 50th anniversary.

Drouillard is also known for his protracted battle with Target Corp. in the U.S., when the mass merchant retailer made its foray into Canada beginning in 2013. It challenged Drouillard’s half-century ownership of the Target name in Canada, which proved to be a fruitless pursuit for the U.S. retail giant, but a costly one for Drouillard. He is also very involved in STAFDA, the Specialty Tools and Fasteners Distributors Association.

TORBSA, whose dealers are largely commercial yards, has most of its members in southern and central Ontario, with the exception of Crown Building Supplies in Surrey, B.C.

The board of directors is now composed of (from left to right): Past President Gerald Morin, Morin Bros. Building Supplies, Ottawa; Greg Drouillard; Dante DiGiovanni, VP operations, Blair Building Materials, Maple; Blaine Carter, VP, Woollatt Building Supply, London; Len Hewson, treasurer, Hewson Brothers Supply, Brantford; and Steve Guglietti, secretary, Pro Con Building Supplies, Brampton.

VAUGHAN, Ont. — TIMBER MART has added a new hardware buyer after a careful search that took almost a year to complete. Shawn Ettinger, a veteran of Home Depot Canada has joined the buying group’s procurement team, responsible for reviewing, analyzing and selecting hardlines products and vendors, including tools, décor, plumbing, imported goods, electrical, builder’s hardware and seasonal products.

According to TIMBER MART President and CEO Bernie Owens, the hire came from the retirement two years earlier of the group’s manager of vendor programs, Rod Purchase. Purchase was a long-time member of TIMBER MART’s team in Atlantic Canada. He had joined with TIMBER MART following the consolidation of the A.W.A.R.D. buying group into TIMBER MART in 2005.

Owens says the role will be pivotal to negotiations within the Spancan buying group. That organization, owned by Independent Lumber Dealers Co-operative, Federated Co-operatives and TIMBER MART, negotiates hardware deals with vendors, “and we need a team in place,” he notes, “that could deal effectively with Spancan’s 240 preferred vendors. It was just making sure we had the right individual,” he says of Ettinger’s hire.

Ettinger brings more than 30 years of experience to the job. Most recently, he was VP for new product development, innovation, marketing and sales strategy at Conros Corp. He spent a decade at Home Depot Canada as national senior product merchant – kitchen, appliances, bath and flooring.

MISSION, B.C. —Fraser Valley Building Supplies (FVBS) continues to expand in British Columbia, moving beyond its local markets in the province’s Lower Mainland.

Ray Cyr, president of FVBS, has taken over two stores in the West Kootenays. The company acquired the Maglio Building Centres earlier this year and converted the Nelson and Trail, B.C., stores, to the RONA banner.

To mark the grand opening of both stores under the RONA banner, Fraser Valley Building Supplies held board cutting ceremonies late last month. “We are looking forward to welcoming customers in their new RONA stores so they can discover our enhanced offering, which includes a selection of appliances and the iconic Craftsman brand,” Cyr said.

Together, the RONA Trail and RONA Nelson stores feature approximately 35,000 square feet of retail sales area as well as five acres of lumberyard, with some 30,000 products on offer in store and online.

The expansion efforts have been part of a trend for Cyr. In 2016, FVBS acquired Wilway Lumber Sales in Abbotsford. In June 2018, the company expanded its RONA store in Hope, B.C., which it acquired a year earlier, to a larger location. Then in May of this year, the Fraser Valley store in Abbotsford, B.C., took on the Ace Canada banner. The store features a 10,000-square-foot retail sales area and a four-acre drive-through lumber yard.