BMR Group is continuing its focus on expansion in Central and Eastern Canada, while also pushing an emphasis on private label products, its CEO told Hardlines at the group’s annual buying show this month.

“From Ontario east, we want to be everywhere,” Alexandre Lefebvre said at the event, held just days after BMR signed a dealer in the Halifax area. “There will be more to come in the next few weeks.”

Moreover, he boasted, “once again we have not lost a single dealer” during the year.

Lefebvre explained that BMR had just concluded its four-year strategic planning meeting.

“We’ve identified our three different business areas: retail, pro, commercial,” he added.

“In the pro market, we’re a definite number-one and we want to consolidate that position.”

To that end, the company joined the European-based A.R.E.N.A. Alliance last year, combining strengths with international partners. (Here in Canada, Kent Building Supplies also signed on to the alliance this year.) Similarly, private-label offerings are a big part of BMR’s strategy.

“We’re launching 600 new private-label products this year and 800 more next year,” said Lefebvre.

He points to the co-operative ownership model as another aspect that sets it apart. “That’s huge–our owners are BMR dealers.”

Another distinctive asset is BMR’s Agrizone business. This banner caters to farm, rural, and pet markets with a related line of products.

“That’s something that makes us a bit unique–once you get out of those big urban areas, you need that offering. It’s part of our DNA.” Dealers typically offer Agrizone as a store-within-a-store, he explained, but a handful of standalone Agrizone retailers also exist.

For Lefebvre, the affiliation with A.R.E.N.A., the push for growth outside BMR’s home province, and its outreach to pro customers all serve to grow the company’s overall footprint in the years to come.

“We want to bring our business by 2028 from $1.5 billion to $2 billion.”

Did you know that:

• the retail home improvement industry suffered a net loss in sales for only the second time in 10 years in 2023?
• four retail groups account for almost two-thirds of all retail hardware and home improvement sales in Canada?
• one province represents one-fifth of the market in this country? (And that’s not even the largest one!)
• just two retail banners represent more than half the market in New Brunswick?
• Home Depot has twice as much market share in British Columbia as it does in Saskatchewan?

This is the kind of information you’ll find in Hardlines’ annual Retail Report and Market Share Report. Both these studies provide data on the size of the industry, how much it’s grown year over year, and which regions are gaining and which are losing ground.

Based on research and surveys conducted in the spring of 2024, it’s all exclusive to Hardlines. This information is proprietary to Hardlines and not available anywhere else.

You’ll also find detailed market share info on each of the retail home improvement banners in Canada. The Retail Report breaks out how the various banners are inter-connected (it’s crazy complicated, actually!—your deep-thinking Editor).

Get the competitive information you need to plan for 2025. Learn the strategies of the key retail players so you can sell smarter to them—or against them. Plus: a closer look at the top trends affecting dealers—and driving the industry—now and in years to come.

(The 2024 Hardlines Retail Report  and the Hardlines Market Share Report are both available. Click here for more info and order details. As a Premium Member you will save big with a bundled discount when you buy both Reports together!)

The charitable arm of The Home Depot Canada has released an update on its achievements raising money and awareness to support at-risk youth and those facing homelessness in Canada.

The Home Depot Canada Foundation announced it’s on track to raise over $11 million by the end of 2024 in support of the organization’s mandate to support youth experiencing homelessness. Doug Graham is vice-president of e-commerce and marketing at Home Depot Canada. He’s also the board chair for the foundation. “Our efforts are focused on supporting this growing yet still under funded issue that affects 35,000 to 40,000 youth in Canada annually,” he said. “We remain committed to this cause and will continue to raise awareness and educate Canadians on the issue, aiming to slow down the cycle and provide the necessary support to youth and families.”

This year, the foundation has seen momentum in fundraising results through the support of partners, internal associates, and communities. Programs like the annual spring Orange Door Project campaign, supported by store staff and customers, as well as events such as the Spring Gala and Charity Golf Classic, backed by the retailer’s vendor partners, managed to bring the organization closer to its goal of raising $125 million by 2030.

The Home Depot Canada Foundation has aligned its Team Depot volunteer program to support organizations dedicated to preventing and addressing this critical problem. Through an internal group called Team Depot, store staff participate in community projects to refresh and repair shelters, housing units, and centres for vulnerable youth. In collaboration with customers and associates, The Home Depot Canada Foundation invests over $10 million annually in 186 youth-serving charities across Canada.

Through to Dec. 22, Home Depot customers can donate to The Orange Door Project Campaign, which supports local youth-serving charities across the country. And for the first time, The Home Depot Canada Foundation will match total donations made on Giving Tuesday, Dec. 3.

As part of the campaign, the foundation has partnered for the fourth year with another national organization, Raising the Roof, to combat youth homelessness through sales of its signature toques. Funds raised will provide community grants to renovate affordable housing units for at-risk youth. Donations can be made at any Home Depot Canada store or online at OrangeDoorProject.ca.

Consumers were slow to dig into their pocketbooks in the last quarter, a trend which has affected Canadian Tire Corp.’s latest results. Consumer confidence was at “the lowest we’ve seen in a long while, said CEO Greg Hicks. “Although we’ve experienced multiple interest rate cuts this year, consumers remain understandably cautious.”

On an earnings call to analysts, Hicks noted, however, that the company was ready for the slowdown. “Our supply chain and in-stock positions are strong,” with capital investments made in automation at its Calgary and Montreal distribution centres. In addition, Canadian Tire continues to make investments in low prices and product innovation.

The company reported net income of $200.6 million in its latest quarter, reversing a loss of $27.8 million a year earlier. Revenues declined by 1.4 percent to $4.19 billion, while comp sales were 1.5 percent below the comparable period of last year.

Canadian Tire Retail’s sales were down 2.0 percent while comps were down 2.2 percent. Revenue for the namesake banner was down 1.0 percent. Essential lines and discretionary products all fell, even as CTR’s automotive business was up. That business was driven by auto maintenance, which jumped a healthy 7.0 percent, as cash-strapped Canadians spend more on servicing aging vehicles.

DID YOU KNOW…?

The Canadian Home Products Trade Association (CHPTA) will honour two new inductees to the Canadian Hardware & Housewares Industry Hall of Fame this week? Hardlines president Michael McLarney will be recognized alongside industry veteran Bill Morrison, former president of Ace Canada and TruServ Canada. Click here for more information and to register for the Gala Luncheon!

RETAILER NEWS

Home Depot reported Q3 earnings of US$3.65 billion, down from $3.81 billion a year earlier. Sales rose by 6.6 percent to $40.22 billion. Same-store sales fell by 1.3 percent, including a 1.2 percent drop in the U.S.

BMR Group held its annual buying show at Quebec City’s Centre des congrès earlier this month, attracting dealer-members from across Quebec, the Maritimes, and Ontario. This year’s product offerings included 600 new private-label products. The event concluded Nov. 8 with a gala dinner featuring veteran strongman and company spokesman Hugo Girard, who was fresh off presenting at the 28th Hardlines Conference in the Charlevoix region of Quebec.

Canac has begun its largest construction project ever, a 625,000-square-foot building at its Drummondville, Que., distribution facility. The company, which is celebrating its 150th anniversary next year, will invest more than $100 million in the project, expanding the campus’s footprint to about 1.2 million square feet.

Crown Building Supplies, which opened its third location in Burnaby, B.C., in September, has won an award from the local Surrey Board of Trade. At the association’s recent Business Excellence Awards Gala, Crown won in the category of Employer Over 41 People.

Drivers for Walmart’s Surrey, B.C., store have won interim certification from the Canada Industrial Relations Board. The move allows them to form a bargaining committee and work with representatives of Unifor, Canada’s largest private-sector union, to negotiate their first collective agreement with Walmart. The Surrey drivers follow on the success of workers at Walmart’s Mississauga, Ont., warehouse, which in September became the first of the company’s Canadian DCs to unionize.

Matériaux SMB, a member of BMR Group, has acquired Matériaux R. Mclaughlin of Huberdeau, Que. Owned by Alexandre Lapointe, Matériaux SMB operates two stores in the municipalities of La Minerve and Nominingue.

Third-quarter sales at Taiga Building Products amounted to $423.9 million, down from $456.6 million in the comparable period of last year. Sales fell by $32.7 million or 7.0 percent, a decline attributed to a reduction in commodity products sold. Net earnings decreased to $14.3 million from $21.4 million.

Doman Building Materials Group Ltd. reported Q3 revenues of $663.1 million, an increase of 3.0 percent from $643.9 million a year earlier. The gain was attributed to the company’s acquisition of two lumber pressure treating plants from Southeast Forest Products during the quarter. Net earnings for the quarter amounted to $14.6 million.

The Montreal Port Authority (MPA) is sounding the alarm on the severe economic consequences of a prolonged labour disruption at the port. The Port of Montreal has locked out 1,200 longshoremen, amplifying already strained relations between the Maritime Employers Association (MEA) and the Port of Montreal longshore workers’ union CUPE Local 375. Shipping lines are already diverting their vessels to other East Coast ports.

The total value of building permits in Canada increased by $1.3 billion or 11.5 percent to $13.0 billion in September. Gains were led by Ontario, where construction intentions grew by $1.2 billion or 25.0 percent to $5.9 billion. Construction intentions for the residential sector rose by $540.7 million (7.5 percent) to $7.7 billion, with the single-family component up by $35.1 million. (StatCan)

Top buyers representing the breadth of the industry sat down at the recent Hardlines Conference for a panel discussion exploring the trends, challenges, and opportunities home improvement retail is facing over the coming year.

Sherri Amos, Home Hardware Stores Ltd.’s dealer support director, moderated the panel. It consisted of Natacha Laurin, category director for home décor at RONA; Shawn Ettinger, TIMBER MART’s national hardware procurement manager; Alex Burcham, senior category manager at Orgill; Kelvin Johnston, Castle Building Centres Group’s senior buyer for commodity lumber and panels; and Rabia Dhanani, merchandise manager for millwork at Home Hardware.

Among the panel’s observations were the growing importance of loyalty programs and the potential for harnessing the data those programs generate. “Everybody likes getting something back,” Ettinger noted.

But the benefits go both ways: the programs, said Dhanani, allow retailers to “curate a more personalized experience and program” for customers. “With [our] program [Scene+], we’ve actually seen an increase in traffic,” she added. “It gives us a lot of insight into who [customers] are, how they shop, and it gives us the ability to get them back in there.”

The group also discussed the potential–and limitations–of owned brands. “Private-label products give us the ability to grow our profitability and reach in a market,” said Dhanani. “It also lessens the load on some of the national and regional brands we offer. It’s how we differentiate ourselves,” in terms of building materials, she added.

RONA’s Laurin agreed that customers are becoming “more trusting” of private-label brands, but maintained that “national brands are really key to our success,” as well as being key sources of innovation.

Burcham, from Orgill, agreed: “Private label is not going to be the place to take a risk on something. There are people who have done that before and been burned.”

Chicago-based True Value Co. reached an agreement with its lenders on Oct. 31 that will allow it to avert liquidation and hasten bankruptcy proceedings. True Value had declared bankruptcy on Oct. 14 and also announced that it planned a sale to its dealer-owned rival, Do it Best Corp., of Fort Wayne, Ind.

True Value’s legal representative told the courts on Oct. 31 that the company would deliver to the lenders, led by PNC Financial Services, a net pay-down of US$163 million in cash.

“Failure to achieve that net pay-down will give the lenders a right to terminate the DIB sale and commence a liquidation, subject to a liquidation budget that is acceptable to the lenders, the debtors, and the committee,” said attorney Robert D. Drain, of the New York City-based law firm that represents True Value.

He added that True Value would also pay up to US$45 million in administrative expense liabilities.

The “stalking horse bid” from Do it Best Corp., for US$153 million in cash, required approval of the courts to proceed to closing. Do it Best says that the deal, if completed, will create a combined independent dealer network of about 8,000 locations—some 4,500 independent stores from True Value and 3,350 dealer-owned stores from Do it Best.

Reports indicate that the current schedule for the sale is Nov. 22. True Value Corp. is 70 percent owned by Acon Investments, a private equity firm that took it over in 2018.

Bernie Marcus, who with Arthur Blank founded The Home Depot, has died at the age of 95. Marcus and Blank made the most of their dual firing from Handy Dan Home Improvement Centres in California in 1978 when they started the upstart big box retail concept. With others such as Ron Brill, Pat Farrah, and Ken Langone, they grew The Home Depot into the largest home improvement retailer in the world. It currently has some 2,300 stores.

Marcus was born in 1929, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants. He grew up in a tenement in Newark, N.J. He dreamed of becoming a doctor. When his family couldn’t afford medical school, he enrolled in pharmacy school and received a degree from Rutgers University. He would cut classes to sell freezers door to door.

Jim Inglis, who was executive vice-president of strategic development at The Home Depot in its formative years, wrote about Marcus in his bestselling book, Breakthrough Retailing: How a Bleeding Orange Culture Can Change Everything!

“Bernie’s management style was MBWA (Management by Wandering Around), which gave him keen insight into what was going on in the business,” Inglis wrote. “Listening was one of Bernie’s greatest talents… People felt comfortable sharing their true thoughts and feelings because he was never defensive and always appreciative.”

When it came time for a new leader at Home Depot Canada in 1996, after a slow start, Marcus took a chance on a young woman from Cape Breton who had brought Michael’s, the arts and crafts chain, to Canada. He remained a strong supporter of Annette Verschuren during her 15 years as president of the Canadian division. Verschuren, with Marcus’s steadfast support, grew The Home Depot Canada from 19 stores to 179 as annual revenues went from $600 million to $6 billion.

Marcus was a major philanthropist. With his wife Billi, he funded the Georgia Aquarium and established The Marcus Institute, which today is the Marcus Autism Center, a not-for-profit subsidiary of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta that treats more than 5,500 children with autism and related disorders each year.

Marcus’s net worth was about US$11 billion, according to estimates by Forbes.

View The Home Depot’s tribute video to Bernie Marcus here.

Explaining the factors affecting the economy—and your business—is something Peter Norman does with great ease. As vice-president and chief economist at the economic consulting firm Altus Group, Norman is a regular fixture at the annual Hardlines Conference. His presentation at the latest conference, held Oct. 22 and 23 in Quebec’s scenic Charlevoix region, once again provided insight and clarity for Hardlines delegates.

Norman presented a half dozen factors that are affecting Canada’s economy. Demographics was at the top of the list. Immigration over the past five years has netted 1.2 million new Canadians. They impact the economy by adding to the temporary work force, filling the ranks of foreign students, and driving demand for housing. Expect all three to be severely reduced by new government regulations. Norman warned to expect “dramatically lower immigration, more like in the 400,000 to 500,000 range in the next four to five years.”

In terms of housing demand, he expects the next 10 years to see a rise in demand from young and aging millennials who move from rentals to become first-time home buyers, with single family homes having the greatest demand.

Another factor to watch, Norman pointed out, is the direction of interest rates. While the Bank of Canada has been lowering its prime rate since the second half of last year, mortgages have been much slower to follow suit. Nevertheless, they are coming down, though not yet to pre-Covid levels.

As rates stay stubbornly high, housing affordability remains strained, making the purchase of a house a hardship for young people. Housing starts across the country are generally healthy (with the exception of Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and British Columbia), but the national average has been brought down almost single-handedly by the condo market in the Greater Toronto Area, which has stalled. In fact, GTA condo starts had, in the past, clocked in as high as 40,000 units but have fallen to half that, and are forecast to fall as low as 10,000 in 2024.

While this metric has skewed the national average, Norman said, “Housing starts are holding up pretty well, actually.” They remain on track for about 240,000 starts for 2024, “pretty much on track with last year.”

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

At Rockwool, Mike Goyette has been promoted to the role of vice-president, sales, at its ceiling tile division, Rockfon North America. He’s been with Rockwool for 15 years, and as national sales director since 2019. Scott Debenham, currently Rockfon business unit manager in Canada, is being promoted to replace Goyette as director of sales, building insulation, Rockwool Canada. He joined Rockfon in 2013. Both appointments take effect Jan. 1, 2025.

Brandi Switzer has joined Liteline Corp. as regional sales manager, Pacific and Rockies. Switzer brings nearly a decade of experience in the electrical industry working with contractors, distributors, electrical engineers, interior designers, and architects. She will oversee growth across the British Columbia and Alberta markets.

DID YOU KNOW…?

… that the 2024 Hardlines Retail Report is now available? This massive research breaks out the size and growth annually of the industry, identifying which retail sectors and which banners are winning and losing from year to year. Click here for more info and order details—and remember, as a Premium Member (if you are subscribing to this newsletter, you are one!) you will get a big discount on the price—including a bundled discount when you buy its companion research, the Hardlines Market Share Report!

RETAILER NEWS

Dartmouth, N.S.-based LumberMart is the latest dealer to join BMR Group. Effective Nov. 26, the store will be rebranded as LumberMart BMR Pro. In business for over 40 years and now under its third generation of owners, LumberMart is dedicated to garage, shed, deck, kitchen, and fence packages, and commercial and residential building packages. It serves communities ranging from Metro Halifax to Cape Breton, Annapolis Valley, and Nova Scotia’s South Shore.

Canadian Tire Corp. has reported Q3 net income of $200.6 million, reversing a loss of $27.8 million a year earlier. Revenues declined by 1.4 percent to $4.19 billion. Comp sales were 1.5 percent below the comparable period of last year but higher than in Q2. Canadian Tire Retail’s comp sales were down 2.2 percent.

Got Wood Building Supplies, a Castle dealer in Geraldton, Ont., has been acquired by Ne-Daa-Kii-Me-Naan Inc. The First Nation-owned enterprise was established in 2012 by seven member nations to promote sustainable forest management. Got Wood general manager Deanna Hoffman and her team will hold a grand opening event later this month.

RONA has released the timing for its affiliated dealer gathering in the fall of next year. In 2025, RONA Connexia will be held the week of Oct. 14 at the Centre des congrès de Québec (Quebec Convention Centre) in Quebec City. Independent RONA dealers will come together for a few days of presentations and workshops. There will also be another vendor trade show. The event will close with an awards gala.

AD reports that member sales in the first nine months of 2024 increased by 6.0 percent to a record US$61.0 billion across its 14 divisions and three countries. Same-store sales increased by 3.0 percent in total, including 2.0 percent each in the U.S. and Canada in their respective local currencies.

Jeld-Wen Holdings posted third-quarter revenues of US$934.7 million, a 13.2 percent decline from a year earlier. The company’s net loss of $73.0 million, follows earnings of $16.9 million in the previous Q3. “Market conditions continue to deteriorate, which has significantly impacted volume/mix in the near-term,” CEO William J. Christensen said in a release.

Koelnmesse has formed a joint venture with dmg events that will see the German-based trade show organizer expand into Saudi Arabia. The International Hardware Fair Saudi Arabia will take place annually at the Riyadh International Convention & Exhibition Center, with the first edition scheduled for June 16 to 18, 2025.

Western Forest Products reported a net loss of $19.6 million in Q3 of 2024. That was compared with a net loss of $17.4 million a year earlier and a net loss of $5.7 million in the previous quarter. Revenues of $241.7 million were up from $231.1 million in Q3 of 2023 but down from $309.5 million in Q2.

Richard F. Royce died suddenly on Oct. 31 from a heart attack. Royce was a well-known figure in the Canadian building materials industry, in which he spent his entire career. He started out with Canfor before moving to MacMillan Bloedel. His CV also included tenures with Great West Timber, CanWel, Weyerhaeuser, and Jager Industries. He was most recently president of industry consulting firm RFR Resolutions. Royce is survived by his daughter Andrea and son Adam. A celebration of life for Rick will be held at a later date.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

Residential building construction costs increased 0.9 percent in the third quarter, following a 1.0 percent increase in the previous quarter. This marks the slowest quarterly growth since the second quarter of 2020 for residential building construction costs. The biggest growth in residential construction costs was in Calgary, followed by Winnipeg. Non-residential building construction costs rose 0.5 percent. Year over year, construction costs for residential buildings rose 4.0 percent, while non-residential building construction costs increased 3.9 percent. (StatCan)

Ian White has been appointed president and CEO of Home Hardware Stores Ltd. He steps into his new role in St. Jacobs, Ont., on Nov. 18. White replaces Kevin Macnab, who is retiring after helming Home Hardware for the past six years.

White joins the largest dealer-owned home improvement retailer in Canada from Parkland Corp., which is headquartered in Calgary. For the past 10 years, White has held a variety of senior executive roles for the global fuel, convenience store, and food retailer. Most recently, he was president of Parkland Canada, the company’s largest operating division.

Earlier in his career, White spent 18 years at Canadian Tire Corporation, where he filled progressively senior roles.

“Ian White is a career retailer with over 30 years of experience and a proven history of leading high-performing teams to achieve exceptional results,” Home Hardware Stores Ltd. said in a release.

Parkland operates gas stations under the Esso, Ultramar, Chevron, Pioneer, and Fast Gas Plus brands. In 2022, Parkland acquired M&M Food Market, a frozen food retailer, for $332 million. It also holds the rights to the convenience store brand On The Run in Canada and much of the U.S.

“It’s an honour to join Home Hardware, one of Canada’s truly iconic brands,” said White. “Home Hardware is a trusted leader in the home improvement industry and has a strong history of Dealers from coast to coast maintaining deep connections to their local communities. I look forward to working alongside the Home Hardware team and our Dealers to create even greater value for our customers and position the company for the next phase of growth.”

Hardlines’ 28th Annual Conference concluded recently, providing an essential forum for retailers of all banners to meet and share with each other and their suppliers. A range of speakers, including retail experts and industry leaders, took to the podium at the Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu in La Malbaie, Que., Oct. 22 and 23.

Day two began strong with Hugo Girard, World Champion Strongman and Wellness Leader (shown here). Girard described his lifelong dream to be the world’s strongest man and what he did—and continues to do—to achieve his goals. He offered examples of how perseverance revolves around focus, training, initiative, dedication, and determination. Talent alone can only take you so far, he advised.

Having been raised in a building supplier family, Michelle Chouinard-Kenney offered a unique take on business continuity. She described her journey, working for her father’s company before taking the helm as CEO of Gibson Building Supplies. She shared how her company has met the challenges of a dwindling workforce by creating an environment of trust that focuses on building future leaders.

Workplace expert Pierre Battah, who kicked off the conference a day earlier, returned to the Hardlines stage on the second day. This time, he gave a full one-hour workshop on workplace and hiring challenges, expanding on his previous day’s discussions of engagement and retention strategies. Battah went on to explore the role of frontline managers in employee engagement, building psychological safety in the workplace, positive work environments, checking in with employees, and the role of a leader.

Speaking about how the industry can be a positive change-maker, Heléne Loberg, country sustainability manager at IKEA Canada, shared how her company is helping to reduce its environmental impact and increase its social impact. IKEA and its more than 500 stores worldwide have taken this philosophy to heart in both the design and long-term life of products. The company’s goal is to reduce its post-consumer waste through recycling and resell programs.

The final speaking engagement of the day and the conference was a panel discussion led by Sherri Amos, dealer support director at Home Hardware Stores Ltd. Some of the industry’s top buyers joined her on the stage. They looked at today’s buying trends, the impact of the pandemic on consumer behaviour, lumber pricing, loyalty programs, private label products, and market differentiation.

Once again, the insights shared, combined with the opportunity for delegates to network and connect with dealers from across Canada and the U.S., made the Hardlines Conference an excellent learning platform for industry professionals.

The next Hardlines Conference will be held at the Fairmont Banff Springs, Oct. 21 to 22, 2025.

Home Hardware Stores Ltd. has officially introduced a new lineup of small home designs. Named the Secondary Suite Collection, it’s available through Home’s Beaver Homes & Cottages home packages.

With about 30 customizable standard models, some as small as 320 square feet, the new designs have been developed to let homeowners create affordable secondary living spaces, responding to the ongoing housing shortages and affordability challenges facing Canadians. Homes built from the Secondary Suite Collection are designed to provide homeowners with a cost-effective way to expand their living space. That additional space can be used to generate additional rental income, accommodate multi-generational families, or create a backyard office or studio.

The launch was first announced in Hardlines back in March, in an exclusive interview with Laura Baker, chief marketing officer at Home Hardware Stores Ltd. The company’s entry into the tiny homes market reflects a phenomenon that has been drawing attention in both small-town America and in laneways of major centres like Toronto and Vancouver.

“We’re launching access dwelling units in our Beaver Homes and Cottages and the Backyard Package Projects program,” Baker said in the earlier interview. “That’s another big thing that consumers are thinking about with real estate—whether it’s children living at home longer, the need for more secondary spaces in their homes, the idea of creating an Airbnb, or severing real estate to have several real properties on one place.”

This launch aligns with new government measures encouraging the construction of secondary suites, making it easier for Canadians to contribute to the country’s housing stock.

Home Hardware has more than 130 Beaver Homes & Cottages locations across the country offering the new Secondary Suite Collection. “Home Hardware Stores Ltd. is excited to be part of the solution, providing Canadians with material packages that include custom blueprints, simplifying the building process and making it more accessible,” said Keri McMillan, the company’s director of pro and sales marketing.

“These small spaces offer endless opportunities, and our expert team is there to offer expertise every step of the way.”

Seaboard Industrial Supply Company Ltd. in Sydney, N.S.,   is the latest dealer to join TIMBER MART. It’s been serving communities on Cape Breton Island since 1958. Today, the business offers the contractors and commercial builders in the region a wide variety of products including power and hand tools, fasteners, mechanical and power equipment, construction products, work clothing and footwear, maintenance and cleaning supplies, and safety and fire protection.

The company employs about 18 staff year-round who work out of Seaboard TIMBER MART’s 20,000-square-foot building, which encompasses a showroom and warehouse that stocks over 16,000 SKUs.

“We look forward to leveraging the group’s national buying power and vendor relationships to expand our product offerings and growing our business our way,” said Parker Rudderham, owner of Seaboard TIMBER MART, in a release.

According to Kevin Guest, TIMBER MART’s regional director of member services for Atlantic Canada, the company has been adept at adapting to its local market. “Seaboard Industrial, which once catered to the mining and coal industries in Nova Scotia, has evolved to serve the forestry, fishing and building material industry today.”

By joining TIMBER MART, the company has access to tools and services, including vendor programs, to help it keep growing.

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

Castle Building Centres Group has announced the upcoming retirement of Sarina Kaluzny, vice-president of finance, at the end of 2024. Kaluzny has had a long career in finance and accounting, including her 17 years at Castle, since she joined Deloitte in 1979. Last month, Castle appointed Scott Kaluzny as VP of finance.

DID YOU KNOW…?

… that the latest edition of our sister publication, Hardlines HR Advisor, went out last week! This issue has some good news (one major retailer is increasing its sales staff’s wages) and tackles some tough issues (women face a total of $3.3 billion in lost income due to work hours lost to menopause). Hardlines HR Advisor is monthly—and it’s free! Click here to subscribe now!

RETAILER NEWS

Kent Building Supplies has added appliance showrooms in seven more of its stores throughout Atlantic Canada. The company first brought fridges and stoves into select stores in November 2023. The latest locations are in Antigonish and New Minas, N.S.; Sussex, Bathurst, and Woodstock, N.B.; and Clarenville and Grand Falls-Windsor, N.L. Kent now sells heavy appliances in 21 of its 48 stores.

RONA has announced new owners for its bannered store in Portage la Prairie, Man. They are Joel and Josh McPhail, whose experience spans a wide range of industries, including new housing construction, development, and property management. The McPhails plan to open a new garden centre at the 49,000-square-foot store in spring 2025.

BMR Express Esquimau, located in the Montreal neighbourhood of Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, is under new management, operating under the name BMR Express de Marseille. The store, which has been in business for more than 35 years, was acquired by Marc Brouillette and Mario Tremblay, two veterans of the Canadian Armed Forces, following the decision of the former owner, Gilles Lambert, to retire. Lambert will assist with the transition of ownership.

SUPPLIER NEWS

Fogo Island, N.L., may have a population of less than 3,000, but that hasn’t stopped Castle dealer Ryan Holmes from running a successful home improvement business there. The store had been awarded Fogo Island’s Small Business of the Week Award.

RONA Lachine, an affiliate dealer store, has completed a major expansion and renovations. The project, on the west island of Montreal, required an investment of $2 million and consisted of a second warehouse for building materials. In addition, the store, which is owned by the Chartier family, was expanded by 6,500 square feet and 75 items were added to the store’s product assortment. The new warehouse is accessible by vehicle and includes a service counter equipped with a racking system, electronic shelf labels, and lockers for online order pick up.

A recent Wall Street Journal article revealed that The Home Depot is looking to sub-lease four buildings, totalling one million square feet, from its U.S. warehouse network. “The changes come as Home Depot is targeting about $US500 million in cost savings this fiscal year,” the WSJ reported. The newspaper reported that Home Depot was looking to “get rid of space leased during the Covid-19 pandemic…”

Canfor Corp. reported a Q3 operating loss of $559.7 million, compared with an operating loss of $250.8 million in the second quarter of 2024. “This was another extremely challenging quarter for our lumber business,” said Canfor president and chief executive officer, Don Kayne, adding that North American operations continued to face a persistently weak pricing environment. He said these conditions have resulted in unsustainable financial losses from the company’s British Columbia operations.

Retail sales increased 0.4 percent to $66.6 billion in August. Sales were up in four of nine subsectors, led by increases at motor vehicle and parts dealers. Sales in LBM and garden categories fell by 0.5 percent. Seven provinces saw sales rise in the month, with Ontario’s 0.9 percent gain clocking in as the largest. The largest decrease was in Alberta, largely due to lower food and beverage sales. (StatCan)

Hardlines’ 28th Annual Conference concluded last week, held at the Fairmont Le Manor Richelieu in the Charlevoix region of Quebec.

As per Hardlines tradition, the night before the conference, delegates enjoyed an evening of camaraderie and networking at the RONA Pub Night inside the hotel.

On day one, Pierre Battah of Pierre Battah Leadership Inc., stepped up to the podium for part one of his speaking engagement. Battah, an award-winning author and workplace leadership specialist, quickly created a lighthearted atmosphere with his sharp wit and insight. He discussed the role of having purpose in leadership, balancing caring for employees and achieving results, the science-based evidence on positivity and feedback, and the importance of daily positivity and respect.

Charles Grégoire-Beliveau, vice-president of merchandising at BMR Group, reviewed the industry’s challenges. “There’s a shortage of skilled labour. People with boom-truck operator licences are rare. Consumers are more demanding. They have their phones, they’ve done their research; sometimes they have more knowledge of the product than the employer.” Nevertheless, he said, BMR is “very optimistic about growth opportunities in the market.”

That afternoon, Peter Norman, VP and chief economist at Altus Group—and a regular at the Hardlines Conference—gave delegates a look ahead at housing forecasts and interest rates. While rates are falling (the prime rate dropped another half a percentage point the day after Norman’s presentation), mortgage rates are following at a slower pace. However, he expects them to keep coming down, though perhaps not to pre-Covid levels.

Richard Darveau, president and founder of Well Made Here, spoke to attendees about how we, as businesses, need to buy Canadian in a fiercely competitive and imported market. He emphasized that we need to show our pride in Canadian products. It’s essential for Canadian society, and “you cannot have any political gain from buying” foreign-made products, he stressed.

Next, Jason Tasse, president of Lee Valley Tools, shared his career journey with Lee Valley Tools, touching on the brand’s commitment to environmental sustainability and community engagement. He covered a variety of Lee Valley’s innovative practices and achievements, including employee engagement and philanthropic projects, the challenges of an aging core customer base and the need to attract younger generations, and the importance of leadership training and cultural innovation.

Alain Ménard, senior vice-president of affiliates at RONA, capped off day two with insight into how to develop and deliver exceptional customer service. He noted this can only be achieved through strong leadership, adding that everyone can be an influencer.

The afternoon gathering at the end of day one was an industry reception sponsored by Home Hardware Stores Ltd., where delegates could gather for a bite and beverage at a reception preceding the 32nd Outstanding Retailer Awards gala dinner.

(We’ll have more coverage of the 28th Annual Hardlines Conference in next week’s blazing issue of Hardlines Weekly Report!—Editor)

Suppliers and retailers from across Canada gathered last week to honour the retail home improvement industry’s best retailers. The occasion was the 32nd Annual Outstanding Retailer Awards, presented during a Gala Dinner at the annual Hardlines Conference. The combined event was held at the Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu in La Malbaie, Que.

Retailers were honoured in eight categories covering the range of retail hardware and home improvement formats. This year’s winners are:

• Best Hardware or Paint Store – Cloverdale Paint Store #71, Saskatoon, Sask. Tim Vogel, Owner; Richard White, Manager. Award sponsored by the National Hardware Show.
• Best Building Supply or Home Centre under 15,000 square feet – BMR Pro Brae-Con Building Supplies, Elmvale, Ont. George Begley and Julie Begley, Owners. Award sponsored by Saint-Gobain.
• Best Building Supply or Home Centre over 15,000 square feet – Brideco BMR, St-Honoré, Que. François Dionne, Caroline Dionne, David Dionne, and Jérome Dionne, Owners. Award sponsored by Jeld-Wen.
• Best Contractor Specialist – Mission Building Supplies (Castle Building Centres Group) Edmonton, Alta. Tom and Karen Clement, Owners; Don Clement, President. Award sponsored by Johns Manville.
• Best Large Surface Retailer – E.G. Penner Building Centre (Sexton Group), Steinbach, Man. Linda Penner, Judy Penner, Owners; Markus Lange, Gerry Thiessen, Vice-Presidents. Award sponsored by Trex.
• Retail Spirit Award – RONA Forget, Mont-Tremblant, Que. Benoit Forget, Caroline Forget, Francis Forget, Julie Forget, Valérie Forget, and Gabrielle Bouchard, Owners. Award sponsored by ACCEO Solutions.
• Young Retailer of the Year – Phylip Savard-Tremblay, Quincaillerie Tremblay Laroche Inc. (Castle Building Centres Group), Métabetchouan-Lac-à-la-Croix, Que. Award sponsored by BMF.
• Marc Robichaud Community Leader – Buck’s Home Building Centre, Bridgewater, N.S. Julie and Ryan Buck, Owners. Award sponsored by JRTech Solutions.

The winners were carefully chosen from a field of high-quality nominees submitted from every part of Canada. They stood out within this elite group thanks to their ability to exceed in the areas of good business practices, customer relations, innovation, and niche marketing.

“These winning dealers represent the innovation and passion for their businesses, and commitment to customers, that make them truly outstanding,” said David Chestnut, vice-president and publisher of Hardlines Inc.

Sexton Group has found a new partner to help it grow inside the Quebec market. The Winnipeg-based buying group has allied with Évolution Distribution, a regional distributor and buying group headed by Geneviève Gagnon —and the scion of a leading buying group family in Canada.

Combining the Sexton and Évolution Distribution names, the new entity is called EvoX, and marries the strengths of both companies to provide a new option for Quebec dealers. It also gives Sexton a fresh footing in the province, while giving Gagnon’s business a boost with a major player. EvoX will go live Jan. 1.

Gagnon, along with Sexton Group president Eric Palmer (pictured together here), met with Hardlines at last week’s Hardlines Conference in La Malbaie, Que., to explain the deal further.

Évolution Distribution is backed by the expertise of Gagnon, who also heads Groupe Gagnon, a chain of five building centres in Quebec. She literally grew up in the business, and learned at the elbow of her father, Yves Gagnon, who grew that retail chain while heading Groupe BMR, before BMR was sold to La Coop fédérée (now Sollio) a decade ago.

Geneviève Gagnon’s wholesale enterprise, Évolution Distribution, added services and established a buying group program to tie new customers in more meaningfully with the wholesale business. “Our distribution also provides marketing, web, social media, and a loyalty program, tailored to every dealer’s needs and reality—and that’s important,” said Gagnon.

Gagnon and her company combine knowledge of the markets in Quebec with a full marketing program designed to help its independent members increase their market share. Évolution Distribution currently has 17 members throughout Quebec, including the five Groupe Gagnon stores.

Sexton has strong expertise across Canada, Palmer notes, but Gagnon rounds out that expertise within Quebec. “Quebec is an opportunity, and we needed someone who is experienced in the market and knows this market to go forward,” he added.

In addition, the new partnership was facilitated by the realization that both sides “shared pretty key core values,” he said. “The main value is respect to our dealers and also toward out vendors.”

Ace Canada dealers got some bad news recently from Ace Hardware’s head office in the U.S. That news came in the form of a letter sent to Ace dealers in Canada, and signed by Ed Dentzman, vice-president, international finance, for Ace Hardware Corp. The note informed the dealers that they would not be supplied or otherwise supported by Ace in 2025.

The Ace licence in Canada is currently held by Peavey Industries, based in Red Deer, Alta., but that licensing agreement ends on Dec. 31. Dealers had been anticipating that Ace International, which services the Ace licence here, would take it over in the new year. However, those hopes have been dashed by this latest news.

There are about 80 dealers still in Canada that have the Ace banner or are supplied by Ace International. They had been serviced by Peavey Industries since 2020, when Peavey bought the licence from RONA. However, barely week after the deal was announced, the world was shut down by Covid. That, and the disruptions that followed, severely hampered Peavey’s efforts to onboard its new wholesale business for the Ace dealers.

CEO Doug Anderson announced last spring that Peavey would end its relationship with Ace by the end of this year. From the day that was announced, neither Ace Hardware Corp. nor its Ace International division would provide any details or confirmation of their position regarding the Ace business in Canada. Instead, they waited several months before passing along the bad news.

The letter says Ace International sought another partner in Canada, but without success. The letter suggests that the U.S. entity was not prepared to support the stores directly, but rather went looking for a replacement for Peavey. “Despite significant efforts, we have not been able to find a suitable replacement for Peavey to provide support and products to your stores,” the letter states.

To add insult to injury, Ace dealers have been offered the opportunity to continue to license the Ace name, for a fee. “We value your longstanding association with Ace and can offer a trademark licence agreement so that you can continue using the Ace brand at your retail hardware stores.”

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

Dave Kellam has joined AD as director, business development for the Building Supplies–Canada division. With over 16 years of industry experience, Kellam will contribute to member and supplier recruitment efforts, strategic partnerships, working to drive divisional results across the nation. Before joining AD, he held various sales and marketing roles at Elemex Architectural Facade Systems, Rockwool, Continental Gypsum, and Firestone Building Products.

DID YOU KNOW…?

… that the 2024 Hardlines Retail Report is now available? This massive research breaks out the size and growth annually of the industry, identifying which retail sectors and which banners are winning and losing from year to year. It features more than 150 slides in a handy PowerPoint format. Click here for more info and order details—and remember, as a Premium Member (if you are subscribing to this newsletter, you are one!) you will get a big discount on the price!

RETAILER NEWS

The RONA Foundation has announced the results of its Home Sweet Home campaign, which ran from Sept. 1 to Oct. 7. The company raised over $515,000, which will be used towards revitalizing living environments or improving access to housing for victims of domestic violence and their children, low-income families, and people with disabilities or mental health issues. The 150 organizations were selected by each participating local team.

SUPPLIER NEWS

Montreal-based JRTech Solutions, a supplier of electronic shelf labels (ESL), has announced a partnership with San Diego-based technology firm Brain Corp to bring robotic inventory management to Canadian retailers. Under the agreement, JRTech “will become the exclusive provider to retailers in Canada of Brain Corp’s Brain OS Sense Suite, an end-to-end inventory management platform that helps retailers autonomously manage their in-store inventory with robots and artificial intelligence,” a joint release from the companies said.

Faucet manufacturer Bélanger has announced a rebranding, along with the launch of new product collections under its Bélanger Pro and Bélanger Essential lines. The new visual identity highlights the company’s “commitment to craftsmanship, simplicity, and enduring design,” according to a release. “We are embracing a fresh vision for the future,” said general manager Lidia Pedicelli.

PPG has agreed to sell 100 percent of its architectural coatings business in the U.S. and Canada for US$550 million to American Industrial Partners, a New York City-based private equity firm. PPG said that division in the U.S. and Canada represented approximately US$2 billion of its 2023 total net sales. The company’s annual sales in 2023 were US$18.2 billion. The transaction is expected to close in late 2024 or early 2025.

Benjamin Moore has announced its Colour of the Year 2025. Cinnamon Slate 2113-40 is described as “a delicate mix of heathered plum and velvety brown.”

Third-quarter sales for West Fraser Timber were $1.44 billion, compared with $1.71 billion in the second quarter. The company had a loss of $83 million, dropping from earnings of $105 million in the previous quarter.

Investment in building construction edged up 0.2 percent to $21.0 billion in August, following a 1.6 percent decrease in July. The residential sector edged down by 0.1 percent to $14.6 billion, while the non-residential sector was up 1.0 percent to $6.4 billion. Single-family home investment rose by 0.1 percent, or $9.0 million, to $6.7 billion, following a decline of 2.2 percent in July. (StatCan)

Housing starts in the U.S. fell by 0.5 percent in September to 1.35 million. Year over year, starts were down 0.7 percent. The number of building permits declined by 2.9 percent from August and 5.7 percent from a year earlier, reaching 1.43 million. Single-family permits however stood 0.3 percent above the previous month. (U.S. Census Bureau)

True Value Co. dropped a bomb on the industry last week when it issued a press release from its Chicago HQ saying it had “entered into an agreement to sell substantially all of the company’s business operations to home improvement industry peer Do it Best Corp.”

Do it Best, of Fort Wayne, Ind., will reportedly pay US$153 million in cash for substantially all of True Value’s assets and business operations and assume up to US$45 million in additional liabilities. “To complete the sale in the most efficient manner, True Value and certain of its affiliates initiated voluntary Chapter 11 proceedings in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware,” the release said. “True Value will continue its day-to-day operations serving 4,500 independently owned retailers that rely on True Value for the right products, trusted expertise, and its 75-year-old iconic brand.”

True Value tipped its hand a few days earlier in a letter to vendors from CEO Chris Kempa. In it, he said the company has “active, competitive offers for our business, and we are working tirelessly to finalize a purchase agreement.”

Do it Best is one of True Value’s chief competitors. If the deal goes through, it would create a store network of more than 8,000 locations in the U.S. and 50-plus countries around the world. There are no active True Value-member stores in Canada.

This is the second time in six years that True Value has been on the block. In 2018, Acon Investments, a private equity firm, purchased 70 percent of the company, moving it away from a co-op model that it had operated under since its inception in 1948. It has sales of just over US$6 billion, while Fort Wayne, Ind.-based Do it Best boasts sales of almost US$5 billion.

“A successful acquisition of True Value assets would represent a strategic milestone for Do it Best and home improvement retailers around the world,” said Dan Starr, Do it Best president and CEO (shown here).

The agreement with Do it Best provides significant cash consideration and meaningful assumption of liabilities related to the ongoing business. Do it Best is requesting to be designated as the “stalking horse,” or lead bidder, and to initiate a competitive bidding process under Section 363 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. That process is designed to achieve the highest value for the company.

To support the day-to-day business through the sale, True Value is seeking to use its cash collateral to fund operations. In case it needs additional financing during the process, it has received a commitment from Do it Best to provide incremental capital, in an effort to help ensure that independent True Value retailers can continue serving their customers throughout the process.

If Do it Best is the winning bidder, the transaction is expected to close by the end of the year, pending regulatory and court approval. True Value will continue to operate under Chapter 11 protection with Do it Best providing the stalking horse bid.

A statement from Do it Best stresses that the deal would not come at the expense of its existing member-owners. Instead, Do it Best intends to preserve and build on the True Value brand, allowing current stores to maintain their independence while gaining access to Do it Best’s programs, buying power, and support network.

Home Hardware Stores Ltd., the closely-held corporation owned by its dealers, is going through a plethora of changes as it evolves its business strategy. At the heart of these changes is the company’s president and CEO, Kevin Macnab. The process of evolution gains poignancy given that this is the 60th anniversary for Home Hardware. The collision of history, culture, and change has been Macnab’s to manage.

The company’s annual dealer market and information conference, called Homecoming, was the backdrop for Hardlines’ one-on-one conversation with Macnab. The event was held at the Enercare Centre at Exhibition Place in Toronto in September. There, he talked about what was news for dealers at the show, and how the company has ramped up promotions to celebrate its 60th birthday.

The market was Macnab’s sixth; he got his official introduction to the Home Hardware dealers at their fall market in 2018, before he’d even been officially hired. That came a few weeks later on Oct. 10, when he was named only the fourth CEO at the company—and the first to be hired from outside of the St. Jacobs, Ont., HQ. His background included Marks & Spencer in the UK, followed by senior roles with Toys “R” Us and the top job at Toys “R” Us Canada, before becoming that retail chain’s president of its international business.

In the six years since Macnab arrived, Home Hardware has made a lot of changes, including looking outside its own ranks to fill senior positions. Having more than one family member working at Home Hardware’s head office was once an integral part of its culture. More recently, however, the management roles have drawn individuals who have come from other major retailers such as Canadian Tire, RONA, and Loblaw.

In addition, the company has been shifting its focus to the Home Hardware customer and standardizing the experience within the stores. Home has also been updating its IT at its distribution centres and making new efforts to consolidate its dealers’ back-end operations.

Back in Toronto, the Homecoming market was being set up in anticipation of the arrival of hundreds of dealers, along with their families and managers, from all over Canada. Pricing remains a universal priority. “We’ve added promotions and discounts for our dealers,” said Macnab. The market was also the showcase for the introduction of two new electric trucks to the Home Hardware fleet.

But “new” also meant new ideas. “We’ve added a lot of dealer events—a lot more educational events.” These, he said, included a networking event that highlighted the role of women. “It’s fabulous to see us recognizing diversity in the workplace.”

As for changes in the management teams, Macnab says bringing in new thinking, combined with the experience and corporate know-how of the existing staff members, has been really important in moving the company forward. And he personally will represent yet another change when he retires in the indeterminate future. He says he would like to step down by his next birthday. While that timeline has reportedly been shared with the dealers, neither Macnab nor Home Hardware’s communications team would disclose the precise date of his leaving the organization with Hardlines (Grrrr!—your frustrated Editor).

“Even though I have announced my intention to retire, my role is to set the company and my successor up for success.”

In the meantime, Macnab points to the attitude on the Homecoming show floor. There, he said, the dealers and vendors had come together against a backdrop of economic transition that limns the changes at Home Hardware. In the end, he noted, “There’s a really good vibe out there. The dealers are in a good position.”

Independent retailers doing business with True Value have another option as they navigate the uncertainty of its retreat into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Orgill, the independent hardware wholesaler based in Memphis, has sent a message to the industry saying it’s ready to step in.

“At Orgill, we have always championed the independent dealer,” says Boyden Moore, Orgill’s president and CEO (shown here). “One thing that Orgill can offer to the thousands of True Value customers during these uncertain times is a pathway to stability in their future business relationships that would enable them to continue serving their communities without fear of any interruption.”

The company says it’s confident it can support True Value dealers, helping them maintain uninterrupted access to products and services. True Value stores are independently owned and are not a part of the Chapter 11 proceedings, with the exception of one company-owned store in Palatine, Ill.

Moore says Orgill, which does not represent a banner and will sell to any dealer regardless of affiliation, already has experience working with True Value retailers. His company is equipped it to step in and assist retailers who are impacted by the recent developments.

“Because we have done more and more business with current and former True Value customers in the recent months, we aren’t starting at ground zero when it comes to conversions or switching systems. We have the ability and the insights to make this process as efficient as possible,” he says.

Randy Williams, Orgill’s EVP of distribution, points to the recent upgrades and investments that Orgill has made in its distribution network, which have put the company in a strong position to handle the additional capacity that may come from onboarding so many retail customers in a short period of time. That includes the addition of more than US$50 million in inventory to help improve existing service levels and better prepare the company for growth.

RONA has announced the conversion of 18 stores to the RONA+ banner. The stores include four in Montreal, three in Quebec City, and two in Laval. The conversions will see the country’s last 16 Réno-Dépôt stores switch to RONA+, along with a RONA L’entrepôt in Quebec City and a RONA Home & Garden in Winnipeg.

The move marks the end of the Réno-Dépôt banner.

“It’s an important milestone in our history that we’re celebrating as we make RONA our only coast-to-coast retail banner,” CEO and president J.P. Towner said in a release.

“I’m extremely proud of the work of our teams, who brilliantly carried out this major milestone for our company. It’s particularly exciting to be part of the expansion of this homegrown brand.”

The Réno-Dépôt stores, all in Quebec, that have been converted to RONA+ are located at the following locations:

•  Anjou – 10200, rue Renaude-Lapointe, Anjou
•  Beauport – 225, av. Joseph Casavant, Québec City
•  Boucherville – 1235, rue Nobel, Boucherville
•  Brossard – 7410, boul. Taschereau Ouest, Brossard
•  Candiac – 100, rue de Strasbourg, Candiac
•  Drummondville – 875, rue Hains, Drummondville
•  Sainte-Foy – 3131, av. Blaise-Pascal, Québec City
•  Saint-Hubert – 5035, boul. Cousineau, Saint-Hubert
•  LaSalle – 2199, rue Lapierre, LaSalle
•  Laval – 1505, boul. Le Corbusier, Laval
•  Marché Central – 1011, rue du Marché Central, Montréal
•  Notre-Dame-de-Grâce – 7277, rue Saint-Jacques, Montréal
•  Pointe-Claire – 400, boul. Brunswick, Pointe-Claire
•  Rosemère – 1, boul. Bouthillier, Rosemère
•  Sainte-Dorothée – 800, aut. Chomedey, rue Desserte Ouest, Laval
•  Vaudreuil – 3010, boul. de la Gare, Vaudreuil-Dorion

These conversions come just over one year after the introduction of the RONA+ banner. Eleven Ontario stores, in Windsor, Windsor East, Sarnia, Waterloo, Kitchener, Cambridge, Niagara Falls, Brantford, Hamilton, Ancaster, and Burlington, celebrated the banner’s first anniversary by welcoming new store-within-a-store concepts for the DeWalt power tool and Bouclair furniture and home décor brands.

DID YOU KNOW…?

… that the 2024 Hardlines Retail Report is now available? This massive research breaks out the size and growth annually of the industry, identifying which retail sectors and which banners are winning and losing from year to year. It features more than 150 slides in a handy PowerPoint format. Click here for more info and order details—and remember, as a Premium Member (if you are subscribing to this newsletter, you are one!) you will get a big discount on the price!

RETAILER NEWS

Canac has acquired a site in Laval, Que., Montreal’s immediate northern neighbour, La Presse reports. The 673,000-square-foot lot is zoned for light industrial and heavy commercial use, but Canac marketing director Patrick Delisle would not comment on the company’s plans for it. The privately owned banner maintains two stores on the south shore of Montreal but currently has no presence on the island of Montreal itself. According to public records, Canac paid $24.3 million to the previous owners.

Kent Building Supplies and Bragg Communications, which does business as Eastlink, are partnering to offer a store-within-a-store at Kent’s Dartmouth Crossing, N.S., store. The telecom provider will offer mobile phones and internet services through a point-of-sale within the store. The store-within-a-store concept is a first for Eastlink.

Castle Building Centres Group has announced the recipients of its 12th Annual Scholarship Program. The company will award $2,500 scholarships to each scholar, two for academic programs and two in trades. The winners are Maria Shea (Shea’s Building Supplies, Stephenville Crossing, N.L.), Olivia Sparkes (Notre Dame Castle, Springdale, N.L.), Maria Redmond (Mermaid, P.E.I.), and Anastasia Fendley (Mono, Ont.).

RONA held its annual Connexia event for affiliated dealers on Oct. 8 and 9 in Montreal. Some 300 of those dealers joined nearly 175 vendors and RONA leaders. During the closing awards gala, the company recognized five outstanding dealers. Andrew Doidge, president and CEO of Doidge Building Centres Ltd., received RONA’s Up and Comer award. Maurice Goupil inc., RONA Moffatt & Powell, and RONA Weyburn, took accolades for their community involvement. Quincaillerie C. Bélanger Ltée in Montreal was honoured for its 85 years of association with RONA.

Seven & i holdings, which operates the 7-Eleven banner, is spinning off 31 non-core business segments from its convenience store interests. The move, which follows an unsolicited takeover bid from Quebec’s Alimentation Couche-Tard, also includes the closure of 450 underperforming stores in North America. A new holding company, to be called York Holdings, will unite the brands, which include the Denny’s chain of diners, with a majority of shares to be sold to outside investors.

Richelieu Hardware has reported Q3 sales of $467.7 million, an increase of 1.9 percent, including $264.6 million in Canada and US$148.4 million in the United States. Net earnings fell by 21.8 percent to $24.0 million.

September’s inflation rate fell to 1.6 percent, year over year, led by lower gasoline prices, which fell 10.7 percent. But rental prices rose by 8.2 percent, while food prices continued to grow at a rate faster than inflation. Excluding the gasoline price drop, the Consumer Price Index came in at 2.2 percent, the same as August. (StatCan)

Sales of existing Canadian homes rose by 1.9 percent in September from the previous month. On an annual basis, they were up by 6.9 percent. The increase was led by the Greater Toronto Area, Hamilton-Burlington, Montreal, Quebec City, Greater Vancouver, and Victoria. (Canadian Real Estate Association)

The annualized pace of housing starts in Canada rose by 5.0 percent in September to 223,808 units, up from 213,012 units in August. Urban starts number 168,897 year-to-date, up 2.0 percent from 165,559 for the same period in 2023. The rate of rural starts was estimated at 13,806 units. (CMHC)

The 2024 Hardlines Conference takes place next week, Oct. 22 and 23, at Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu in the Charlevoix region of Quebec. This is the only national event bringing together industry players across all banners, and the speaker lineup is second to none.

It’s also a valuable—and important—opportunity to network with industry leaders from both the retail and supply sides of the industry. The room will be filled with some of the brightest hardware and home improvement dealers from across Canada. Here are some of the companies that are sending senior executives and managers to this year’s conference:

• BMR Group
• Castle Building Centres
• Cloverdale Paints
• Home Depot Canada
• Home Hardware Stores Ltd.
• IKEA Canada
• Lee Valley Tools
• Orgill
• RONA inc.
• Sexton Group
• TIMBER MART

At the end of day one, Oct. 22, we’ll host the Outstanding Retailer Awards Gala Dinner, where dealers and managers from across Canada will be honoured for their extraordinary efforts as retailers, merchants, community leaders, and personal leaders.

The Hardlines Conference is the key annual gathering point for top retail executives, leading dealers, and major vendors, and it will provide tremendous networking and career opportunities. (Online registration is officially closed, but you can still get in! Please contact Michelle Porter, our senior marketing and events manager, directly to sign up.)

Kent Building Supplies is getting a new home in Summerside, P.E.I., next year. The business has been in operation for decades at the corner of Water and Eustane streets in the province’s second-largest city. It was originally under the Schurman’s Building Supplies banner, which was bought out by Kent in 2004.

Since the 2001 closure of the Summerside air force base, the city’s economy has been dominated by the Canada Revenue Agency office that processes HST for businesses outside Quebec. Cavendish Farms, the province’s largest private-sector employer, maintains two plants in the nearby village of New Annan. Kent represents an important retail presence for the community.

Next spring, the store will move to a new site farther uptown flanked by Granville and Central streets. At 50,000 square feet, the new location will be almost triple the footprint of the current property’s 17,000 square feet.

“We’ll be adding a drive-through lumber yard, appliances, and room for many more products,” Anne McInerney, VP of communications for Kent parent J.D. Irving, told Hardlines. She added that the new location will better serve both DIY and pro customers.

The privately-owned Kent banner, based in Saint John, operates in all four Atlantic provinces and accounts for the largest share of Prince Edward Island’s home improvement market. (Source: the 2024 Hardlines Market Share Report—your astute editor).

At the beginning of this year, Kent joined the A.R.E.N.A. Alliance, a consortium of DIY chains concentrated in Europe that also includes BMR Group in Canada. Like BMR and Federated Co-operatives Ltd., Kent is a member of the Independent Lumber Dealers Co-operative.

Kent first added appliances to its offerings in select stores late last year.

Home Depot has responded to not one, but two, severe weather incidents in Florida in recent days. First, Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida before moving inland, where it swept through parts of Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee. Only days later, Hurricane Milton headed through the Gulf of Mexico, threatening even more devastation as it tore through the middle of Florida. More than 60 Home Depot stores were closed at any given time in areas being hit by the storms.

Home Depot’s disaster response command centre, based at the company’s store support centre in Atlanta, manages logistics to ship product to stores and resupply them after the storms have passed. The disaster relief teams consist of more than 100 associates across different parts of the company, including merchandising, operations, supply chain, and technology. These teams work around the clock to ensure the delivery of essential supplies to various stores.

The command centre team monitors inventory in real time so communities have the supplies they need to prepare for a storm and rebuild afterward. That includes pre-filling DCs throughout the South that are not in the path of the hurricanes, so products can be shipped to stores to replenish them to serve customers. Generators, water, tarps, flashlights, plywood, and batteries are among the products in greatest demand.

In addition, store workers will move in from other regions to support and spell staff at stores in the afflicted regions. After a storm, pre-staged trucks are placed right outside of the storm strike zone to respond with recovery supplies such as gas cans, generators, trash bags, cleaning supplies, and chain saws.

Following each storm, Home Depot refines its data on how the storms move and change. That data helps the company make informed decisions to respond more appropriately to future events.

Chicago-based True Value Co. is looking for a buyer, according to a letter from CEO Chris Kempa sent to vendors on Oct. 1.

“We have active, competitive offers for our business, and we are working tirelessly to finalize a purchase agreement,” Kempa stated, adding that the company would provide further details in the coming days.

This is the second time in six years that True Value has pursued a sale. In 2018, Acon Investments, a private equity firm, purchased 70 percent of the company, moving it away from its dealer-owned co-op model.

According to Acon Investments, the purchase was a strategic partnership to accelerate True Value’s transformation and create the only branded national hardware wholesaler without a membership requirement.

In that move, retailers received 70 percent of their invested capital and 10 percent of their promissory notes on top of their 2017 patronage dividend. Additionally, retailers retained a 30 percent holding in the new True Value Company, led by the existing management team at the time.

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

At RONA inc., Sylvain Girard has been named CFO, a post vacated when former CFO J.P. Towner was promoted to CEO and president of the company. Girard has spent more than three decades in corporate financial services management. He was most recently SVP and CFO of Resolute Forest Products.

DID YOU KNOW…?

… that the latest edition of Hardlines Dealer News has hit inboxes? In this issue, we explore our economic expert’s forecast for the coming year, RONA’s new signage for independents, and electric vehicle fulfilment at Home Hardware. Hardlines Dealer News is monthly and it’s free: click here to subscribe now!

RETAILER NEWS

RONA welcomed its independent affiliates to the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal last week for its Connexia event. The dealer-only buying show format debuted in 2022. It includes a trade show kicked off by a networking day featuring meetings and workshops.

IKEA Canada has announced financial results for the fiscal year ending Aug. 31. Retail sales dipped 1.4 percent to $2.87 billion, compared with the previous fiscal year. The company says it remained focused on lowering prices as Canadians continue to navigate economic challenges. One of the programs during the year that impacted topline sales was the introduction of the SHT (Second-Hand Tax). Drawing attention to the taxation of second-hand goods, Ontario customers could, for a limited time, save the tax on purchases of used IKEA products.

The Home Depot says it will require each of its corporate staff to work an eight-hour retail shift each quarter. Employees, including senior management and remote workers, will have to clock in for the required time beginning in the company’s fourth quarter, which starts in November.

SUPPLIER NEWS

Doman Building Materials has acquired South Carolina-based CM Tucker Lumber Cos, a lumber treater. The cash transaction was valued at US$255 million. Founded in 1920, Tucker Lumber is headquartered in Pageland, S.C., and employs 425 workers across three locations.

An Oct. 1 fire consumed Valley Truss and Metal in Kensington, P.E.I. Mayor Rowan Caseley told CBC News that he believed the building to be a total loss after the blaze. “We’re certainly concerned about the loss of the business in town and we do hope they’ll continue to stay here and continue to rebuild,” he said.

Economically vulnerable households—those with lower incomes, those with less wealth, and those in younger age groups—continue to struggle to maintain their financial well-being relative to other households, amid persistently high interest rates and housing cost pressures. Income inequality increased in the second quarter of 2024 as the gap in the share of disposable income between households in the top 40 percent and the bottom 40 percent of the income distribution reached 47.0 percentage points, the largest gap ever recorded since this data began being collected in 1999. (StatCan)

Small business owners are finishing the calendar year off on an optimistic note, according to a survey by American Express Canada. More than 80 percent believe they’re in good shape to be where they want to be financially at year’s end; almost two-thirds expect the holiday season to be the busiest of the year.

It’s already October. Another year’s coming into the home stretch. Another year of challenges and frustrations, joys and triumphs.

Why not make this the year you come to the Hardlines Conference? It’s being held at one of Canada’s outstanding locations, Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu, in the Charlevoix region of Quebec, on Oct. 22 and 23. This year we are collaborating with the incredible team at Quebec’s industry association, AQMAT, led by CEO Richard Darveau. The entire event will be presented with simultaneous translation.

Through the years, we’ve seen people who attend the conference find new jobs, start new careers, and make new alliances. It’s a place where people make new friendships, strike up new business connections, explore new opportunities, and line up new customers. And that’s in addition to the incredible lineup of speakers who will take to the Hardlines Conference podium.

Our speakers this year include:

• Jason Tasse, president and CEO of Lee Valley Tools, the innovative head of a very innovative niche hardware and tools company.
• Heléne Loberg, sustainability manager for IKEA Canada. We are thrilled to have IKEA join us this year: the company’s dedication to sustainability goes way beyond lip service.
• Alain Ménard, vice-president at RONA inc., who heads up the affiliate dealer division and will explain how RONA is investing in independents.
• Charles Grégoire-Béliveau, vice-president merchandising at BMR Group, will discuss how the Quebec-based wholesaler and buying group is rolling out services and support for dealers in new markets.
• Richard Darveau, president of AQMAT and head of “Well Made Here.” His message about the importance of buying Canadian will resonate with dealers and vendors alike.
• Michelle Chouinard-Kenney, CEO of Gibson Building Supplies, a chain of yards throughout southern and central Ontario that sells roofing and related materials.
• Pierre Battah, nationally recognized HR advisor and workplace expert. This guy rocks. Want to hear about how best to take care of your people? Pierre will keep you riveted.
• Sherri Amos, director of dealer support, Home Hardware Stores Ltd., will moderate a panel of retail merchants from RONA, TIMBER MART, Castle, Home Depot, and Orgill.
• Peter Norman, vice-president and chief economist at Altus Group, our favourite housing and numbers expert—and truly one of the country’s top housing economists.

Along with some special guests and the usual surprises, this year’s conference promises to provide another important element: just plain fun. (See? That makes 10.—your calculating Editor!)

Please join us on October 22 and 23 in Charlevoix!

(Registration for the 2024 Hardlines Conference is officially closed. If you haven’t secured your place, contact Michelle Porter or Jillian MacLeod directly right away!)

So how is the economy doing? We had the opportunity to pose that question to one of the country’s leading economists last week. Peter Norman is the vice-president and chief economist at Altus Group in Toronto. He’s also one of the keynote speakers at the 29th Hardlines Conference, being held Oct. 22 to 23 in Charlevoix, Que.

Norman recently spoke with Hardlines editor-in-chief Steve Payne and associate editor Geoff McLarney for an episode of Hardlines’ podcast What’s in Store. They talked about everything from housing starts and office vacancies to the pace of Canada’s recovery and how it compares with conditions in the U.S.

The economy, he says, is “a real mixed bag, with lots of opinions swirling around. When you’ve got a mixed bag like this, I think you tend to get more negative feelings from consumers.” But, he believes, the picture is more positive than many might think. “Our economy right now is in a kind of sweet spot, a kind of sweet soft landing.

“But we’re not in a recession, at least not technically.”

Norman assures us Canada is doing slightly better than our neighbour to the south, “especially going into 2025. Canada started cutting its rates earlier than what we saw the [U.S.] Fed doing. The Fed is in an interest-rate softening cycle now,” which should help the U.S. economy down the road.

Regionally, there are several strong areas showing growth, including markets such as Calgary and Edmonton and in Atlantic Canada—but there’s one major exception to that trend. “Ontario is in worse shape right now.” That province, which accounts for fully one-third of retail home improvement sales in Canada (source: the 2024 Hardlines Retail Report.—your statistically astute Editor), is slower, and it’s suppressing statistical growth for the entire country. Quebec, as well, remains soft, Norman says.

As a result, despite regional bright spots and falling interest rates, Canada’s overall housing numbers will remain flat in 2025 and 2026, he expects.

(Peter Norman is our guest on the latest instalment of the Hardlines Podcast Series, What’s in Store. Click here to enjoy the full interview and to sign up for our entire library of Hardlines podcasts!)

The second annual Products Issue of our magazine, Hardlines Home Improvement Quarterly, will mail in a few days. In this quarter, we introduce the industry to eight home improvement retail buyers and ask them an essential question: “What are you looking for from vendors?”
The answer to that question is similar to the maxim about real estate: What you care about is location, location, and location. Home improvement retail buyers are looking for innovation, innovation, and innovation.

One of the buyers we interviewed for HHIQ, Jack Cammarata, program manager at the Sexton Group in Winnipeg, put it this way: “Asking the right questions [of vendors] is essential. Such as: What makes you different from others in this category? Why should our members choose you? What are you offering that’s new and exciting that aligns with our members’ individual business goals?”

Ten years ago, Hardlines quoted Bill Wilson, former Sodisco-Howden and TSC Stores executive, about the importance of innovation in a dealer’s SKU offering. He told us that 20 percent of a good retailer’s stock should consist of new products—meaning SKUs introduced within the past 12 months.

That’s a high ratio. But if dealers aren’t offering anything that’s different—you’re boring. And boring retailers in an era of unlimited choice via e-commerce don’t excite customers. Think of it as another version of the 80-20 rule, where 80 percent of your successes come from 20 percent of your efforts.

Home Depot Canada gave a group of influencers and media a sneak preview of its Christmas products and trends—and Hardlines was there.

This year, the big box giant is showcasing three major lines or themes for the holiday season. The first is called “Gold Rush” and is characterized by a “very elegant and modern” look that uses black and gold as its feature colours. On one hand, it represents a modern sophisticated aesthetic while also offering vintage-style pieces that bring a nostalgic element to one’s decorating. And yes, that even includes an all-black Christmas tree!

“Quiet Beauty” is another theme, characterized by a more natural look with warm minimalism. Items in this line include metals featured in bows—both as tree toppers and as ornaments on their own—along with shatter-proof glass ornaments, and ornaments and accessories in a simple white.

Finally, the team at Home Depot Canada introduced “Crafted Cabin,” highlighted by a classic, nostalgic, red-and-green Christmas vibe. And picking up from the trend to big, bold decorations like the 12-foot skeletons it sells at Halloween, the retailer is featuring some oversized Christmas ornaments. These include an eight-foot nutcracker, a giant realistic Santa, and life-sized licensed characters including Minnie and Mickey Mouse and Minions—all in appropriate Christmas costumes.

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

At Canfor Pulp Products, Kevin Edgson will be leaving the role of president and CEO on Oct. 31. The company says its board of directors is currently selecting Edgson’s successor.

DID YOU KNOW…?

… that the 2024 Hardlines Retail Report has now been released? This massive research breaks out the size and growth annually of the industry, identifying which retail sectors and which banners are winning and losing from year to year. It features more than 150 slides in a handy PowerPoint format. Click here for more info and order details—and remember, as a Premium Member (if you are subscribing to this newsletter, you are one!) you will get a big discount on the price!

RETAILER NEWS

Castle Building Centres Group has added Outillage Rioux GDB in Bedford, Que., to its ranks. Owner Eric Rioux operates the business, which is more than 50 years old, with his wife Lisa. Renovations to the location have begun, including a redesign of the store layout and an increase in square footage. The business is also eyeing the prospect of building a warehouse “in the near future” to support its LBM expansion.

Walmart Canada is investing an additional $92 million in pay increases for eligible supply chain hourly and frontline management and retail hourly associates. The compensation will include annual incentive bonuses and benefits coverage. Employees will receive free and confidential 24/7 virtual care, employee assistance programs, wellbeing programs through TELUS Health, and a 10 percent discount card for groceries and general merchandise.

BeautiTone has unveiled its 2025 Colour of the Year. The proprietary paint brand of Home Hardware Stores Ltd. has chosen “Midnight Flora,” a “vivid shade of red-purple” it describes as “moody and mysterious.”

Costco Wholesale Corp. reported Q4 sales of US$79.7 billion, edging up by 1.0 percent. Comp sales rose by 5.5 percent in Canada and 5.3 percent in the U.S.

W. W. Grainger broke ground last week on its 1.2 million-square-foot distribution centre in the Houston metropolitan area. The Hockley, Tex., facility is slated to open in 2026, employing a team of about 400 workers.

M-D Canada, a division of M-D Building Products, has announced a partnership with contractor and TV personality Bryan Baeumler. Together, Baeumler and the company will take to social media to educate industry professionals and installers on how to use Prova Tile Installation products. The campaign will focus on cost savings, increased efficiency, and building a reliable reputation.

Investment in U.S. construction edged down in August by 0.1 percent. On a year-over-year basis, construction spending for the month was down 0.2 percent. Investment in private construction projects fell by 0.2 percent, including a 1.5 percent drop in the single-family sector. (U.S. Commerce Department)

Understanding the market and balancing the books are important parts of running a business. But another part of a successful enterprise needs constant attention—and nourishing—namely, the people who work there.

That’s why this year’s Hardlines Conference (Oct. 22 and 23, Charlevoix, Quebec) will be a platform for learning about the issues and strategies for creating an effective workplace and getting the most out the people in that workplace. Pierre Battah is a workplace expert and award-winning author. He is a long-time workplace columnist for CBC/Radio-Canada, a TEDx presenter, and a former senior manager in HR. He holds an MBA and professional designations in HR, management consulting, and as a professional speaker. His book, Humanity at Work: Leading for Better Relationships and Results, is an international award winner.

In other words, he knows his stuff.

Battah will kick off the 28th annual Hardlines Conference on Oct. 22. But he will also do a full workshop for delegates on day two of the conference, exploring the challenges and hurdles that owners face as they work to keep up with the ever-changing nature of today’s workforce.

Another presenter at this year’s conference is inspiring for his exemplary achievements in the world of fitness and health. Hugo Girard (shown here, as though he needs any introduction!—your Editor and massive Hugo fan) is well known as a World Champion Strongman and wellness leader. As the founder of Hugo Strong and Hugo Nutrition, and spokesperson for several companies including BMR Group, Girard is a sought-after speaker who embodies a commitment to physical and mental health.

An important part of effective work is being recognized for one’s efforts. The importance of recognizing great retail is the reason we launched the Outstanding Retailer Awards more than three decades ago. The ORAs are Canada’s only national industry-wide awards program dedicated to celebrating the achievements of hardware, home improvement, and building supply dealers and their staff.

And they are an important part of the Hardlines Conference. At the end of day one, Oct. 22, we’ll host the ORA Gala Dinner, where dealers and managers from across Canada will be honoured for their extraordinary efforts as retailers, merchants, community leaders, and personal leaders.

The 28th annual Hardlines Conference will be a rich, information-loaded experience topped by networking with industry leaders from the retail, wholesale, buying group, and vendor segments of the industry.

This year’s Hardlines Conference takes place in Quebec’s scenic Charlevoix region on Oct. 22 and 23. As the key annual gathering point for top retail executives, leading dealers, and major vendors, it will provide tremendous networking and career opportunities. (Registration closes Oct. 4. Click here now to secure your seat at this important event!)

Home Hardware Stores Ltd. has introduced two Volvo VNR Electric trucks to its fleet. The trucks are the first zero-tailpipe emission vehicles to join the Home network. They will be used for last-mile deliveries from the company’s distribution centre in St. Jacobs, Ont., to stores within a radius of 100 to 150 kilometres.

The two Volvo VNR Electric 6×4 tractors deployed are equipped with a six-battery pack configuration, offering a range of up to 442 kilometres.

“This collaboration marks a significant step in reducing emissions and enhancing urban delivery efficiency,” said Matthew Blackman, managing director for Canada atVolvo Trucks North America. “By adopting these zero-tailpipe emission vehicles, Home Hardware Stores Ltd. is setting a new standard in the home improvement industry.”

According to a release from Volvo, the VNR Electric truck is well-suited for urban deliveries due to its lack of tailpipe emissions, in addition to significantly reducing heat, noise, and vibrations. The truck’s quiet operation minimizes noise pollution, which is particularly beneficial in urban communities served by Home Hardware’s stores.

Vision Truck Group, in Brampton, Ont., a certified electric vehicle dealer, supported Home Hardware in identifying the ideal configuration for the new trucks’ operations through the use of an Electric Performance Generator, a route-planning tool that enables fleet managers to maximize routing efficiency for electric trucks.

Home Hardware availed itself of funding through Natural Resources Canada and its Zero Emission Vehicle Infrastructure Program to help build the charging infrastructure.

The wholesale strategy of RONA inc. is getting a boost with continued investment in its affiliate dealer network. The affiliates have even got their own banner program. Introduced in November 2023, the new identity is designed to promote the dealers’ entrepreneurial side while capitalizing on RONA’s brand awareness. The new banner makes room to further identify the store’s own name and brand, using that store’s own colours and look. It was first rolled out at RONA Iberville, in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., the company has confirmed to Hardlines.

The company has assured its affiliates that the cost of the new signage will be covered by head office.

The first Ontario store to implement the new look is the RONA Manotick location in the southern suburbs of Ottawa. Dealer-owners Joe Reid, Ryan Austin, and Pat Butler held a grand opening earlier this month for the 14,000-square-foot store.

But expansion among affiliates is happening across the country. Only a few days before the Ottawa opening, the RONA store in Olds, Alta., had a grand opening of its own. Dealer-owners Garth and Charmaine Dagg and Sheldon Foss took over the store last January.

Another RONA affiliate dealer has purchased an existing store in Charlottetown, representing the introduction of the RONA brand to the province of Prince Edward Island. The business was acquired by an investment company, Terraine Capital, headed up by Adam Barrett, an Atlantic developer who already has three RONA stores in Nova Scotia.

The Charlottetown store is 33,000 square feet in size, with an indoor lumber and building materials section and a large outdoor lumberyard.

“With this new store, we are excited to meet the needs of both pro and DIY customers in Charlottetown, while expanding our footprint in Atlantic Canada,” said Barrett, adding that it’s important for the store to maintain strong community ties.

In Quebec, a RONA affiliate finished an expansion of their own. Last month, dealer-owners Richard Latreille and Nathalie Solomon celebrated the grand re-opening of their RONA Maloney store in Gatineau.

On the west coast, RONA has added a brand-new dealer. AMS Building Centre is in British Columbia’s Haida Gwaii (formerly known as the Queen Charlotte Islands). The business has served the islands for nearly 40 years. Mark Goetzinger had worked alongside his parents over the years before taking over earlier this year.

“Being part of the RONA network will allow our store to provide a consistent supply of excellent-quality products and to increase our overall offering so that we can better meet the needs of our customers,” said Goetzinger. “We are also confident that RONA’s outstanding distribution network and business development support will place us in a great position to grow our business in the future and gain market share.”

Sales at Quebec hardware stores remain modest but that’s not stopping retailers from gearing up to bounce back, La Presse reported this month. StatCan’s latest numbers indicate that July LBM and garden sales across Canada dropped by 1.4 percent, the largest decline among core retail categories.

Yet BMR Group is upgrading its DC in Boucherville, on Montreal’s South Shore. The co-op has signed new dealers in Quebec and Ontario this year, while an existing member in Quebec added a second location.

Meanwhile, Canac has begun work on a new DC in Drummondville. The privately owned retailer first acquired the site in 2019, opposite its existing warehouse in the Saint-Nicéphore district.

Construction of one building, weighing in at 432,000 square feet, was completed at the beginning of 2022. With the next phase of the project, Canac will continue to bolster support for its growth in the Quebec City region. In the summer of last year, managing director Martin Gamache confirmed in an interview with local paper L’Express that the automated warehouse would be complete within two years.

“We’re already feeling a slight boost from the recent interest rate cuts, which seem to have spurred an appetite for some residential projects to take off again,” Patrick Delisle, Canac’s marketing director, told the newspaper.

Both BMR and Canac are otherwise keeping mum about their plans for now. But Richard Darveau, president of the Quebec industry association AQMAT, said their instincts are sound against a background of rising needs for housing stock, an issue he predicts will loom large in the next federal election.

“Those people have every reason to believe that [sales levels] won’t remain so low,” he said. “Construction and renovations need to resume. I think they want to stay one step ahead of the competition.”

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

ODL Inc. has named Daniel Custodio as VP of sales in Canada. Custodio will report to Scot Harder, the building products supplier’s VP of pro channel and custom sales. Prior to joining ODL, he held leadership positions at Cornerstone Building Brands. Custodio is a graduate of McMaster University’s DeGroote School of Business.

DID YOU KNOW…?

… that as a Premium Hardlines Member (thanks to your subscription to this newsletter), you have front-of-the-line access to this year’s conference coming up in only three weeks? That’s 20 percent off the regular price! For more information and to reserve your spot (registration closes this Friday, Oct. 4),
click here.

RETAILER NEWS

Home Hardware Stores Ltd. marked National Tree Day with the announcement of a new round of tree planting events in partnership with Tree Canada. During National Forestry Week and the month of September, 22 Home Hardware stores hosted events to enhance local green spaces. The stores include 13 in Ontario, three in Quebec, two in Manitoba, and one each in Nova Scotia, P.E.I., Saskatchewan, and Alberta.

Canadian Tire Corp. is opening four new Party City stores ahead of Halloween, the first expansion of the banner’s footprint since CTC took it over in 2019. The locations include two in Winnipeg, the chain’s first in Manitoba. In Ontario, new stores are coming to Ottawa (Kanata) and Kitchener. (See last week’s issue for more on the importance of Halloween season at Home Depot Canada!—your spooky Editor)

York Regional Police in the Greater Toronto Area have charged 16 people with thefts of more than $600,000 in retail merchandise. The arrests culminate the force’s Project Spartan, aimed against organized retail crime, and include the laying of a total of 1,538 charges. The Home Depot Canada and Ontario’s provincial liquor retailer were among the companies that cooperated in the investigation.

SUPPLIER NEWS

Ottawa-based Harris Computer has announced its acquisition of the company SE2 Inc., doing business as Alice POS. SE2, operating out of Sherbrooke, Que., launched its eponymous Alice POS software in 2016. Harris, a subsidiary of Constellation Software, is in turn the owner of Acceo Solutions. Alice POS, which offers cloud software designed for retail, will join the Acceo Home and Building Supply Industry Solutions business unit.

Sico and Dulux have released their respective Colours of the Year for 2025. Sico’s “Starry Night” and Dulux’s “Purple Basil” are both described as “rich, warm purple shades.” PPG Industries, the parent of the brands, expects purple shades like these to be a major trend in commercial and residential spaces next year.

West Fraser Timber has announced the indefinite curtailment of operations at its Lake Butler, Fla., sawmill by the end of this month. The company cited “high fibre costs and soft lumber markets” in making the decision. The move is expected to reduce West Fraser’s U.S. lumber capacity by approximately 110 million board feet.

Retail sales increased 0.9 percent to $66.4 billion in July. Sales were up in seven of nine subsectors, led by increases at motor vehicle and parts dealers. LBM and garden sales posted the largest decline in core retail sales, down 1.4 percent. Overall core retail sales, which exclude gasoline stations and fuel vendors and motor vehicle and parts dealers, were up 0.6 percent for the month. (StatCan)

Half of Canadian small business owners have experienced fraud attempts, successful or otherwise, in the past year. That’s the finding of a report released by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business in partnership with Interac Corp. They say the small businesses affected have lost an average of $7,800. Email and phishing scams constituted the most common (85 percent) of the ploys.

Ahead of its 85th anniversary next month, RONA has announced that it will mark the occasion by consolidating its brand identity. It will phase out the Réno-Dépôt banner in Quebec, converting the 16 remaining stores under that banner to the RONA+ brand.

Two other stores, RONA L’entrepôt in Quebec City and RONA Home & Garden Winnipeg, will also move to RONA+.

Grand opening celebrations will be held in some of these stores on Oct. 10. That’s the day after RONA wraps its Connexia dealer gathering in Montreal. It’s also just four days after the date in 1939 when RONA’s precursor, Les Marchands en Quincaillerie, was established by a consortium of hardware stores in Quebec. Within a few years, it was under the direction of entrepreneurs Rolland Dansereau and Napoléon Piotte, from whose first names the business would later take the name Ro-Na.

The adoption of RONA and RONA+ banners as the retailer’s sole brand identity is just the latest paradigm shift for RONA, which has lived through a number of business models since 1939. In its early years, it was a loosely organized hardware buying group: until 1960, it wasn’t even incorporated.

In 1988, it merged with the building materials group Dismat, branching out into the LBM business. During the 1990s, as big boxes were on the rise, it opened its first RONA L’entrepôt location. Beginning in 2000, it started to expand beyond its home province. RONA made its first public offering in 2002, raising the funds for its acquisition of rival Réno-Dépôt the following year. Expansion through a series of acquisitions and dealer conversions continued as the company established itself as a national player.

U.S.-based Lowe’s Cos. took over RONA in 2016 but struggled to make sense of the Canadian business’s multi-banner strategy and dealer ownership models. Today, RONA is owned by Sycamore Partners, a New York private equity firm.

As it moves into celebration mode this fall, the company will be launching marketing campaign to familiarize consumers with the RONA+ brand. It will also offer activities as well as in-store and online promotions during the month of October.

With the breadth of outdoor living and seasonal products available at Home Hardware, this category aptly deserved the huge amount of floor space it took up at the retailer’s recent Homecoming market. Hardlines was on the scene at the event, which was held Sept. 12 to 14 at Toronto’s Enercare Centre and marked the company’s 60th anniversary.

Home Hardware continues to invest in and expand its range of products for the outdoor space, which also helps in providing new and innovative ways to support the dealers, who came from across the country to attend the market. Recognizing the importance homeowners place on outdoor living and enjoying their pools, patios and backyards, Home Hardware’s display at Homecoming showcased new trends and products in every related category, including outdoor cooking, furniture, décor, and accessories.

Reflecting the trends for this fall and 2025, neutral colours will attract customers’ eyes when they shop for seasonal furniture. Natural and neutral tones dominated the seasonal furniture landscape; earthy hues of sand, clay, and brown came through in furniture finishes, pillows, and cushions. Bright summery colours will still be present for those who prefer a bolder backyard look, and the Barbie trend—so prevalent at last year’s market—was still evident in pink Muskoka chairs.

Furniture designs ranged from modern to more relaxed. Modular pieces such as conversational sets will allow homeowners flexible and customizable setups. Bohemian hanging chairs continue to be popular. Bistro sets in neutral finishes will be ideal for quiet outdoor corners, porches, or patios.

Whimsical outdoor touches were also shown: “neon” flamingo lights, string lights, faux grass statues in the form of rabbits, and portable lanterns will offer inspiration to customers to decorate and get outdoors next season.

“The most exciting part about Homecoming this year is welcoming our dealers from across the country to celebrate our 60th anniversary,” said John Pierce, chief retail operations officer for Home Hardware Stores Ltd. “As we mark this milestone, the words of our founder Walter J. Hachborn come to mind: ‘We’re not in the hardware business. We are in the people business.’”

That attitude, Pierce said, pervaded the market. “Today, with everyone gathered together, you can really feel this sentiment come to life.”

What are the latest product trends? This is the question we get asked most when planning our annual Hardlines Conference. This year, we’ve gathered a panel of leading retail merchants on the Hardlines stage to confront this question directly—and we’re proud to announce the newest addition to the panel.

The 28th annual Hardlines Conference is being held at the spectacular Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu, in the Charlevoix region of Quebec, from Oct. 22 to 23.

Our panel will feature some of this industry’s top merchants, with expertise in both LBM and fashion and décor products. Now, Rabia Dhanani, merchandise manager for millwork at Home Hardware Stores Ltd., has agreed to join us. An articulate negotiator with fresh ideas, she is helping guide assortments of LBM, millwork, and doors and windows for Home Hardware dealers nationally.

She will be in good company. The other panelists are:

• Kelvin Johnston, senior buyer for commodity lumber and panels at Castle Building Centres
• Shawn Ettinger, national hardware procurement manager for TIMBER MART
• Alex Burcham, senior category manager for plumbing, electrical, heating, and cooling at Orgill
• Natacha Laurin, category director, projects and appliances, for RONA inc.

Our moderator will be Sherri Amos, director of dealer support at Home Hardware Stores Ltd. A skilled presenter, Amos works with dealers across Canada and is familiar with their concerns and achievements on a daily basis.

The 28th annual Hardlines Conference takes place in Quebec’s scenic Charlevoix region from Oct. 22 to 23. As the key annual gathering point for top retail executives, leading dealers, and major vendors, it will provide tremendous networking and career opportunities. (Registration closes Oct. 4. Click here now to secure your seat at this important event!)

IMPORTANT NOTE: As a Premium Member (thanks to your subscription to this newsletter), you have front-of-the-line access to this year’s conference and registration that’s 20 percent off the regular price. For more information and to reserve your spot, click here.

While only a minor holiday on the retail calendar, Halloween continues to grow in importance each year as new products are added to store assortments. Take Target in the U.S.: it’s added 1,300 Halloween items to its shelves this season.

Here in Canada, The Home Depot has long recognized the potential of October’s spooky season. It recently held a promotional event in downtown Toronto to highlight some of the latest innovative—and downright frightening—products that consumers can purchase to dress up their Halloween experience.

Called “Nightmare on Queen Street,” the event featured a preview for media held on, wait for it, Friday the 13th. Konstance Sevastos, Home Depot Canada’s divisional product merchant, was on-site to give Hardlines a tour.

The big Halloween trends this year are, well, big, including Home Depot’s now infamous 12-foot skeleton, “Skelly,” which makes a big comeback this year with accessories to dress it up in a big way (enough with the oversized superlatives, already! —your more-or-less normal-sized Editor). This year, the towering pile of bones comes with its own dog, and different sets of scary eyes.

Through a partnership with Universal and Disney, the nightmarish display included characters from Star Wars such as Darth Vader and Storm Troopers, as well as Minions.

The general trend is to increase the fright factor, something that was enhanced thanks to technology. Animatronics helped make Home Depot’s witches and boogey men come to life—all exclusives to the retailer. Scary, kids!

(Click here and here to watch some scary animatronics in action.—Editor)

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

ODL Inc. has named Daniel Custodio as VP of sales in Canada. Custodio will report to Scot Harder, the building products supplier’s VP of pro channel and custom sales. Prior to joining ODL, he held leadership positions at Cornerstone Building Brands. Custodio is a graduate of McMaster University’s DeGroote School of Business.

DID YOU KNOW…?

… that the Hardlines Retail Report is ready to make your marketing plans for 2025 way easier? Yep, this incredible piece of research quantifies the size of the industry and breaks out the sales and market shares of the country’s biggest players! Home Depot Canada, Home Hardware, RONA, and Canadian Tire are analyzed in depth, while all the key home improvement banners in Canada are assessed and measured. Plus: forecasts for the year ahead, all crammed into 140 PPT slides. Click here to order your copy today!

RETAILER NEWS

An accountant, mechanic, and lawyer have been running Thorndale Hardware, an Ace dealer in the southwestern Ontario community of the same name, for eight months. Its late owner, David Woods, bought the store in January to inspire entrepreneurship in his daughters. When he died suddenly in February, the four Woods sisters took over the shop.

BMR member Matériaux de construction Harry Rivest & Fils has acquired a new store in St-Calixte, Que. Olivier Moreau and Ross Rivest are adding the location to their existing store in Sainte-Julienne.

RONA has partnered with two Canadian NHL teams for the 2024-2025 season: the Montreal Canadiens and the Edmonton Oilers. The company, which has supported the Montreal Canadiens since 1993, is carrying on the tradition this year and will be its official game co-presenter on the Montreal-based RDS sports channel.

The Onion Lake Group of Companies, owner of the Castle location All Nations Building Supply in Onion Lake, Sask., has acquired T&L Custom Cabinets GP in Lloydminster, Alta. T&L has served the area since 1987. Among its specialties is the design of custom kitchens and cabinets.

TIMBER MART has announced Cathy Tétreault as its 2024 Local Leader of the Year. She will receive an $18,000 grant for her local community to help educate and advocate for youth. Tétreault was nominated by her local TIMBER MART store, Matériaux Audet in Quebec City, for her work as director of Maison des jeunes de Duberger.

Montreal’s RONA Quincaillerie Rachel is now RONA Séguin & Legault following its acquisition by new owner Jacques Ifrah. The store was founded in 1971 and the change came into effect in June of this year. In the coming months, Ifrah plans to undertake renovation and modernization projects to maximize the 2,000-square-foot sales area and add a small-truck delivery service.

Giant Tiger Stores Ltd. held the grand opening of a new location in Camrose, Alta. The 15,600-square-foot-store opened on Sept. 21.

Doman Building Materials has made a donation to the Red Cross Alberta Wildfire Appeal. The contribution supports relief efforts for communities impacted by the wildfires in Alberta. The program provides critical support, including emergency shelter, food, water, and medical assistance.

The annualized rate of housing starts fell by 22 percent in August to 217,405 units, down from 279,804 units in July. In urban centres, there have been 149,922 actual housing starts year-to-date between January and August. That compares to 143,229 for the same period in 2023, meaning actual housing starts are currently five percent higher this year. (StatCan)

The value of building permits surged 22.1 percent to $12.4 billion in July, rebounding from two consecutive monthly declines. Residential permits rose 16.7 percent to $7.6 billion thanks to a major increase in the multi-family sector. Single-family permits declined by 1.9 percent or $50.3 million. (StatCan)

Investment in building construction decreased 1.7 percent to $20.9 billion in July, following increases in May and June. Year over year, investment in building construction rose 7.0 percent. With declines posted in both the residential and non-residential sectors. Residential construction spending was down by 2.2 percent to $14.6 billion in July. Overall, single-family home investment decreased 2.2 percent million to $6.7 billion. (StatCan)

The Peak Group of Companies has named Jeff Kinnaird as CEO and president, effective Oct. 1. He succeeds Peak’s founder, John Gross (shown right), who is stepping away from day-to-day operations to take up the position of executive chair.

Kinnaird (shown left) was instrumental in Peak’s ascent. In 1998, Kinnaird was managing the Nanaimo, B.C., Home Depot, having started out as a lumber associate two years earlier. Peak was a Vancouver-based start-up selling holders for four-by-four posts, and Kinnaird was in search of a product that could withstand west coast weather. He took a chance and contacted Peak.

From that initial $50 order, Peak evolved into a major vendor-partner of Home Depot, which is the exclusive North American retailer of Peak’s home reno and outdoor living products. Peak’s products now number more than 1,000. “It’s a great brand, a great business, and a great connection,” Kinnaird told Hardlines.

Kinnaird’s own star also rose through the years. He went on to serve as president of Home Depot Canada from 2016 to 2020, then moved to Home Depot’s head office in Atlanta as executive vice-president of merchandising before leaving the company last year. His experience there makes him a known quantity to Home Depot’s partners at Peak as the two companies prepare to mark 25 years of their business relationship this December.

The incoming CEO points out that Peak is “well positioned” in the fast-growing private-label business. “Its strength is around innovation. Its strength is around creating value for the consumer and that helps establish the brand.” Peak’s emphasis on innovation, Kinnaird adds, “is what held my interest in Peak over all these years.”

Speaking to Hardlines, Gross was equally enthusiastic about the “great match.” Kinnaird’s “spirit for competition lines up well with Peak’s objective to win,” he said.

Home Hardware, Canada’s largest dealer-owned home improvement retailer, hosted its annual Homecoming event for dealers and vendors from Sept. 12 to 14 at the Enercare Centre in Toronto.

The ever-popular event, formerly called the Home Hardware Dealer Market, provided vendors and dealers with previews of the latest products and trends. It also served as an opportunity to highlight Home Hardware’s 60th anniversary.

This third Homecoming show in Toronto highlighted three particular categories: seasonal, small appliances/housewares, and the company’s own BeautiTone paint line. Home Hardware promised some exciting news on the latter soon.

Displays in the seasonal category showcased new colour trends for 2025. In everything from outdoor dining and bistro tables and chairs to conversational sets and hanging basket chairs, there is a definite trend towards browns and neutrals.

Small appliances and kitchen products were also featured. Home Hardware’s exclusive private label brand, Omni, displayed all things portable for heating, cooling, dehumidifiers, and electrical.

In the kitchen category, Mosaic brand cookware and bakeware were proudly showcased. What’s new for this brand is its move to a manufacturing location in Prince Edward Island.

“We’re really excited to bring dealers in and get those Canadian-made items in the stores,” said Home Hardware’s public relations assistant manager Clare Little. “That’s the Home Hardware charm. We’re a Canadian company, and we want to sell Canadian items.”

Kitchen designs and bathroom vanities exhibited high-end design looks—as well as wallpaper, which will also be trending next year. The displayed products featured a plethora of highly artistic patterns and finishes.

At its latest dealer convention in Chicago last month, at which the company celebrated its centenary, Ace Hardware in the U.S. unveiled a new store concept, ELEVATE³ Ace. A 13,000-square-foot model store for the Elevate³ concept was right in the midst of the show floor.

Calling it an “immersive store design,” Ace says it “marks a fundamental shift in the Ace store model” that “has proved to boost both the customer experience and drive store growth.” Ace says ELEVATE³ Ace represents a US$1 billion investment.

The new concept transforms a store, or the front of a store if it’s a building centre, with focused departments in four categories: paint, power, backyards and barbecue, and home preservation. It will be rolled out over the next five years.

“Elevate³ Ace is not just a new store format: it’s our vision to become famous for four things in the neighbourhoods we serve,” said John Venhuizen, Ace Hardware’s president and CEO, in a release. Focusing on its dealers’ strengths as local providers, the four home categories are considered destination categories that a local dealer can own, while differentiating them from their big box competitors. The new look puts those departments front and centre as customers walk in the store.

At the heart of the concept is the importance of making Ace stores not only places to get products and ideas, but destinations to connect for expert personal advice.

Here are the key features of the ELEVATE³ store model:
Premium brand showrooms. The new look puts a spotlight on strong national brands, especially ones that fall into the program’s central categories of paint, outdoor living, and power. These brands are showcased in their own departments, with aisles devoted to offerings that include Weber, Traeger, Big Green Egg, Craftsman, DeWalt, Milwaukee, EGO, and Stihl. The brand-name products are merchandised alongside adjacencies that offer a full assortment for each category.

Enhanced customer service. The new concept relies on the personal touch, focusing on delivering customer service, all the while staying on top of new and evolving trends in consumer shopping patterns.

Inspiring and stimulating store design. The flagship store model includes an outdoor space with a live goods display, as well as a grilling space for demos and events to create an aspirational backyard experience.

New assortments and features. Ace retailers will benefit from new product assortments and features designed to drive sales and enhance the overall consumer shopping experience.

“We believe in the power of local, and this initiative strengthens our community ties by creating experiential spaces that are not only places to shop but also places to connect,” Venhuizen added.

The Home Depot is tackling the growing problem of organized retail crime (ORC), calling it “a large-scale, multi-jurisdictional operation where criminals steal merchandise from a retailer with the goal of re-selling the stolen goods.” The Home Depot is tackling the growing problem of organized retail crime (ORC), calling it “a large-scale, multi-jurisdictional operation where criminals steal merchandise from a retailer with the goal of reselling the stolen goods.” The retailer has posted a video hosted by Scott Glenn, Home Depot’s vice-president of asset protection.

“It’s not the average person coming in and stealing one item and walking it out the door for personal consumption,” says Glenn. “It’s a well-organized orchestrated organization—not your typical opportunistic shoplifter.”

According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, ORC has caused more than US$125 billion in lost economic activity in that country. It has also triggered a loss of more than 650,000 jobs, affecting retailers of all sizes. Glenn says Home Depot is pushing for federal legislation to combat the problem.

In Canada, a similar trend has emerged. Retailers are taking increasingly creative steps to combat theft, but balancing security with customer service is a delicate act. Last fall, Toronto police launched an awareness campaign, saying that such crimes were becoming more frequent—and more violent. “These crimes are in fact costing all of us because they drive up the prices on products that we purchase on a regular basis,” Toronto Police chief Myron Demkiw said at the time. He claimed that an estimated two out of five retail crime incidents were violent in nature.

In Winnipeg, police increased their presence around storefronts last spring, in part out of concern for the danger that armed shoplifters can present to retail staff. That concern has some retailers turning to such measures as placing wheel locks on shopping carts, executing random receipt checks, and erecting metal or plexiglass barriers. And the move to self-checkouts has been walked back by many retailers, often due to the increase in thefts.

Theft from hardware stores has doubled in the past decade, according to data collected by AQMAT, the Quebec hardware and building materials association. AQMAT president Richard Darveau recently told Radio-Canada that tools, including power tools, are particularly appealing to shoplifters, along with anything containing copper.

Whereas someone who can’t afford groceries might once have stolen from a supermarket, “it’s even more profitable to steal something they don’t really need and resell it on platforms like Marketplace and Kijiji,” Darveau said.

In the U.S., some retailers have been forced to close certain locations as they were overwhelmed by theft. In May 2023, both Nordstrom and Whole Foods closed some of their stores in San Francisco, blaming crime and the city’s deteriorating downtown. One year ago, Target announced it would close nine stores, citing rising theft and violence against its workers in areas where those stores were located.

Glenn at Home Depot is pushing the U.S. government to get more involved. “What we’re advocating for now is the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act (CORCA), which is a federal bill to say, first and foremost, there is a crime when you cross state lines and sell stolen products. It would also help create more resources for investigation and prosecution.” The bill is currently before the U.S. Congress.

(The rise in retail theft, including ORC, is one of the key trends identified in the 2024 Hardlines Retail Report. It breaks out the sales, market shares, and sales forecasts of the key home improvement banners in Canada, conveniently packaged in 140 PowerPoint slides. Click here to order your copy today. And yes, as a Premium Member of the Hardlines Family you get a big discount on your order.—Editor)

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

Leviton has announced the appointment of not one but two chief operating officers “to better align its resources with the company’s strategy and future growth,” the company said in a release. Effective mid-August, Bob Becker was promoted to COO of electrical and Ross Goldman was promoted to COO of network solutions. Becker was previous EVP and GM of the residential business unit. Goldman previously held the title of EVP and GM of the network solutions business unit.

DID YOU KNOW…?

… that the Hardlines Retail Report is ready to make your marketing plans for 2025 way easier? Yup, this incredible piece of research quantifies the size of the industry and breaks out the sales and market shares of your biggest customers—or competitors! Home Depot Canada, Home Hardware, RONA, and Canadian Tire are analyzed in depth, while all the key home improvement banners in Canada are assessed and measured. Plus: forecasts for the year ahead, ready-to-go in 140 PPT slides. Proprietary to Hardlines, this info is not available anywhere else. Click here to order your copy today!

RETAILER NEWS

Castle Building Centres Group has welcomed its newest member location in Quebec. Revêtements des Laurentides inc. serves the suburb of St-Eustache and surrounding area on Montreal’s north shore. Owner Jean-François Lapointe has operated the company since 2008 alongside his wife Catherine Cloutier, his brother Jean Philippe Lapointe, and his friend Olivier Girard. The business specializes in exterior siding, steel roofing, decking, and exterior railing. Under the Castle umbrella, it plans to add garage doors, exterior doors, and windows to its lines.

Canadian Tire Corp. has been recognized as one of the World’s Most Trustworthy Companies by Newsweek for the second year running. CTC was ranked as the most trustworthy Canadian retailer, one of just two Canadian companies (along with Pet Valu) to make the retail category. Newsweek, in collaboration with Statista, evaluated companies according to the criteria of investor, customer, and employee trust. Other retailers recognized include Tractor Supply Co. and Costco Wholesale Corp.

Dealer-owners Richard Latreille and Nathalie Solomon celebrated the grand re-opening of their RONA Maloney store in Gatineau, Que., on Aug. 22. Renovations over the past year have added about 4,500 square feet to the store, which now boasts a total sales area of some 12,000 square feet. It features an expanded bathroom and kitchen selection, including appliances, and more seasonal products and wood-burning stoves. A total of 1,000 new SKUs have been added.

Dollarama reported Q2 earnings of $285.9 million, up 18.6 percent from $245.8 million a year earlier. Revenues rose by 7.4 percent to $1.56 billion while comp sales increased by 4.7 percent. The Montreal-based discount retailer opened 14 new stores during the quarter.

Alimentations Couche-Tard is seeking talks with Seven & i Holdings after the Japanese convenience giant rejected Couche-Tard’s $38.5 billion acquisition bid. Seven & i, which operates the 7-Eleven banner, said Couche-Tard’s all-cash offer was not in shareholders’ interests and could create problems with competition regulations in the U.S.

Novik, Derby Building Products’ brand of stone siding and polymer shake siding, has partnered with building materials distributor Gentek. Through this collaboration, NovikShake and NovikStone will be available across all 22 Gentek locations. Based in Burlington, Ont., Gentek’s locations range from St. John’s, N.L., to Nanaimo, B.C.

Ledvance has renewed its licensing partnership with the Osram brand for lamps in general lighting. In addition, the licensing partnership will be expanded to include luminaires in general lighting outside of China. The new deal carries the trademark licensing partnership for general lighting lamps beyond 2026 and well into the next decade. Since 2016, Ledvance has been the exclusive licensing partner for the Osram and Sylvania brands in the field of general lighting.

The latest edition of Hardlines Dealer News hit inboxes last week. In this issue, we explore UFA’s new value-format store, Castle’s growing commercial business, and TIMBER MART’s own commercial channel. Hardlines Dealer News is monthly and it’s free: click here to subscribe now!