At Home Hardware Stores Ltd. Marianne Thompson has been appointed to the role of chief commercial officer. The position takes effect September 12.

In this newly created role, Thompson will be responsible for Home Hardware’s overall commercial strategy, which will emphasize driving business growth and expanding market share. She assumes her additional role’s duties in addition to her current responsibilities as chief merchandising officer, a position she assumed in March of this year. That means Thompson will keep her merchandising portfolio, with oversight of marketing, supply chain, and retail operations added in.

Prior to joining Home Hardware in 2019, Thompson was SVP of North American sales at JELD-WEN Windows and Doors. She will continue to report in to Kevin Macnab, Home Hardware’s president and CEO.

“With over 30 years’ experience in the home improvement industry, Marianne Thompson has the strategic vision and leadership skills needed to drive continued results for Home Hardware and the success of this great Canadian retailer,” said Macnab. “Marianne is a transformative leader who brings passion, creativity, and heart to everything she does.”

Thompson now has a number of the company’s officers reporting directly to her. They are John Dyksterhuis, chief supply chain officer; Rob Wallace, chief retail operations officer; and Laura Baker, chief marketing officer.

Her senior merchandising team will continue to report to her as well. They are Rob Szekszer, vice president, merchandise—hardlines; Carol Crystal, vice president, merchandise—LBM; Meriyem Kaf, director, merchandise strategy and execution; and Colin Lalonde, director of merchandise services.

As president and CEO, Macnab will continue to oversee finance, human resources, IT, legal, and corporate records. Besides Thompson, other people reporting to him Macnab are Sean MacCormack, chief financial officer; Scott Bryant, chief human resources officer; Gino Gualtieri, chief information officer; William Zeyl, chief legal officer and corporate secretary; and Dianne McTavish, vice president of corporate records.

RONA’s Quebec City buying event is only one part of a three-pronged strategy

Lowe’s Canada brought its affiliate dealers in from different parts of the country to participate in a new type of buying show this past weekend. The show has a new name—and not one but two new locations.

Called RONA Connexia, the new events are a complete reinvention of the traditional RONA Buying Show, Lowe’s Canada says. They are exclusively dedicated to RONA affiliate dealers.

RONA Connexia is divided into three interconnected activities spread throughout the fall. It kicked off in person last Wednesday in Quebec City and ran until Friday, Sept. 9. The next stage is from Sept. 14 to 16 in Vancouver. These two events, or rallies, will give the independent RONA dealers a chance to get face-to-face with preferred vendors.

The last live event was in 2019, when 300 RONA and Ace dealer-owners gathered at the Palais des congrès de Montréal (shown here). Since then, Lowe’s Canada has divested itself of the Ace business, focusing its wholesale distribution business solely on its RONA affiliate dealers.

This year, the in-person events in Quebec City and Vancouver aim to help RONA head office to “reconnect” with RONA dealers. “The objective of those events is to bring our network together and talk about our recent accomplishments and what’s coming for our RONA affiliated dealers,” a Lowe’s Canada spokesperson told Hardlines.

“Most of our RONA affiliated dealers will be present, which demonstrates the strength of our network.” RONA has more than 200 affiliated dealers across the country.

The new locations were part of an effort to shake things up a bit and freshen up the experience for the dealers. “After a two-year pause, we wanted an inspiring location, ideal to connect and discuss. That’s why Quebec City and Vancouver were selected this year.”

The third aspect of the combined events is a showcase that will be held in October and will take place at the Lowe’s Canada Planogram Centre in Boucherville, Que., which is near the Lowe’s Canada head office on Montreal’s south shore. All 2023 seasonal products will be presented during this face-to-face event.

And finally, RONA will host an online buying event, called “The Shopping Zone.” It will run from Oct. 31 to Dec. 6.

Will the format be repeated next year, with new locations? The company said it did not have any details for next year’s event or events.

CertainTeed Canada names Julie Bonamy Racine as its first-ever female CEO

The appointment of CertainTeed Canada’s first female CEO is the latest in a series of moves by parent company Saint-Gobain to strengthen its Canadian operations.

Last week, the company announced the appointment of Julie Bonamy Racine as CEO of CertainTeed Canada Inc., its Canadian building products subsidiary. Bonamy is CertainTeed Canada’s first female chief executive and succeeds Richard Juggery, who led the company for four years before being named CEO of Saint-Gobain Benelux in July.

Bonamy comes to her role in Canada with a strong international CV. In fact, her schooling pointed in that direction early on. She is a graduate of the Paris Institute of Political Studies and the National School of Public Administration, which led to a role as a public servant. That included a stint as an advisor for the budget and digital sector for the Office of the French Minister for the Economy.

She joined Saint-Gobain in 2017 in Paris as group vice president, strategy and planning. She eventually moved up to serve as CEO of Saint-Gobain Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia.

Saint-Gobain acquired Malvern, Penn.-based CertainTeed in 1970. In Canada, Saint-Gobain and CertainTeed have 27 manufacturing locations and employ more than 2,200 people nationwide. Bonamy’s appointment as CEO comes after the company has taken several steps this year to strengthen both its business and sustainability profile in Canada.

Saint-Gobain is considered one of the largest building materials companies in the world. It operates in 76 countries, has 167,000 employees, and achieved sales of €44.2 billion (CAD $58 billion) in 2021. In July it finalized its acquisition of Kaycan, a family-owned manufacturer and distributor of exterior building materials, in a deal that was valued at $1.2 billion.

A month earlier, the company announced plans to invest $91 million to upgrade equipment at its CertainTeed Montreal wallboard manufacturing facility. Those upgrades include technology to reduce the plant’s carbon emissions by up to 44,000 tonnes per year, creating the first zero-carbon drywall plant in North America. The company says the upgrades will also increase the facility’s production capacity by up to 40 percent.

In March, the company announced it would install heat recovery technology at its CertainTeed gypsum manufacturing site in Vancouver, which is expected to reduce the plant’s carbon dioxide emissions by 10 percent and improve its energy efficiency.

Earlier this year, Saint-Gobain announced a multi-faceted partnership with Habitat for Humanity Canada to build affordable housing in several communities where the company operates. It will donate construction materials and cash to Habitat for Humanity projects across the country.

At the beginning of this month, Doug Keeling assumed his previously announced position as director of business development for Castle Building Centres Group. He had served as business development manager for Ontario since he joined Castle in 2016. Keeling took over from Bruce Holman, who retired from the role earlier this summer after nearly two decades in the industry.

Garant has announced the appointment of Jonathan Cole as vice‐president of sales and customer service. He was the company’s national accounts manager from 2008 to 2012, returned to Garant in 2014 as sales manager and was then promoted to director in 2018.

DID YOU KNOW…?

… that the Hardlines Conference is barely a month away? That’s right, tickets are going fast for the biggest information and networking event of the season. Registration is open online for the 26th annual Hardlines Conference, Oct. 18 and 19 at the Queen’s Landing Hotel in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont. Sign up now as tickets are limited for this year’s event!

Home Hardware Stores Ltd. has partnered with shopping rewards app FlipGive to launch the Play More Matching Grant. Building on the past spring’s $25,000 investment in young athletes, the program will distribute another $50,000 to local teams. “Home Hardware’s dealer-owners have a long-standing history of supporting local youth-sport in the communities they serve,” CEO and president Kevin Macnab said in a release.

Through the efforts of the Children’s Miracle Network and Opération Enfant Soleil fundraising campaign, initiated back in April, Lowe’s Canada was able to donate $170,000 to the SickKids Foundation. The donation was the result of the participation of 53 RONA and Lowe’s stores that chose to support the campaign. The SickKids Foundation supports an important network of foundations, research, and hospitals whose mission is to treat sick children. The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto is the largest children’s hospital in Canada. 

J.R. Roy Inc. TIMBER MART in Saint-Léon-de-Standon, Que., celebrated last month Jacques Roy’s 50 years of service to the business. The management of neighbouring Émile Bilodeau & Fils Ltée TIMBER MART said this in a congratulatory message: “It is a privilege to have a Mr. Jacques in your company: too bad for the others, it’s us who have him!”

Crest Hardware & Urban Garden Center, in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighbourhood, attracts animal lovers. Franklin, its resident potbellied pig, is a big reason for that. “People like to shop where they feel welcome,” Joe Franquinha, co-owner of the store with his wife Liza, told The New York Times. Franklin, he adds, has “got his own weird little cult following of customers that love to come in and check in on him or ask and see how he’s doing.”

Home Hardware Stores Ltd. this month is celebrating three decades of its partnership with Tree Canada. To mark the occasion, 30 Home Hardware dealer-owners across the country are participating in this year’s “Home Grown: 30 years of planting at Home” campaign.

A leadership shakeup at Lowe’s Cos. in Mooresville, N.C., first reported by CNBC, has resulted in the departure of the company’s chief marketing officer, Marisa Thalberg. The marketing team now reports to Bill Boltz, executive vice president of merchandising, the network reports. Thalberg started at Lowe’s in February 2020. She had reported directly to CEO Marvin Ellison. In other changes at Lowe’s, says CNBC, Tony Hurst, the senior vice president who oversees Lowe’s pro business, will now report to Joe McFarland, Lowe’s executive vice president of stores. He previously reported directly to Ellison. Hurst was president of Lowe’s Canada for two years in 2020 and 2021. Early in January, Tony Cioffi was moved up to replace Hurst in Canada, though he still reported into Hurst in the latter’s new role in Mooresville. Cioffi still reports into Hurst after the changes, Lowe’s Canada told Hardlines.

SUPPLIER NEWS

Registration is now open for the 2023 National Hardware Show. Register before Sept. 30 for free admission, subject to approval based on registration qualifications. NHS will occupy the South Hall and Bronze Lots at the Las Vegas Convention Center from Jan. 31 to Feb. 2, 2023. Pack your walking shoes, as the show shares a badge that gains access to four others: the NAHB International Builders’ Show (IBS), NKBA’s Kitchen & Bath Industry Show (KBIS), International Surface Event, and Las Vegas Market (Winter) show.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

Investment in U.S. construction projects fell by 0.4 percent in July, following a 0.5 percent decline in June. Residential construction spending was down by 1.5 percent, with investment in the single-family segment tumbling by four percent. Rising mortgage rates and elevated housing prices both contributed to cooling demand from prospective buyers. (U.S. Commerce Dept.)

OVERHEARD…

“I am delighted to welcome Marianne Thompson to the role of chief commercial officer. Home Hardware is on an exciting journey with a bright future, and I am confident Marianne will continue to bring strategic leadership and strong business acumen as we move forward.”
—Christine Hand, chair of the board of Home Hardware Stores Ltd., on the promotion of Marianne Thompson to a new role as chief commercial officer.

IN MEMORIUM

Herb Kohler Jr. died last weekend at the age of 83. The third generation of his family to head up the Kohler plumbing business, he was CEO for more than 40 years before serving as executive chairman. During his time at the helm, Kohler focused on expanding design options, emulating the auto industry’s offering of deluxe add-ons.

The 26th annual Hardlines Conference is just weeks away (Oct. 18 and 19 in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont.). The lineup of speakers will guarantee a first-class offering of ideas and trends. Speakers will include top executives from Lowe’s Canada, BMR Group, and Sexton Group, plus some amazing insights from one of the country’s top economists.

But aside from the trends and big-picture outlooks, the Hardlines Conference, as always, will drill down to the human side of the business, thanks especially these presenters:

Zaida Fazlic, Vice President, People & Culture, Taiga Building Products Ltd. In her lead HR role at Canada’s largest distributor of building materials, Zaida Fazlic oversees the operations of the human resources and payroll functions at Taiga’s HQ in Burnaby, B.C. But she also focuses on people and talent development by creating programs and initiatives that actively support and encourage employees to grow, succeed, and accomplish their goals.

Fazlic began her career with Taiga in 2005, first as an executive assistant before pivoting into the world of real estate. There, she managed the development of a property in the heart of Richmond, B.C. She returned to Taiga in 2018 in the HR department, from where she was promoted to her current role.

During COVID, she has found the urgency of taking care of the company’s workers—at every level—an exciting and engaging challenge.

Alison Fletcher, Owner, The Cookery Store. After a successful 19-year career in sales and marketing, working for some of Canada’s biggest companies, including Maple Leaf Foods, Tim Hortons, Weston Bakeries, and Burger King, Alison Fletcher chose to go out on her own. Combining her passions for cooking and retail, she decided it was time to apply her business planning skills to a vision of her own.

Conceived and launched in 2014, Cookery is both a specialty kitchenware store and cooking class studio. It’s also an incredible COVID success story. It has grown to three locations in Toronto and one in Montreal. Offering a beautiful collection of both heirloom and everyday cookware, kitchen tools, bakeware, barware, dinnerware, serving ware, and cookbooks, Cookery caters to passionate home cooks and cooking-inspired gift givers.

Fletcher has proven herself a master of engaging her customer base, regardless of lockdowns. The store offers cooking classes for both adults and children, which went virtual during the heights of the pandemic.

Joanne Lawrie, Co-owner, Lawrie Group of Home Hardware Stores. Along with her husband Rob, Joanne Lawrie heads up a family-owned group of businesses based in Annapolis Royal, N.S. They consist of six stores operating under the Home Hardware, Home Hardware Building Centre, and Home Furniture banners, all located in the southwestern part of Nova Scotia.

Joanne and Rob represent a growing trend among dealers to consolidate at a local level, establishing themselves through a number of outlets to dominate in their respective markets. This is a front-line retail story that’s not to be missed!

This year’s conference is returning to the Queen’s Landing Hotel in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., a scenic destination just 70 minutes from Toronto Pearson International Airport. It will kick off with the ever-popular networking RONA Pub Night on the evening of Oct. 17. The 30th Annual Outstanding Retailer Awards Gala is a must-attend event on the evening of the first day of the conference, Oct. 18.

(To see the full list of speakers and to secure your spot at this incredible event, please click here!)

Quebec dealer’s stand-alone appliance showroom is a first for RONA banner

A RONA dealer has opened a dedicated appliance showroom—the first of its kind in the RONA store network. Affiliate dealer Eric Deslongchamps already owns three RONA stores in western Quebec as RONA Deslongchamps. The new appliance showroom is in Rivière-Rouge, Que.

The 5,000-square-foot building and 2,000-square-foot adjacent warehouse have been completely renovated, representing an investment of $500,000 which resulted in the creation of three full-time jobs. Customers now have access to an expanded offering of appliances with brands like Bosch, Frigidaire, Samsung, LG, and Whirlpool.

The goal of this new concept is to provide an improved shopping experience. The store is designed to showcase appliances and other products in fully-furnished indoor and outdoor living spaces. A wide range of products is on display, including high-end stoves and fireplaces, barbecues, kitchen cabinets, fashion plumbing items, as well as bricks and stones.

Customers can choose their products and leave with their purchases on the same day. Or they can take advantage of a high-end “White Glove Delivery Service,” which ensures that their purchases will be delivered within a few days. This applies to all products in stock, including hundreds of appliance models. 

RONA Deslongchamps has been in business for over 80 years. Its stores are in Mont-Laurier, Rivière-Rouge, and Maniwaki.

“We listened to our customers and wanted to innovate to provide a shopping experience that meets their needs,” said Deslongchamps. “Through this new store concept, we want to show projects as a whole and inspire our customers. But above all, we want to give them quick access to the products they need for their home or commercial projects, as well as a wide selection of appliances.”

“The retail market is constantly changing. Eric and his team have been able to adapt and stand out in a way that benefits their customers,” added Philippe Element, Vice-President, RONA sales and dealer support at Lowe’s Canada. “We’ve been pleased to collaborate with their team and use our expertise to support their vision and growth plans since they joined our network of RONA affiliated dealers in 2006.”

Orgill president gives update on fill rates, private brands, and in-store promos

During Orgill’s Fall Online Buying Event, Orgill president and CEO Boyden Moore presented a virtual address to delegates and staff. He provided a wide-ranging update on the company’s performance and achievements, while offering his outlook on the rest of the year.

Moore said the Memphis-based hardware distributor’s year-to-date sales are up 10 percent but added that supply chain recovery is the company’s number-one priority. Orgill does not intend to ease up on fixing that until it can return to its traditional service levels, which he said typically exceed 96 percent. Moore noted that Orgill’s private brands (“Exclusively Orgill”) can offer dealers both better margins and higher fill rates, which are already over the 96 percent mark.

He expects to see fulfilment numbers get above 85 percent by the end of 2022, while Orgill continues to work with its vendors to close the gap during the first half of 2023. “We are beginning to see sustained improvement in our supply chain recovery.” Demand has moderated from the incredibly high levels that we experienced last year, and many of our vendors have improved their performance to us and that has led to this sustained improvement.”

Most economists in the U.S. are expecting continued declines in the rate of inflation throughout the remainder of 2022 and a return to lower levels of inflation in 2023, he observed.

For dealers managing their retail space, Moore predicts that, as customer traffic slows, promotional planning will become more important. “The challenges of the past two years have made promotion planning seem like a waste of time and money for many,” he said. “We see promotions being more important going forward, and we’re working hard to provide you with strong traffic-driving promotions to support your business throughout the second half of the year.”

Moore outlined a plan for four quarterly Online Buying Events to maximize promotions and assortment opportunities for retailers. The company will host one in-person market, its 2023 Spring Dealer Market, Feb. 8 to 11 in New Orleans.

The aftermath of COVID continues to translate into steady sales for home improvement retailing, as reflected in the strong earnings of the industry’s two largest players worldwide, which followed strong results in 2021.

The results at The Home Depot were the highest quarterly sales and profits for the company in its history. Earnings rose to $5.17 billion from $4.81 billion a year earlier, an increase of 7.6 percent, while net sales grew by 6.5 percent to $43.79 billion. Comp sales for the quarter were up 5.8 percent.

The performance at Lowe’s Cos. was not quite as dramatic, but the company came close to maintaining the momentum of the previous year. Lowe’s reported a Q2 profit of $3 billion, almost flat with the second quarter of 2021. Total revenues were $27.48 billion, down slightly from the previous year. Comp sales slipped by 0.3 percent.

One area in which the company made big gains was the contractor market. Lowe’s reported that sales to its pro customers during the quarter were up 13 percent.

Similarly, Home Depot once again saw its pro business grow faster than its DIY sales. Those pro sales result in a bigger basket size. “Big-ticket comp transactions for those over $1,000 were up 11.6 percent compared to the second quarter of last year,” said Jeff Kinnaird, executive vice president, merchandising in a call to analysts following the release of the Q2 results. “We saw big-ticket strength across many pro-heavy categories like pipe and fittings, gypsum, and fasteners.”

And big gains were made on the e-commerce side of the business. Digital sales at Home Depot increased by 12 percent during the second quarter.

At KS Solutions Sales & Service, founding partner Paul Sutton is retiring. Sutton began his career at Cashway Building Centres and was a sales VP at MAAX Bath when he helped to establish KS. At the same time, Chris Straus is joining the company. Straus worked in sales at his local Home Hardware while studying at Wilfrid Laurier University. After graduating Straus worked in sales and customer service at Donald Choi Canada Ltd. Also at KS, Mike Garner has been promoted from sales manager to vice president.

Home Hardware Stores Ltd. has appointed Tracy Moorhouse as manager, private brands. Moorhouse, a Humber College graduate, was previously sourcing manager for private brands at Walmart Canada. Prior to that, she held several positions at Loblaw Cos. Ltd., including as category manager and director.

Gypsum Management & Supply has appointed Leigh Dobbs as chief human resources officer, effective Sept. 6. Dobbs has more than 20 years of experience in HR. An MBA grad of Emory University, she was most recently EVP and chief HR officer for Zenith American Solutions.

At The Home Depot, president and CEO Ted Decker has been elected as chair. He will officially succeed former CEO Craig Menear in the role on Oct. 1. Decker joined the company in 2000 and was named president and COO in the fall of 2020 before taking over as CEO in March of this year.

Henry Co., a division of Carlisle Construction Materials, has appointed Rodge Briones as a technical sales representative for western Canada. Briones joins the company with more than 20 years of experience in the building materials industry. He reports to national sales manager Michael Lovering.

DID YOU KNOW…?

… that the latest episode of Hardlines’ podcast series What’s In Store features Rebecca Gravelle, winner of the 2019 Outstanding Retailer Award for Young Retailer? She shares the challenges of wearing many hats—including managing HR—as VP of operations for two Castle stores in eastern Ontario. (Sign up now to get updates about the latest podcasts sent directly to your inbox!)

Matériaux Pont-Masson, a BMR member since July of last year, is building a new location in Val-Morin, Que. This ninth branch will include a 13,000-square-foot store along with a warehouse and cantilever racks.

Ace Hardware has reported record second-quarter revenue of $2.53 billion, up 1.7 percent, its best Q2 revenue on record it said, and second quarter net income of $124.8 million, an increase of $8.8 million from the second quarter of 2021. Increases were seen across most departments with outdoor power equipment, plumbing, paint, and outdoor living showing the largest gains, said the Oak Brook, Ill.-based company. Total retail revenues for the quarter were $258.0 million, an increase of $2.7 million or 1.1 percent.

Hudson’s Bay Co. has plans to launch a Zellers e-commerce site early next year. At the same time, the company will expand the reach of Zellers spaces within its bricks-and-mortar stores. HBC opened a pop-up Zellers shop at its Burlington, Ont., Hudson’s Bay store in 2020, followed by one in Montreal the following year. The retailer says it is looking to offer an experience that “taps into the nostalgia of the brand.”

Lowe’s Cos. has already begun rolling out its Halloween decorations, this year featuring an exclusive product line inspired by the Tim Burton movie, “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” The Lowe’s Master of Fright collection by Gemmy Industries features inflatable and animated decor. The line includes characters such as a nine-foot Jack Skellington and a six-foot Clown with the Tear-Away Face.

Walmart posted Q2 profits of $5.15 billion compared to $4.28 billion in the comparable period of fiscal 2022. Revenues overall came to $152.86 billion. Canadian sales rose by 10 percent with comp sales up 10.3 percent.

Tractor Supply Co. has broken ground on a new distribution centre, located in Maumelle, Ark. The 1.2million-square-foot facility and will be the 10th largest DC in the U.S. farm and ranch retailer’s network. It is scheduled to open in late 2023 and service over 300 Tractor Supply stores. The facility includes 50,000 square feet of mezzanine space devoted to the company’s growing e-commerce business.

SUPPLIER NEWS

Taiga Building Products reported Q2 sales of $646.1 million, down from $786.7 million a year earlier. The decline of $140.6 million or 18 percent was attributed largely to lower selling prices for commodity products. Net earnings fell to $20.8 million from $58.5 million. For the first half of the year, earnings came to $60.3 million, down from $87.6 million.

Orgill will sponsor the North American Hardware and Paint Association’s Independents Conference in Dallas next summer. Furthermore, the wholesaler has adjusted the timing of its Fall Online Buying Event to coincide with the conference. The NHPA Independents Conference will take place Aug. 2 and 3, 2023, while Orgill’s online event will run from July 31 to Aug. 13.

Liteline Corp. has acquired Contraste Lighting, a Canadian lighting fixture manufacturer that does business across North America. Liteline will continue to market the Contraste brand, while the business will be merged with Liteline. In addition, Liteline ha appointed TMC Sales as its agent in Manitoba and northwestern Ontario. TMC Sales is a lighting and controls-focused agency based in Winnipeg.

The Kress brand of outdoor power equipment is set to make its North American debut. Part of the Positec family, the brand is designed to offer OPE pros in North America an alternative to gas-powered products. The North American launch will take place in Q4 of this year in tandem with International Equip Exposition.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

Retail sales increased 1.1 percent to $63.1 billion in June, the sixth consecutive increase. Sales were up in eight of 11 subsectors, representing 76.8 percent of retail trade. Higher sales at gasoline stations and motor vehicle and parts dealers led the increase. LBM and garden equipment sales were up 0.1 percent from May and 9.1 percent from June 2021. (StatCan)

The annualized pace of housing starts in July was 275,329 units, an increase of 1.1 percent from June. The rate of total urban starts decreased by 0.8 percent to 254,371, with single-detached urban starts down 2.3 percent to 58,384 units. Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 20,958 units. (CMHC)

Sales of existing homes fell by 5.3 percent between June and July, according to new data from the Canadian Real Estate Association. Sales were down in about three quarters of all local markets, led by the Greater Toronto Area, Greater Vancouver and the Fraser Valley, Calgary, and Edmonton. The actual (not seasonally adjusted) number of transactions came in 29.3 percent below July 2021.

Sales of existing U.S. homes declined 5.9 percent in July, according to the U.S.-based National Association of Realtors. This sixth consecutive decrease left resales at an annualized pace of 4.81 million. Compared to a year earlier, sales were down 20.2 percent.

NOTED

The North American Hardware and Paint Association will host retailers and other partners next year to the NHPA Independents Conference. It will be held in Dallas on Aug. 2 and 3, 2023. The theme of the event is “Putting Technology to Work for You” and will feature breakout educational sessions, industry-leading speakers, and retailer panel discussions.

OVERHEARD…

“With a more dependable supply chain and a more moderate level of inflation, we are hoping to return to a somewhat more predictable and dependable business environment.”
—Boyden Moore, president and CEO of Orgill, on the Memphis-based wholesaler’s anticipation of a return to lower levels of inflation by 2023.

When Peavey Industries took over the Ace Canada brand two years ago, it was heading into unknown territory. The corporately-owned chain of farm and hardware stores was now in the wholesale hardware business. And that required the creation of a whole new division within Peavey, supported by many of the people who had moved over from Lowe’s Canada, which had held the rights to the Ace brand previously.

Two years in, the assimilation of the Ace brand by Peavey Industries continues. That includes a reorg based on a consulting project with The Foyer Group that looked at ways to make Peavey’s operations more efficient, says COO Dave Simmonds. “When we took on Ace, we did a lot of adapting on the fly and a lot of it wasn’t that efficient.” Much of the uncertainty came with the onset of COVID lockdowns which began just weeks after the deal was announced.

The latest efficiencies have extended to operations, supply chain, and category management. Buying teams for Ace, Peavey Mart, and Peavey’s MainStreet Hardware banner have been combined—both for in-store and online purchases—resulting in a handful of layoffs. “We’ve switched that around,” Simmonds says. “The category manager now operates in three channels, while respecting that each banner has different needs.”

The move was a positive one, Simmonds notes. “We were overbuilt and overstaffed for what we need to accomplish.”

The COO is proud of Peavey’s track record so far. He says that 100 people at Peavey are dedicated to supporting Ace either exclusively or as part of the whole team—far more support than Ace dealers had received before Peavey took over.

Simmonds stresses that Peavey’s commitment to Ace “is as strong as or stronger than when we started.”

Home Hardware “reimagines” its dealer event with move to Toronto

Home Hardware Stores Ltd. is returning to a live event this fall with a new location—and a new look—for its dealer event. After almost 60 years being held in and around Home Hardware’s headquarters in St. Jacobs, Ont., the dealer event will move to Toronto between Sept. 23 to 25.

While the event used to be called the Home Hardware Dealer Market, it’s got a new name: “Homecoming.” It is expected to host close to 3,000 dealer-owners, store staff, suppliers, business partners, and corporate staff at the Enercare Centre, on the grounds of Exhibition Place just west of downtown Toronto.

The fresh face for the event reflects the company’s shift from operating as a wholesaler to being an integrated retail-focused company. Home Hardware says that everything from the kick-off of the fall event to the training sessions—and even the pop-ups on the tradeshow floor—will be aimed at increasing support of its dealers.

“We are taking a successful Home Hardware tradition that started in 1963 and elevating it to meet the evolving needs of our dealers, as well as our brand’s growth and business strategy,” said Rob Wallace, Home Hardware’s chief retail operations officer.

Home Hardware’s past dealer markets have always included lots of training and education, but this year’s event is placing more emphasis than ever on promoting the culture and training aspect of the dealer experience. In addition to the traditional buying show, the event will include strategic updates and training sessions for dealer-owners and store staff along with social activities, keynote speakers, and a celebration dinner to recognize winners of Home’s own dealer awards.

“This reimagined event combines tradition with innovation, allowing our dealer-owners to stay on top of emerging retail trends, innovative products, and merchandising strategies,” said Marianne Thompson, Home Hardware’s chief merchandising officer.

Bonhomme rebrands with contractor stores and a focus on Ottawa market

Les Entreprises P. Bonhomme, a major dealer in the Ottawa and Gatineau market, has been repositioning itself over the past six months. That includes downsizing and developing a new customer focus—and launching a new banner to go with that new direction.

A long-time member of the Independent Lumber Dealers Co-operative, Bonhomme has been rationalizing its store count over the past decade. The Gatineau stores on the Quebec side of the Ottawa River used the Bonhomme name, while stores on the Ottawa side used the name Bytown Lumber (Bytown is a nickname for Ottawa).

Now more tightly focused on the Ottawa market, the four remaining Bonhomme stores have further narrowed their focus on the contractor customer, with an emphasis on core building materials for both residential and commercial markets. Those Ontario stores, in Rockland, Aylmer, Carleton Place, and Limoges, have been rebranded Bytown Pro.

But the company does not intend to exit the Quebec market. The Aylmer outlet is being relocated to Bonhomme’s head office location in Gatineau across the river. It will be bannered as Bonhomme Pro.

According to the company’s website, the repositioning puts the stores more in line with the needs of contractors and builders in and around Ottawa: “Recognizing the explosive growth and need for housing in the region, the company rebranded itself as Bytown Pro in 2022, with a distinct focus in providing supply and service to regional builders and developers that is second to none.”

Last week, the Bank of Canada raised its benchmark interest rate by a full percentage point, to 2.5 percent. This was the largest single increase to the rate since 1998. It was also the fourth increase since March, as the central bank seeks to counter runaway inflation. It had been speculated that the rate increase would be only 0.75 ppt.

Economist Peter Norman of Altus Group (seen here addressing the 2021 Hardlines Conference) told Hardlines that he expects to see a “softening through this year” in the reno market. The sector “has been holding up so far” but “traditionally … has been fairly interest rate-sensitive due to the amount of borrowing” that fuels the sector.
The renovation sector “last year was nuts, up about 25 percent,” Norman said in an email. “[It’s] also up so far this year a further 20 percent … so there is room for it to drop.”

Norman also provided a counter-argument to his prediction of decreased reno activity. “On the other hand … there is a school of thought that as the home sales market cools off, some homeowners will look more closely at a reno rather than a move. Also, some potential renovating homeowners have been waiting for availability of contractors and possibly lower prices before they pull the trigger. Those segments may be active later this year.”

BMF, the store design and installation provider for home improvement dealers, has made some organizational changes. Sarah Hounslow, who has been a key player in the growth of the company since its inception almost 20 years ago, has been promoted to president. Rob Wilbrink, formerly president and CEO, will retain the CEO position. Mark Ehrlick, former director of operations at Lowe’s Canada and director of dealer development at Canadian Tire, joins BMF as vice president of sales and marketing. Ehrlick joins Gavin Ford, who recently joined the company after working at Lowe’s leading store setups across North America.

Lowe’s Canada has named Denis Ouellet as category director, hardware and cleaning products. Ouellet was previously national sales manager at Sherwin-Williams, and he also held category management positions at RONA between 2012 and 2018.

At Castle Building Centres Group, André Laurin has been named a new business development manager for Ontario. Laurin will be responsible for the dealer support and business development in the north and east of the province. He joins Castle with some 15 years of LBM experience.

DID YOU KNOW…?

… that you can now buy tickets for the next Hardlines Conference? That’s right, registration is now available online for the 26th annual Conference, being held Oct. 18 and 19 at the Queen’s Landing Hotel in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont. Sign up now as tickets are limited for this year’s event.

BMR Group welcomes a new member, H. Dagenais et fils Inc., beginning January 2023. Founded more than 90 years ago, Dagenais operates two locations in Quebec’s Laurentian mountains, in Saint-Sauveur and Sainte-Anne-des-Lacs. Owners Annie and Martin Dagenais oversee a team of 180.

Ace Canada has forged a deal with Thunder Bay Co-op in Thunder Bay, Ont., that will see the cooperative co-branded and presented as Thunder Bay Co-op Farm Supplies – Ace Country & Garden. Thunder Bay Co-op Farm Supplies opened in 1952.

BeautiTone, the paint business of Home Hardware Stores, is partnering with Mattel Canada to mark the 60th anniversary of the Barbie Dreamhouse. The palette of the BeautiTone Barbie Dreamhouse Colour Collection was designed with “playfulness and liveability” in mind, the company said in a release. Each of the 13 colours comes with its own Barbie-inspired persona. HGTV Canada host Tiffany Pratt is the line’s ambassador.

Inventive Construction Supplies in Dartmouth, N.S., has joined TIMBER MART. The dealer has been serving DIYers, contractors, and builders in the Dartmouth market with a wide assortment of hardware and building materials since 2015. With continued growth, the store looked to partner with a group to access greater buying power and brand recognition. Craig Humphreys is the store’s owner.

Goulais River Country Store, a Castle dealer in Goulais River, Ont., has changed owners. The location opened its doors over a decade ago and will continue its Castle affiliation under new owner Kenneth Peter Van Daele, who will operate it with his daughter Kendralyn.

Lowe’s Canada presented $385,000 to the Fondation Charles-Bruneau at this month’s Tour CIBC Charles-Bruneau cycling event. Between July 2 and 8, the Lowe’s Canada team of nearly 70 cyclists—including associates, affiliated RONA dealers, and vendor partners—completed a variety of treks ranging from 50 to 900 kilometres. Lowe’s Canada was a Diamond Sponsor of the event, which supports pediatric oncology research and development projects. In the last seven years, the Lowe’s Canada teams have raised over $3.7-million for the foundation.

SUPPLIER NEWS

Richelieu Hardware reported Q2 revenues of $487.9-million, up 31.4 percent. Net earnings rose by 27.7 percent to $77.9-million, or $0.83 per diluted share. Canadian sales grew 17.3 percent to $292.3-million. Sales to Canadian retailers reached $55-million, up $9.3-million or 20.4 percent from the comparable period of 2021.

Oldcastle APG, an outdoor living and building materials manufacturer based in Atlanta, has acquired Barrette Outdoor Living. Founded in 1975, Ohio-based Barrette has 14 locations in the U.S. Its fulfilment needs are served by a warehouse just outside Granby, Que., 45 minutes from the Vermont border. Oldcastle’s parent company is CRH plc, based out of Dublin, with operations in countries from Switzerland to the Philippines.

Shares of Resolute Forest Products soared by 58.3 percent recently after the announcement of its pending acquisition by B.C.-based Paper Excellence, The Toronto Star reports. Under the terms of the deal, Paper Excellence’s U.S. business Domtar will purchase the Montreal-based paper and pulp maker for about $2.7-billion. Resolute is itself the product of a merger. Abitibi-Consolidated and South Carolina-based Bowater Inc. formed what was initially known as AbitibiBowater in 2007.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

Investment in building construction edged down 0.2 percent to $20.6-billion in May, StatCan reports. That, however, was largely due to a strike action by Ontario’s unionized construction workers. Excluding Ontario, construction spending rose by 1.1 percent nationally. Likewise, the residential sector edged up by 0.1 percent. Single-family investment slid 2.5 percent, ending a seven-month growth streak.

NOTED

The July edition of our sister publication, Hardlines Dealer News, came out last week. In this issue, we discuss supply chain woes, Home Hardware’s contractor business, and evolving customer habits. Plus, learn how one B.C. retailer is reaching out to local tourists. (Hardlines Dealer News is monthly—and it’s free. Sign up here to subscribe!)

OVERHEARD…

“The new organization makes Peavey leaner and meaner, which is a benefit for the dealers.”
—Dave Simmonds, COO of Peavey Industries, on the recent reorganization at Peavey’s head office to align the Ace Canada banner operations. Peavey holds the licence for the Ace brand in Canada.

The retail home improvement industry came off a second record year of sales growth in 2021.

Blame—or thank—pandemic conditions, which took their toll on so many businesses. Nevertheless, lockdowns encouraged Canadians to spend money on their homes. And so many dealers across Canada posted record sales increases.

But just how big were those gains? According to the 2022 Hardlines Retail Report, the industry grew by a healthy 11.3 percent last year, which followed even bigger growth the preceding year. Over two years, retail sales by hardware and building supply dealers advanced by almost 27 percent. (Editor’s Note: click on the link above to order your own copy of this 188-page, PowerPoint ready, report on the Canadian industry.)

The report, which includes essential intelligence on our industry’s Top 20 retail banners, buying groups, and big box players, calculates that our industry exceeded $58-billion in retail sales in 2021. The 2022 Hardlines Retail Report contains proprietary data available only from Hardlines.

While conditions during the past two fiscal years were not positive for all dealers, the exceptions could often be attributed to local business conditions. On a regional basis, however, every province and territory enjoyed positive gains in their overall sales. The biggest 2021 gains were posted in Alberta (almost 16 percent), followed by Saskatchewan (just over 14 percent).

The Hardlines Retail Report examines the performance of hardware stores, building centres, big boxes, and Canadian Tire stores to identify different trends affecting the industry. With people staying close to home during COVID, the importance of convenience and accessibility became very important. That trend was reflected in the performance of hardware stores—which experienced national growth of some 16 percent.

Big boxes represent the retail format with the largest rate of growth after hardware stores. Large-format retailers saw their collective sales increase by 12 percent last year, slightly ahead of the industry’s average growth rate of 11.3 percent.

(To pre-order you own copy of this exclusive report, click here now.)

Faced with rising rents, especially in urban locations where it flourishes, Lee Valley Tools is working on a smaller-format store. The Ottawa-based retailer, which currently has 18 stores, had to close two of them during COVID. One was in Toronto’s King Street West area, in a building being torn down to make way for a condo.

“Toronto is a challenge for us—and a challenge for all retail,” Lee Valley CEO Robin Lee admits. He told Hardlines that the pandemic temporarily put the brakes on further store openings. But the retailer is now in development phase for new stores—with a new format. He expects the new look to be finalized within the next 12 to 16 months.

Lee Valley will not follow a cookie-cutter approach in its new outlets. “We’re looking at the ability to tailor each store,” Lee says. “We’re working with Ernst & Young to imagine a greenfield retail model.”

And that starts with the size of the new model. They’ll weigh in at between 5,000 to 12,000 square feet, much less than the 20,000-square-foot size of a typical Lee Valley store. “Size will be informed by the design project, and may vary somewhat from community to community,” says Lee.

More importantly, he adds, these locations will provide an interface for customers to order online with the support of store staff, or serve as pickup points for orders made from home. “It’s not necessary to represent the entire product line.”

Canadian Tire marked its 100th birthday by “turning a random residential street in Toronto into a kilometre-long advertisement,” reports The Toronto Star.

Held between June 30 and July 3, the Summer of the Century event saw almost 50 homes on Bastedo Avenue in Toronto’s Danforth east-end neighbourhood transformed. Front yards were decked out with inflatable decorations. Across two blocks, residents got to see everything from garden gnomes to pink flamingoes.

The event, which kicked off with live music, treats, sidewalk chalk art, and giveaways, comes at a time when spending on outdoor (known as out-of-home or “OOH”) advertising has exploded.

“For the last two years, most interactions that companies have had with people have been virtual,” said David Soberman, who teaches marketing at the University of Toronto. “So they’re now wanting to get outside and advertise in the community.”

No permits are required for advertising on private property in Toronto—only the consent of the owners. While bylaws limit the scale of marketing installations, the city’s resources for enforcement are limited, even if a complaint were lodged.

“There are bylaws about how big advertising can be, but the benefit of displays like these is that they’re very temporary and probably take a few hours to put up and take down,” said Soberman. “And the community is evidently on board with it, so the risk isn’t high.”

At the conclusion of the festivities, all street decorations were donated to residents or saved for reuse.

Several Home Hardware dealers in Ontario recently finished a series of contractor events. It was a COVID-era version of Home Hardware’s Pro Road Show, and it was hosted at 10 Home Hardware Building Centres in Ontario last month.

Pre-COVID, Home Hardware had traditionally hosted these contractor events at half a dozen locations across the country. Each one was supported by multiple stores, drawing as many as 1,000 pro customers at a time.

As conditions under COVID have eased, Home Hardware tried out a modified version this year, using individual stores as the hosts for their respective contractor customers. For example, the one held at the Home Hardware Building Centre store in Picton, Ont., was held right in the dealer’s lumberyard.

“In the past, our Pro Shows have been hosted in Peterborough every two years,” says Busscher, “and generally we take two to three busloads of our pro customers.” But this year, Busccher’s hometown event grew to 200 pros who perused booths and watched demos from 19 vendors.

Brian Crouch is retiring from his position as sales director at Spectrum Brands, after nearly 25 years of service to the Weiser and Pfister brands. Crouch has been a key figure of the locks and faucet industries during a career that took him to Kwikset and Black & Decker before he joined Spectrum’s hardware and home improvement business. At the same time, Spectrum Brands is promoting AJ Bayne to the role of national sales manager, traditional retail.

DID YOU KNOW…?

… that you can now buy tickets for the next Hardlines Conference? That’s right, registration is now available online for the 26th annual Conference, being held Oct. 18 and 19 at the Queen’s Landing Hotel in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont. Sign up now as tickets are limited for this year’s event.

Les Entreprises P. Bonhomme, an ILDC dealer in the Ottawa and Gatineau market, earlier this year divested itself of two stores in Quebec. Located in Papineauville and Buckingham, the businesses were acquired by Claude Bélec and Chantal Veilleux, co-owners of RONA Val-des-Monts.

Castle Building Centres Group has resumed its in-person Buying Expos, starting in central Canada. The summer events began in Quebec where Castle hosted a group of members from across the province for two days. That was followed by a three-day buying expo in Ontario at the Deerhurst Resort, where Castle welcomed hundreds of members and staff. Both the Quebec and Ontario events included one-on-one meetings with vendor partners and an extensive product showcase. (Click here to check out a video of event highlights.)

A fire of unknown origin in Palmarolle, Que., has destroyed a hardware store and an adjacent block of apartments. The blaze broke out late last Monday afternoon at Quincaillerie Palmarolle TIMBER MART and was subdued a few hours later. There were no injuries. Store owners Cindy Caron and Raphaël D’Amours are past winners of our Outstanding Retailer Awards, being named Young Retailers of the Year in 2016.

Lee Valley Tools held its first Plant Swap event at its Vaughan, Ont., location. It was hosted by Cheryl Li of The Modern Monstera. The Modern Monstera offers a variety of services, from plant styling consultations to plant rehab and DIY workshops, including tutorials on Lee Valley’s livestreams.

Century Home Hardware in 100 Mile House, B.C., held a grand opening last week, but with a twist. Along with special pricing on a variety of products, the celebration featured some unconventional inventory. The store has also expanded its offering with an M&M Food Market Express section. M&M has been growing its footprint in partner stores. The Express format allows retailers to carry a curated selection of frozen meals.

Canadian Tire is holding a Summer of the Century contest throughout July. Customers shopping with the Triangle Rewards program are entered to win prizes valued up to $1,000 in Canadian Tire money, offered daily. In addition, each purchase is eligible for one of 10 grand prizes of $10,000 in CT money.

SUPPLIER NEWS

Montreal-based Resolute Forest Products is set to be acquired by British Columbia’s Paper Excellence, through the latter’s U.S. business unit, Domtar. Paper Excellence will pay $20.50 for each Resolute share in a deal valued at about $2.7-billion, while retaining Resolute’s existing operations and personnel. Paper Excellence finalized the acquisition of Domtar last year, while Resolute was formed in 2007 from the merger of Bowater Inc. and Abitibi Consolidated. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of next year.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

The value of building permits rose 2.3 percent in May to $12.1-billion. The increase was aided by a seven-percent spike in the non-residential sector, to a value of $4.3-billion. Residential permits edged down 0.1 percent to $7.8-billion overall due to declines in multi-family building intentions. For single-family dwellings, the value of permits rose by seven percent. (StatCan)

Investment in U.S. construction fell unexpectedly in May, with single-family building activity slowing down. Spending edged down by 0.8 percent. Investment in private builds was flat, while residential construction spending was up 0.2 percent. (U.S. Commerce Dept.)

OVERHEARD…

“I want to be the best I am at my job. But I also want to be the best mother. And juggling those two things can be difficult.”

—Jillian Sexton, co-owner of Sherwood TIMBER MART in Charlottetown, P.E.I., and winner of Hardlines’ 2021 Young Retailer of the Year Award. She dedicated her award to “the working moms.”

Hardlines has confirmed its speaker lineup for this fall’s 2022 Hardlines Conference (Queen’s Landing, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont.). This special roster of presenters is guaranteed to deliver two days of hard-hitting insights and ideas. Today and for the rest of this week, Hardlines subscribers can at last book their tickets.

If you are a Hardlines subscriber (dealers/retailers qualify for special pricing by using case sensitive coupon code DEALER2022), get front-of-the-line access to registration by clicking here now. Starting next week, remaining Hardlines Conference tickets will be released to the rest of the industry.

The top executive from Lowe’s Canada will headline this year’s conference. As president, Tony Cioffi oversees a network of stores in a range of formats that is unique in the world. Cioffi joined Lowe’s Canada in September 2016 as senior vice president, finance, and two years later was promoted to executive vice president. He then served as interim president of Lowe’s Canada before being named senior vice-president, stores, a position he held until his appointment to the top job in January 2022.

The Hardlines Conference will take delegates from the executive suite to the front lines. Rob and Joanne Lawrie are a dynamic husband-and-wife team behind seven Home Hardware, Home Hardware Building Centre, and Home Furniture stores in southwestern Nova Scotia. From its beginnings in 1982 when Rob’s parents founded a store in Annapolis Royal, N.S., The Lawrie Group has grown into one of the most innovative and inspired home improvement groups in Atlantic Canada—not to mention an Outstanding Retailer Award winner in 2021.

Hardlines speakers will also include Dan Tratensek, COO and publisher with the North American Hardware and Paint Association (NHPA). Tratensek will do a deep dive into the growing importance of e-commerce and how independent dealers need to understand the huge opportunity that it presents.

Don’t miss the 26th annual Hardlines Conference on Oct. 17 and 18 in Niagara-on-the-Lake, just 80 minutes from downtown Toronto. (Attendance is strictly limited. Book your tickets today by clicking here!)

Hardlines announces Whistler, B.C., location for 2023 Conference

The Hardlines Conference will move away from the Greater Toronto Area for the first time in its history beginning in 2023. Next year, the conference will be held in Whistler, B.C.

The fresh location is the first step in moving the Hardlines Conference to a different destination around the country from year to year, to better serve our industry on a truly national basis. And locating it at the Chateau Whistler, a premier Fairmont hotel, will ensure it is another first-class event. It will be held Oct. 17 and 18, 2023.

“As Canada’s only truly national event for the retail hardware and home improvement industry, we felt it was important to make the Hardlines Conference as accessible as possible to all Canadians on an ongoing basis,” said David Chestnut, vice president and publisher at Hardlines Inc.

“We plan to provide an improved venue by holding the Conference in the Chateau Whistler,” Chestnut said. “And the calibre of speakers will likewise be top-notch. We intend to bring to Whistler some of retail’s top international experts.”

The 2023 Hardlines Conference will be the 27th edition of the one-of-a-kind annual event, which is a key gathering point for top retail executives, leading dealers, major vendors, and of course a prestigious roster of Canadian and international presenters.

Hardlines is working with British Columbia’s Building Supply Industry Association (BSIABC) in presenting the Whistler event. BSIABC president Thomas Foreman said he and his team are looking forward to working with Hardlines to ensure next year’s conference will be superb. “It will bring a fresh perspective for Conference delegates,” said Foreman. “And it will be a huge opportunity for our members to participate locally.”

“The Hardlines Conference is simply the best information event I attend every year,” said Foreman. “It offers more information than any other event we attend. To have this now available right on our doorstep in British Columbia is very exciting. I believe it will be a really positive move for all of us. We’ll be working closely with our friends at Hardlines for our members to participate in a positive way.”

The 2022 Hardlines Conference will be held again this later year at the Queen’s Landing Hotel in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., October 18 and 19. “We have had tremendous success at the Queen’s Landing in recent years,” says Chestnut. “Niagara-on-the-Lake is one of Canada’s most prestigious tourist destinations. Moving to the mountains of Whistler in 2023 is going from strength to strength, as far as impressive surroundings is concerned.”

Lee Valley Tools’ new stores will tie in closely with digital sales

One retail company that’s had a strong online presence well before COVID hit is Lee Valley Tools. The national specialty tool, gift, and seasonal products retailer has just 18 stores, but its reach online in both Canada and the U.S. is significant.

CEO Robin Lee says rising rents forced the company to shutter two stores, including one in Toronto’s pricey downtown west area, over the past two years. Still, as the world comes out of COVID, Lee Valley Tools is gearing up to open yet more stores. “We’re excited to get back on track with new stores,” he said.

These new Lee Valley stores will be built with a difference, Lee adds. They will accommodate the important digital side of the business. “Every one has to be a shipping centre as well.”

Lee uses terms like “zone skipping” and “flex labour” as he explains what the new stores will look like. But the stakes are high: as service levels keep rising (for example, Walmart Canada is launching a pilot program to deliver groceries and home goods to customers in 30 minutes) along with shipping costs, the challenge is always to figure out how to compete against the likes of Amazon.

Lee Valley will use a shipping network model, which means a single product can be taken off a store shelf and shipped cost-effectively. “It offers an improved service level for customers while at the same time it can balance the workload in-store when traffic is slow. It’s allowed us to really leverage our labour efficiency inside the stores.”

Another important advantage of the new system, says Lee, is that it will allow Lee Valley to find store locations that aren’t just based on street traffic.

Lowe’s Canada is in a unique position when it comes to e-commerce in Canada. Customers have at least three options for buying online from Lowe’s in this country: the Lowe’s site supporting some 70 Lowe’s big boxes in Canada; the RONA site, supporting more than 210 independent RONA dealers as well as close to 150 corporate-owned RONA stores; and the Réno-Dépôt site supporting 20 corporate stores.

Hardlines asked Michel Bernier, Lowe’s Canada’s senior director, sales and dealer services, about how the company’s e-commerce strategies have changed since the pandemic began.

“True expertise is the product,” Bernier replied. “It’s about the service, not just the product and the price. During the pandemic, we introduced online tools like our colour selector, which is easy to use … and also our deck design tool.”

“Customers are often building a project,” not just ordering individual SKUs, Bernier said. Lowe’s recognizes that customers needing expertise want to have a discussion online,  too.

Retail consultant Bill Morrison says that an important part of all smart retailers’ online strategies is to have exclusive or control brands that can protect them from direct price comparisons with the Amazons of the world.

Lowe’s Canada’s Bernier told Hardlinesthat his company’s control brands such as Ego, Craftsman, Kobalt, and Eklipse Cabinets have all been very important to growing his company’s online sales.

When the world began to lock down in March 2020, Lowe’s and RONA were already reasonably well prepared, he explained. “RONA was already in a favourable position because we had made significant investments in online.”

(Excerpted from a feature article on e-commerce in the forthcoming issue of our companion publication, Hardlines Home Improvement Quarterly. HHIQ is being mailed out to 11,000 dealers and store managers across Canada in early July. If you want your own subscription to HHIQ—it’s free to stores—click here now!)

Mike Tzimas will become president of Barrie, Ont.-based barbecue maker Napoleon, effective July 11. He joined Napoleon in January 2020 as vice president of finance and was promoted to CFO a year later. He succeeds Ron McArthur, who previously announced his intention to retire at the end of 2022. Prior to joining Napoleon, Tzimas held senior finance and manufacturing roles within the auto industry. He will report to Napoleon’s co-CEOs Chris Schroeter and Stephen Schroeter.

DID YOU KNOW…?

… that Hardlines subscribers can now buy tickets for the next Hardlines Conference? That’s right, online registration is now available exclusively for our faithful Hardlines subscribers. Sign up now before tickets go on sale to the wider industry by clicking here!

Pemberton Valley Building Centre in Pemberton, B.C., is the newest dealer to join TIMBER MART. Founded more than 20 years ago, the business has 36 staff across two properties. These include a 7,200-square-foot retail space in Pemberton and a four-acre lumber yard with a 24,000-square-foot storage unit for building materials a few kilometres away. By the fall of 2024, the owners, Garth and Valerie Phare, Blair Gourlay, Deborah Phare, and Jeff Clarke, plan to open a new 20,000-square-foot store that will combine hardware and building materials in one location.

IKEA Canada has a new marketing campaign ahead of Quebec’s July 1 Moving Day. It plays on French expletives and fictitious versions of the retailer’s distinctive Swedish product names. The day when most leases in the province end is famously fraught with headaches for tenants and movers alike. The new ads, developed with agency Rethink, pay homage to those challenges with taglines such as Les enfants ont cassé toute la KALAS de vaisselle (“the kids have broken all the ******* dishes”).

Gypsum Management & Supply reported Q4 adjusted earnings of $2.09 per share. Net sales were up 38.2 percent on a year-over-year basis, rising to $1.29 billion as compared with a projected $1.27 billion. The company has been expanding its product offerings in its Canadian outlets, adding lines such as tools and fasteners, exterior envelope, and roofing.

SUPPLIER NEWS

Attendance returned to pre-pandemic levels at this year’s spoga+gafa event. The world’s largest garden trade show was held in Cologne, Germany, earlier this month, a shift from its usual fall date. Foreign participants made up 67 percent of those attending, up from 65 percent in 2019. Next year’s event will be held June 18 to 20 in Cologne, on the heels of the Global DIY Summit, which takes place in Berlin from June 14 to 16.

Intertape Polymer Group’s pending acquisition by Clearlake Capital Group has been approved under foreign investment regulations. As first announced in March, the California-based investment firm offered $40.50 per share to take IPG private.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

The inflation rate between May 2021 and May 2022 grew at its fastest in 40 years. Higher gasoline costs helped drive the rate of inflation to 7.7 percent in May. Because of the steepness of the increase, it’s now expected that the Bank of Canada will raise the benchmark interest rate by a 0.75 ppt in July. (StatCan)

NOTED

Overall holiday spending is expected to rise 31 percent in 2021, and up eight percent since 2019, with Canadians looking to shop, celebrate, and spoil friends and family, (Deloitte Canada: 2021 Holiday Retail Outlook)

OVERHEARD

“Retail prices should drop. Absolutely. It does take about three to four months for wholesale prices to feed through to retail pricing. So, I would think sometime fairly soon over the next month or two, we should start to see lower prices at the hardware store as well. From a retail perspective, it could be August.”
—Paul Jannke of Forest Economic Advisors, quoted in DrydenNow. Lumber analysts are expecting the pricing bubble to burst this summer, possibly reducing costs by as much as 50 percent.

The speaker lineup for the 26th annual Hardlines Conference has been finalized. It represents some of the brightest lights in retail—and starting next week, exclusive to Hardlines subscribers.

This year’s conference will be held at the Queen’s Landing Hotel, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., Oct. 18 and 19. It will introduce the Hardlines audience to speakers and ideas that will help them improve their own businesses and provide insights into how to grow.

The new lead merchant for one of Quebec’s leading retail groups is the latest retail executive that we’ve confirmed to take to the podium this fall. Charles Grégoire-Béliveau was recently appointed vice president, merchandising, for BMR Group, where he oversees all activities related to the merchandising and commercialization of the group’s products.

What is driving the growth of Sexton Group? What is the continued appeal of buying groups in this industry that is helping them attract new members, often from outside the traditional building centre model? What does the world look like for dealers as we come out of COVID? Eric Palmer, vice president and general manager of the group, will share how Sexton Group has found a sweet spot with independents across the country that enabled it to grow by a whopping 36 percent in 2021.

What has retail learned through COVID and what learnings and best practices do we need to maintain or expand on? What can we learn from other retail sectors moving ahead? Considered one of the world’s leading retail and consumer futurists, Doug Stephens will challenge delegates to consider these questions carefully. In a high-touch retail environment like home improvement, the in-store experience will remain important alongside digital and both should be integral parts of how any dealer goes to market.

Other speakers include Lowe’s Canada president Tony Cioffi and Dan Tratensek, COO of the NHPA.

The 26th Hardlines Conference will be held Oct. 18 and 19 at the Queen’s Landing Hotel in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont. It will also be webcast virtually to delegates across the country. Hardlines subscribers who want to ensure their attendance can mark their calendars for next week to get front-of-the-line access, before tickets go on sale to the general industry. Dealers and their staff get a 30 percent discount off the in-person ticket price.

(To see the full list of speakers, please click here!)

Home Hardware’s new warehouse management system is up and running

Home Hardware Stores serves almost 1,100 dealers of all sizes, in every part of Canada. Their trucks are a familiar sight on Canadian highways. What is the engine that drives the product delivery system and keeps those trucks rolling and those store shelves filled?

Hardlines had the opportunity last week to get a first-hand look at Home Hardware’s distribution system. The company has three distribution centres, in Debert, N.S.; in Wetaskiwin, Alta.; and at its head office in St. Jacobs, Ont. That’s where we went behind the scenes to see the technologies that make up Home Hardware’s new warehouse management system.

Our guide was John Dyksterhuis, the company’s chief supply chain officer. Dyksterhuis was well known for many years as a buyer at Home Hardware, but he actually got his start with the company in distribution 36 years ago.

Inside the distribution centre, Dyksterhuis explained that Home Hardware has just finished installing and refining a warehouse management system that replaces its own Oracle system, a platform which dated back to 1990. The need for upgrades was identified in 2012, with implementation beginning two years later in the Debert DC. Home Hardware chose a system this time by Manhattan. Wetaskiwin followed, with St. Jacobs, Home’s largest DC, saved for last.

Dysksterhuis says some additional automation has been added to the St. Jacobs system, further enhancing the ability to manage supply chain and product flow. “With the automation comes the accuracy of the picking process,” he says.

The St. Jacobs DC processes orders for 130 stores on average per day, with three shifts operating daily, and two 12-hour shifts on weekends. Together, all three facilities fulfill 1,300 orders nationally per week.

Over the past two years, many Home Hardware dealers saw their delivery schedule curtailed. Deliveries that used to arrive twice a week were reduced to once a week. Dyksterhuis says this was not due to supply chain issues related to COVID. It was due to the limitations on the WMS as it was changed over to the Manhattan system.

“We’ve started to re-implement twice-a-week deliveries and we’re in phase one of that.” Stores that serve cottage markets have been among the first stores to return to full service, as they are heavily reliant on the summer business that is happening now.

Home Hardware says it’s operating at 95 percent capacity now and expects to be at full capacity by September.

BMR pulls the plug on La Shop, its urban store format in Montreal

BMR Group has closed its two La Shop locations on the island of Montreal. The smaller-format urban concept was designed to offer a more curated selection to condo dwellers in up-and-coming neighbourhoods. Hardlines was there in 2018 when BMR launched the banner’s inaugural store in Montreal’s Griffintown neighbourhood. A second location opened in the nearby town of Mount Royal, northwest of downtown Montreal, the following year.

In an email to Hardlines, Kaven Delarosbil, BMR’s director of communications and events, explained that circumstances have changed considerably since then. “The COVID-19 pandemic that has been raging since March 2020, the major repair work on Peel Street, and the construction of the Réseau express métropolitain [rapid transit system] near one of our stores have had a considerable financial impact on the operations of our two locations,” he wrote. “Conditions that were considered highly favourable in 2018 have unfortunately since dissipated.”

Delarosbil added that all affected staff members were given the opportunity to transfer their employment to other BMR locations. For their part, customers have the option of shopping at other local BMR stores or ordering online for home delivery or in-store pick-up.

The announcement comes at a time of significant challenges for urban retailers, who face mounting costs to maintain their square footage even as city centres densify with an influx of potential customers. Competition has also grown: the same year BMR opened the second La Shop location, IKEA and Walmart both announced concepts for urban proximity stores.

A new report indicates that the appetite for home improvements among Canadians remains strong. The 2022 Homestars Reno Report provides details of how Canadians have spent on renovations in their home.

HomeStars is an online marketplace connecting homeowners with home service providers. The survey was done with pollster Angus Reid.

Despite current economic conditions that include a hot national real estate market, inflation, and overall economic uncertainty, the survey revealed that, now more than ever, Canadian homeowners on average have been investing more of their cash on hand into home renovations. The report further indicates that this trend is expected to increase over the next 12 months.

Here are some highlights from the report:

• In the past 12 months consumers spent about $13,000 on average on renovations, up from up from $8,260. In the coming year, homeowners who plan to upgrade their spaces said they’ll spend nearly double that, or an average of $25,222.
• Forty-one percent of homeowners said they postponed planned renovations this past year due to high building materials costs, up from 35 per cent in 2021.
• Amongst those who have completed outdoor renovations or improvements in the last 12 months, the average spend was about $6,600, an increase of nearly $2,000 from last year.

Meanwhile, the trend to DIY remains strong. When it comes to completing renovations, just over half surveyed said they attempt to complete some renovations themselves to reduce costs. Homeowners in Atlantic Canada and Alberta are most likely to be willing to complete their own renovations.

Judy Palmer will retire from her position as director of sales and marketing for Cathelle,  effective June 30th. She spent 10 years with the Montreal-based electrical and plumbing supplier, but her career covers a range of specialties in the hardware and home improvement industry. She got her start as a buyer at Beaver Lumber, then moved to hardware wholesaler D.H. Howden as a marketing manager and buyer. Before joining Cathelle, Palmer worked for a number of retail POS providers, including Epicor and Dimensions. Alex Spillane, who has been part of the sales and marketing team for the past four years, has been promoted to take over Palmer’s role.

At Lixil Canada, Cosimo Coffa has been named general manager, trade sales and marketing, responsible for the American Standard, DXV, and GROHE brands. Marlon Thompson is now VP, marketing for Canada. He is responsible for the Canadian integrated marketing team of product, channel, digital, and pricing. He joined Lixil in 2019.

Goodfellow Inc. has appointed Robert Hall as its chair. He is a prominent Quebec lawyer and is also currently chair of the board of Bishop’s University. Hall replaces Douglas Goodfellow.

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The RONA Outaouais store in Buckingham, Que., held a grand opening ceremony following renovations to the 18,000-square-foot location. Owners Chantal Veilleux and Claude Bélec welcomed local dignitaries and managers from the RONA Dealer Support team to the board cutting. RONA Outaouais began in 2012 with the Val-des-Monts Building Centre. Veilleux and Bélec expanded to Buckingham and Papineauville earlier this year.

Schell Lumber Home Building Centre is marking 100 years of serving the Stouffville, Ont., community. The store was founded in 1922 by Wes Schell as Stouffville Planing Mill and is currently owned by fourth-generation dealer-owner Kyle Schell and his uncle, Steve Schell. Steve has been involved with the store for almost 50 years and previously co-owned the store with Ron Schell, who died this spring.

Ace Le Centre du Bricoleur in Saint-David-de-Falardeau, Que., has a new owner. Jessy Gauthier has more than 30 years of experience in the hardware industry. Through Ace’s partnership with Sexton Group for building materials supply, Gauthier will also be a member of that group.

Wiener’s Home Hardware, a downtown Toronto hardware store, is celebrating 100 years of serving the city’s Annex community. The Wiener family started the business in 1922 and joined Home Hardware when it was founded in 1964. Currently owned by Marty Wiener, the business will eventually move to the family’s third generation as Marty’s daughter Melanie prepares to move into the role of dealer-owner.

Wolseley Canada recently celebrated the grand opening of its newest branch in Vernon, B.C. The 12,000-square-foot facility offers the full assortment of Wolseley Canada’s plumbing and HVAC products.

SUPPLIER NEWS

The Recycling Council of British Columbia presented the 2022 RCBC Environmental Awards this month. The award for the private sector, which honours “businesses with outstanding initiatives to preserve and protect our environment,” went to EAB (Exchange-A-Blade). EAB has been recycling used power tool accessories such as blades for over 40 years. It also favours paper-based packaging and maintains a dedicated fleet of 29 hybrid and electric vehicles for its sales teams.

Liz Kovach, president of the Western Retail Lumber Association was in Ottawa recently for a series of meetings with the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. She also took part in direct meetings with the Canadian Real Estate Association and three MPs. The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, where the WRLA participated, had several meetings with officials including infrastructure minister Dominic LeBlanc and Conservative transport critic Melissa Lantsman.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

Retail sales increased 0.9 percent to $60.7-billion in April. Sales were up in six of 11 subsectors, led by higher sales at general merchandise stores. The largest decline to retail sales came from building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers. The 4.3 percent decrease was the first in four months. (StatCan)

U.S. housing starts and building permits both fell by more than expected in May. Residential starts declined by 14.4 percent to an annualized pace of 1.55 million, their lowest level in more than a year. Building permits for May were down by seven percent. (U.S. Commerce Dept.)

NOTED

The Building Supply Industry Association of B.C. is teaming up with HR and health and safety specialist Peninsula Canada. You can read some of Peninsula’s advice in our monthly Hardlines HR Advisor newsletter. (If you’re not already receiving this incredible HR newsletter, click here to sign up for free!)

OVERHEARD

"Sexton Group is very excited to embark on this new relationship with Mr. Gauthier. With his experience and entrepreneurial mindset, Le Centre du Bricoleur is sure to see a smooth transition into his ownership.”
—Eric Palmer, vice president and general manager of Sexton Group, welcoming Jessy Gauthier, the new owner of an Ace store which is also a member of Sexton.

Lowe’s Canada will roll out two dedicated brands in its stores over the next few months. The Flex and Kobalt tool brands are already in Lowe’s U.S. stores.

Flex is a power tool line for contractors and pros. The Flex line first arrived in Lowe’s stores in the U.S. just over a year ago as part of the retailer’s strategy to strengthen its connection with contractors. It’s produced by Chervon, a global tool manufacturer, which also manufactures Kobalt’s cordless power tool lines for Lowe’s.

The new lines are already available online, but they’ll be gradually introduced to stores beginning with Réno-Dépôt, which will get an expanded selection in time for Father’s Day. Lowe’s stores will get the lines in the fall.

“These two brands are real game changers for DIYers and contractors nationwide,” said Chris West, SVP merchandising at Lowe’s Canada, “thanks to products that set new standards in the market in their respective categories and offer more value to our customers.”

For the pro customer, Flex cordless tools boast fast charging times, long runtimes, and more power. Lowe’s, RONA, and Réno-Dépôt customers currently have access to some 30 Flex products, but this range is expected to grow later in the year with a second wave of products that feature lithium batteries.

“The addition of this brand is exciting news for our professional customers,” said Jeff Oben, senior director, pro sales – in store, at Lowe’s Canada. “Things move fast on a job site, so it’s essential for contractors to have reliable, high-performance tools that allow them to do more work, more efficiently. And that’s exactly what the Flex assortment offers.”

The Kobalt brand is a private label line of power tools designed for DIYers. It consists of a wide selection of cordless tools and outdoor power equipment for the retail market. The cordless tool assortment features more than 70 products in 24 and 40 volts. Kobalt also offers corded power tools, hand tools, and storage products.

Global DIY Summit: expect a new consumer mindset, more project sales

Expect the supply chain to remain in disarray for at least another eight months. Nor will inflation go away any time before that, though it will likely start to ease into 2023.

These were just some of the insights shared at the eighth Global DIY Summit, held earlier this month in Copenhagen, Denmark. The event drew 900 people from 55 countries, including retail leaders from 250 hardware and home improvement companies worldwide. Hardlines was there, and we met retail executives from Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Australia, Germany, Japan, Britain, and the U.S.

The first day kicked off with an emphasis on the importance of sustainability in this industry, the quickened rate of change due to staggering worldwide inflation, the war in Ukraine, and disruptions in the supply chain.

Against that backdrop of world events, Mark Herbek, executive director, home improvement at the Cleveland Research Co., noted that home improvement retail was up 35 percent in the U.S. over two years under COVID (comparable to growth in Canada, according to Hardlines).

Out-of-stocks continue to run as high as 25 percent and this will extend the home improvement cycle as people push out projects until product is available. “But more dollars will be chasing fewer products and this is resulting in staggering inflation.”

While online sales continue to stay healthy, in-store traffic has flattened compared with pre-COVID rates. “We are past the peak in the U.S. We are now seeing a declining environment.” Herbek said that it has taken from 10 to 17 months historically for this cycle to recover.

Herbek believes that pent-up demand will keep home improvement stronger than other retail for the near future. But he pointed out some things to watch for. Expect permanent lifestyle changes among consumers: 13 percent of people surveyed by Cleveland Research say they’re not going back to pre-COVID activity.

And expect continued pent demand to drive in-store traffic. Half of consumers said they want to get going on projects that they’ve intended to do even before the pandemic, not because of COVID. So dealers should expect to sell more big projects.

Why your brand has to stand for something that’s important to consumers

One thing a roomful of retail leaders was looking for from the recent Global DIY Summit, held recently in Copenhagen, Denmark, was some direction on the way back to a normal world following the devastation of COVID. But one presenter did not have encouraging news.

“If you’re looking to settle into the new normal, there’s no normal to return to,” said Ken Hughes, a consumer and shopper behaviour specialist and customer experience strategist.

Succeeding in retail will always require retailers to understand their customers. But Hughes went even further. “You have to get inside the head of today’s consumer.” And with all the talk these days of being agile in business, he said resilience represents true agility now.

But he added another factor to the mix of evolving one’s business: “innovation must find ways to have fun” while attempting to confront and manage the forces of change.

“The metaverse is coming, but we’re not too sure how it will work. It’s coming, and we’ll all be immersed in it, but don’t know how it will work.” And it will grow, he predicts, to be worth several billion dollars.

Hughes talked about the “blue-dot consumer,” someone who stands in the middle of a virtual map of services and products, which will all now come to that individual. “We even have restaurants coming to us,” he noted. “Everything has circled around the customer.”

Through all that the digital, virtual world embodies, it will remain crucial to maintain the capacity for connecting with other people. For retailers, the idea of the “customer lifetime model” is still strictly transactional, which is no longer enough. The connection has to be deeper; it has to be real. “We need to get to that place with our customers. We need to give them some reason to connect with us as a brand.”

This requires a company to “know what you stand for and why the customer should be involved with you at all,” he said.

“It takes vulnerability and courage.”

A new retail strategy called “Concept Connect” is in the works at Canadian Tire, with plans to roll it out by the end of 2025. The program involves getting more sales space out of its stores.

“We’re looking to expand our square footage by 10 percent in the network, and we’ll be able to enhance over 50 percent of the square footage in the network,” said TJ Flood, president of Canadian Tire Retail, during a call to analysts following the release of its first-quarter results.

The project involves over $1-billion of the $3.4-billion Canadian Tire announced in March it plans to invest over the next four years to expand its digital reach and drive long-term growth.

The rollout of the new Concept Connect store format involves about 225 Canadian Tire stores. “And we’re making great progress,” Flood continued. One group of stores has already been launched, while another group will be launched during September and October.

“We’ve already opened five of them in the spring, including markets like Hamilton and Montreal. And we’re excited that we’re on track to launch two of what we’re describing as remarkable, retail versions of Concept Connect, which offer a little bit larger and augmented brand experience to showcase the best of what we have to offer.”

The Concept Connect format is being rolled out at the same time that Canadian Tire is introducing a new, large-format store called “Remarkable Retail.” This footprint exceeds 100,000 square feet, with openings already in Ottawa and Welland, Ont., and a location in Calgary targeted for 2025.

M-D Canada has appointed Andrew Gladstone as VP of sales, retail channel, effective June 6. He will oversee the management of all sales functions for the retail and consumer segments of the Canadian business. Gladstone joins M-D Canada from Onward Manufacturing, where he most recently served as VP of sales for all customer channels. Prior to that, he worked with MTD Products.

John Herbert, general secretary of the European DIY Retail Association (EDRA) and the Global Home Improvement Network (GHIN), was honoured with the Global DIY-Lifetime Achievement Award at the international associations’ Global DIY Summit, held in Copenhagen, Denmark. Herbert built GHIN to be an umbrella association linking major home improvement retailers worldwide. He is also co-founder and chairman of the Global DIY Summit.

DID YOU KNOW…?

… that the Hardlines podcast series, “What’s in Store,” has become a runaway hit? The latest episode features a conversation with Marianne Thompson, chief merchandising officer at Home Hardware Stores Ltd. To make sure you get access to every podcast as soon as it’s released, sign up here. Hardlines Podcasts are free!

The Atikamekw Council of Wemotaci is the new majority owner of the BMR store in La Tuque, Que. The $1.8-million transaction leaves the prior owner, Pierre Naud Inc., with the remaining 49 percent interest. The band council is the smallest of three in the Atikamekw nation, who are indigenous to central Quebec and speak a variety of Cree. A future second phase of the partnership would see a point of service set up in Wemotaci itself.

Federated Co-operatives Ltd. has named the latest beneficiaries of its Community Spaces program. FCL is investing a combined total of $1 million in 13 community projects across western Canada. This year, these include swimming pool improvements in Bengough, Sask., and a park revitalization in Hornby, B.C.

Canadian Tire Corp. has launched “Forward With Design,” its first in-house activewear brand. The line consists of three collections: Push (described as “elevated activewear”), Free (loungewear), and Friday (“transitional work-leisure”). Forward With Design’s full assortment is available at more than 200 SportChek and Sports Experts locations across Canada.

Giant Tiger Stores will hold the grand opening of a new store in Madawaska Maliseet First Nation, near Edmundston, N.B., on June 25. It’s a 17,800 -square-foot outlet; the retailer’s store count now boasts more than 260 stores.

SUPPLIER NEWS

Kruger Specialty Papers has completed its acquisition of the Domtar pulp mill in Kamloops, B.C. Operations at the facility, which makes softwood kraft pulp, will continue unaffected. The deal will allow Kruger to source high-quality pulp to some of its paper mills.

Gypsum Management & Supply has acquired Construction Supply of Southwest Florida Inc. The company has also opened four new greenfield locations and five new AMES Taping Tools stores. Established in 2002, Construction Supply of Southwest Florida is a distributor of stucco, building, and waterproofing supplies.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

Sales of homes recorded via Canadian MLS systems fell 8.6 percent in May. That followed a larger drop recorded in April. The actual (not seasonally adjusted) number of transactions in May 2022 came in 21.7 percent below the record for that month set last year. (Canadian Real Estate Association)

Investment in building construction increased by 2.7 percent to $20.9-billion in April. Spending on residential construction rose 3.2 percent, a seventh consecutive monthly increase, to $15.7-billion. British Columbia saw the largest gain, up 8.3 percent. Investment in single-family homes increased 4.5 percent to $8.8-billion. (StatCan)

NOTED

Hardlines is now receiving entries for the 2022 Outstanding Retailer Awards. All Canadian hardware and home improvement retailers and managers who have operated under their current ownership for at least two years are eligible. Dealers may submit their entries directly to Hardlines. ORA submissions are due Wednesday, June 22. (To fill out the ORA application, please visit www.oras.ca; or contact our Acting Editor, Steve Payne, for further information. Le formulaire est également disponible en français.)

OVERHEARD

“We don’t have a percentage goal but I can tell you that if we have an opportunity to buy locally instead of from another country of region, we will buy local.”
—Marc-André Bally, senior VP at Costco Canada. He told Le Journal de Montréal that his company is focusing more on sourcing locally.