ST. JACOBS, Ont. — Home Hardware Stores Limited has hired a new team of directors, all from outside the company, to fill the senior ranks of its merchandising teams. The new hires all report to Marianne Thompson, Home’s senior vice-president, merchandise.

The appointments are in line with other recent senior promotions in the merchandising team (see also “People on the Move” in this issue for changes in Home Hardware’s sales and operations teams—Editor). Thompson was hired in January 2019 and put in charge of LBM purchases, working alongside then-VP merchandise hardlines, Joel Marks. When Marks retired in June, Thompson was named SVP, merchandise for the entire merchandising team, and handed the portfolio for hardlines, in addition to her LBM duties.

Rob Szekszer joined Home Hardware in June 2019 as director, merchandise hardlines. He moves into the VP, merchandise role overseeing hardlines, effective September 8 and will report directly to Thompson.

The latest appointments draw from a range of Canadian retailers. Tara Spengen, who succeeds Brian Straus as director, merchandise hardlines, has spent more than 25 years in retail. Her experience includes ACI Brands Inc., Korhani Home, Walmart Canada and Hudson’s Bay Co.

Carol Crystal is taking over the position of director, merchandise hardlines, which was previously held by Dave Martin. Crystal’s nearly 20 years of retail experience includes time with Lowe’s Canada, Walmart Canada and HBC.

Craig Thompson was most recently a commercial planning and analytics leader at Walmart Canada. He will serve as director, merchandise hardlines, succeeding Szekszer.

Meriyem Kaf will fill the newly created role of director, merchandise strategy and execution. She brings 15 years of experience at Walmart Canada, Sobeys and AC Nielsen with a focus on category management optimization. Spengen, Crystal and Craig Thompson report to Szekszer. When she steps into her new role on September 8, Kaf will report to Marianne Thompson.

RED DEER, Alta. — Peavey Industries has announced it will convert its TSC Stores, all located in Ontario, to the Peavey Mart banner. Peavey gained a controlling interest in TSC in 2016 with an option to acquire the London, Ont.-based chain outright. It exercised that option and closed the acquisition at the end of 2017, a year ahead of schedule.

“We are eager to move forward with this conversion, strengthening our corporate brand while further streamlining our internal processes,” Peavey CEO Doug Anderson said. The conversions to the Peavey Mart banner are slated for completion by February 2021.

With the addition of the TSC stores, the Peavey Mart banner will comprise a network of 89 stores across the country.

Jest Sidloski, VP of marketing, customer experience and e-commerce at Peavey, said the decision to convert the TSC stores was not a given from the outset of the takeover, “but … we did a lot of things over the years to merge the companies and make efficiencies and [one] of the last pieces is that brand banner name.”

“It feels really natural to a lot of us,” added Scott Bennett, senior VP of merchandising. He reaffirmed the synergies across both banners. “We’ve been working for the last couple of years, really integrating two companies into one company.”

That included everything from buying—one team, under Bennett, now manages both TSC and Peavey Mart—to marketing and corporate culture. “All the different cross-functional groups have integrated into one team.”

MOORESVILLE, N.C. & ATLANTA — The Home Depot and Lowe’s Cos. both posted favourable Q2 results last month, buoyed by increased spending on DIY projects as public health measures limited options for entertainment outside the home. Despite each retailer investing more than $450 million in store safety and employee benefits, both logged increases in sales and profits that exceeded forecasts.

Home Depot’s sales for the quarter rallied by 23.4 percent, while U.S. same-store sales soared by 25 percent, the biggest increase in at least 20 years. The retailer reported net income of $4.33 billion, up 24.5 percent. The company enjoyed strong performance throughout its U.S. business as well as for Home Depot Canada, which reported record sales.

At Lowe’s Cos., sales rose by 30.1 percent to $27.3 billion, while same-store sales were up 34.2 percent. Net earnings soared by nearly 70 percent to $2.83 billion.

That includes positive comps for the Canadian business that exceeded 20 percent, “driven by … consumer focus on the home as well as strong execution by our new leadership team,” noted President and CEO Marvin Ellison, in a call to analysts.

Ellison also offered some indication of Lowe’s ambitions in Canada. “While we’re pleased with their efforts to serve the incremental demand this quarter, our Canadian team remains focused on the work ahead to improve operating efficiency while driving sales.”

With a greater proportion of DIY customers, Lowe’s in particular benefitted from the trend. Both Lowe’s and Home Depot gained market share at the expense of smaller competitors who struggled to keep inventory in stock. Significantly, sales were similarly strong for both chains across all regions of the U.S., regardless of how hard different areas were hit by COVID-19.

GENEVA — The World Trade Organization has ruled that the U.S. Commerce Department and the U.S. International Trade Commission erred when they imposed countervailing duties on Canadian softwood lumber in 2017. The U.S. has repeatedly attempted to introduce tariffs to offset Canada’s stumpage fee system, which it considers a form of unfair subsidy, but has been consistently rebuffed by international tribunals.

“This flawed report confirms what the United States has been saying for years: the WTO dispute settlement system is being used to shield non-market practices and harm U.S. interests,” U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said in a statement.

The U.S., under President Donald Trump, has yet to remove the tariffs, despite the WTO ruling. Lighthizer and his team criticized the process, saying the decision should have been left to “the reasoned judgment of the investigating authority, the U.S. Department of Commerce.”

However, Canadian lumber producers see it differently. “For three decades, we have been saying that the U.S. trade remedy process is flawed. Unfortunately, this is just the latest chapter in the ongoing attack on the Canadian lumber industry,” said Susan Yurkovich, president of the B.C. Lumber Trade Council.

The latest ruling by the WTO against the U.S. is consistent with conclusions that have been reached going back as far as the mid-1980s.

The dispute centres on the Canadian system of stumpage fees paid by foresters to the Crown for harvesting rights. In the U.S., softwood lumber is harvested on private land. In the eyes of successive U.S. governments, this means that the Canadian industry is unfairly subsidized and that countervailing duties on Canadian softwood lumber are therefore warranted. International tribunals have consistently ruled against such tariffs.

“Each of the prior two lumber disputes ended with neutral, international tribunals issuing rulings that forced [the] Commerce [Department] to rescind their flawed and unsupported subsidy findings for similar reasons,” Yurkovich added.

Darrin Sayles has been appointed senior director, national sales and operations at Home Hardware Stores Limited, joining the team on September 8. Most recently at Carter’s, where he held the role of senior director of retail sales and operations, Sayles has also held operational leadership positions at Campus Crew, American Eagle and Jean Machine. The four retail operations directors, Jeff Martin, Grant Allen, Tim Dietrich and Mario Durocher, and their regional teams will report into Sayles. All Ontario retail sales and operations managers will report directly to Allen, who is director for the central region. Dale MacPherson has been appointed senior director, store operations support. The business development team, formerly led by Dunc Wilson before his retirement earlier this year, was previously realigned to report directly to MacPherson. But MacPherson will now oversee construction and real estate, while continuing to provide support and oversight for the dealer application process.

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BOUCHERVILLE, Que. — BMR Group has added two new Quebec dealers to its BMR Express program. Quincaillerie Matériaux P.A. in Les Cèdres is making changes to the store’s façade over the coming months. Quincaillerie J.R. Grégoire is also making the switch, under the leadership of third-generation owner Delphine Grégoire, on the eve of the store’s 100th anniversary.

MOORESVILLE, N.C. — Lowe’s Cos. is set to open a new e-commerce fulfilment centre in Mira Loma, Calif., as part of its $1.7 billion push to update its supply chain. The retailer is also adding 20 cross-dock delivery terminals to its network before year’s end.

OAK BROOK, Ill. — Ace Hardware, through its international division, will enter the growing Mexican market. “The expansion of the franchise model in Mexico gives us a platform to further deliver on Ace Hardware’s legacy of providing local investment and ownership opportunities to entrepreneurs,” said Alejandro Lorenzo, VP of international business development at Ace International.

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Walmart’s online sales almost doubled in the second quarter, while U.S. same-store sales spiked by 9.3 percent. Net income for the quarter came to $6.48 billion. Revenues reached $137.74 billion. In Canada, net sales grew by 13.9 percent while comparable sales were up a full 14 percent.

SUPPLIER NEWS

BURNABY, B.C. — Taiga Building Products has developed an online B2B ordering, catalogue and administrative platform. Branded as TaigaNow, it allows for placement of orders at the user’s convenience. It is currently live and available to customers served by the Calgary and Saskatoon branches and will be added to more western markets before expanding eastward.

DELSON, Que. — Goodfellow has become Knauf Insulation’s exclusive distributor of residential insulation products for the LBM segment outside Quebec.

MEDINA, Ohio — Through its Rust-Oleum business, RPM International has acquired Ali Industries, LLC, a manufacturer of sandpaper and other abrasives. Based in Fairborn, Ohio, Ali Industries has annual net sales of approximately $75 million and operates commercially as Gator Finishing Products.

TORONTO — Softwood lumber prices have climbed aggressively recently as homebuilding activity made record gains in Canada and the U.S. The price of shares in West Fraser Timber Co., Interfor, Canfor, CanWel Building Materials Group and Norbord all logged 52-week highs on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

National home sales and new listings continued to rebound in July 2020. New listings hit their highest level on record for the month of July, while sales posted the highest level of any month in history. Sales of existing homes rose 26 percent on a month-over-month basis, the third consecutive monthly increase. (Canadian Real Estate Association)

Sales of new single-family homes in the U.S. logged a third consecutive major monthly increase and hit their highest levels since 2006. July’s sales were up 14 percent from June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 901,000 units, beating analyst expectations of 790,000 units. New home sales in July were up 36 percent from the year prior. (U.S. Census Bureau)

The value of building permits issued by Canadian municipalities fell three percent to $7.8 billion in July, entirely as a result of declines in British Columbia (-34.2 percent to $1.2 billion), Quebec (-15.1 percent to $1.5 billion) and Newfoundland and Labrador (-19 percent to $54 million). (StatCan)

NOTED

Only one in four small businesses are back to making normal sales, according to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. Its Small Business Recovery Dashboard shows that 63 percent of small businesses are fully open (up 10 percent since June), while 39 percent are fully staffed (+7 percent) and just 26 percent are making normal sales (+7 percent).