November 30, 2015 Volume xxxiv, #45

“Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.”
—Earl Nightingale (radio personality, author and motivational speaker, 1921-1989)

IN THIS ISSUE:

• Co-op Buymart celebrates 40th year and record attendance

• Sign of the times: Orgill name goes up on London, Ont., DC

• Canadian Tire dials back installed services

• Maritime DC one of a series of turning points for Home Hardware

• PLUS: Lowe’s DC grand opening; Coop fédérée to buy Co-op Atlantic assets, P.E.I. Home Hardware store, Roxul opens plant, Spectrum Brands, U.S. home sales, CHHMA names Hall of Famers, Global DIY Summit, Henkel wants to expand in U.S. —and more!

Co-op Buymart celebrates 40th year and record attendance

SASKATOON — Federated Co-operatives Limited celebrated its 40th year of hosting retail co-ops, independent dealers, and suppliers from across Western Canada at its Fall Buymart, held in Saskatoon from October 19 to 20.

It also turned out to be a record year, with more retail and suppliers than ever attending the semi-annual home and agro trade show that showcased hardware, building materials, soft goods, seasonal, housewares, crop supplies, fertilizer, and feed suppliers.

Retail co-ops benefitted from purchasing at special Buymart pricing, viewing new seasonal product lines in-person, getting the latest product information, learning from training, and finding unique opportunities to grow their businesses.
 
There were special presentations preceding the trade show and networking with fellow retailers throughout the two days, including a banquet and evening of entertainment. FCL reports that a great deal of excitement was generated by the re-launch of a private-label paint program, and a keynote address by former Toronto Argonauts star Michael “Pinball” Clemens.

The show remains an important buying show for the industry. A survey conducted after the Buymart, with both retailers and suppliers, revealed that 93% of retailers are “very” or “completely” likely to recommend Buymart to their colleagues and that 85% of suppliers are “very” or “completely” likely to recommend Buymart.

Sign of the times: Orgill name goes up on London, Ont., DC

LONDON, Ont. — Orgill Canada’s takeover of Chalifour Canada is now official, at least to look at the former Chalifour warehouse. A new sign, Orgill Canada, has appeared in front of the London, Ont., warehouse that was formerly the Chalifour facility—and the home of Sodisco-Howden and D.H. Howden before that.

Memphis-based Orgill is a full-line hardware wholesaler with five distribution centres throughout the U.S. It established a DC in Canada in 2013, in Mississauga, Ont., for products that could not move easily across the border, such as solvents and other hazardous chemicals.

Orgill is currently in the process of setting up its team and systems in Canada to work with the existing staff and operations at the London facility.

Canadian Tire dials back installed services

TORONTO — Canadian Tire stores managed to push sales up 1.5% in its third quarter, with same-store sales up 3.4%, reflecting strong seasonal and non-seasonal sales and a shift in sales mix, as the company’s installed business was pared back to re-focus on products that are sold exclusively within Canadian Tire stores. The concept, called Canadian Tire Home Services, was piloted three years ago and originally included HVAC, roofing, painting, garage door installation, and other services for homeowners.

Over time, the range of services was expanded in different regional markets, with nine more product categories added to the installation program. In the company’s 2014 annual report, the Home Services business was considered the number-six source of revenue for Canadian Tire, after gasoline and gas bar sales.

Earlier this year, the company scaled back its range of services. While garage door installation and temporary shelter assembly is still done, roofing and large-scale HVAC installations are no longer available. Instead, smaller, convenience jobs are more prominent. These include wall mounting for flat-screen TVs, children’s playground assembly, and toilet repair and replacement. HVAC is limited to putting air conditioners in a homeowner’s window.

Maritime DC one of a series of turning points for Home Hardware

TORONTO — Home Hardware Stores saw growth through a series of turning points, one of which was the construction of a distribution centre in Debert, N.S., almost four decades ago. It was, says Home Hardware CEO Terry Davis, an important step in helping the dealer-owned co-op grow to national status, by giving it the ability to effectively serve Atlantic Canada.

Around the same time, a group of dealers in the West approached Home asking for more supply there. The result was a DC in Wetaskiwin, Alta., south of Edmonton.

Davis, speaking at the Hardlines Conference back in October, outlined a total of 10 key turning points for the company. Another one, he says, was the acquisition in 1987 of 55 stores from Revelstoke Home Centres. It was the first time Home made an acquisition of any kind; all of the stores were switched to the Home Hardware banner.

That deal anticipated an even larger deal more than a decade later, when Home acquired Beaver Lumber from Molson Cos. That acquisition brought over a network of stores and individuals from head office with additional expertise in retail. “When we bought Beaver Lumber we became a true building supplies company,” Davis says.

A real wake-up call for the company was the introduction of the North American Free Trade Agreement. The belief at the time was that the borders would come down and retail would become a North American play. “All we thought about NAFTA was that Ace was going to come to Canada and it was going to clobber us.” One outcome of that was a strategy to prevent the feared loss of dealers. Home Hardware put in place a five-year payout for dealers who left the organization. Until then, that payout had been only 48 hours.

FROM THE ARCHIVES: This week in 1995

Amidst a slow economy, TIM-BR MART Group invests in more store design services for its members. The move is aimed at modernizing their stores, with an emphasis on core categories and heavier branding for the TIM-BR MART name. The group’s sister buying group in Atlantic Canada, AWARD, was using the program already. Plus: a report on the upcoming Canadian Hardware Show, which was to be held at the Canadian National Exhibition. Click here to read these blasts from the past! Please let me know if you’d like us to continue with “From the Archives” in 2016. Send me an email with your vote!―Michael)

DID YOU KNOW…?

RETAILER NEWS

VAUGHAN, Ont. ― Distribution Lazure in St-Urbain-Premier, Que., has joined TIM-BR MART Group. Owned and operated by Marcel Billette and his son, Joel, the business employs about 20 staff, serving contractors and home builders in Quebec’s Monteregie region. “TIM-BR MART’s competitive and transparent buying programs will allow us to increase our gross margins,” says Billette. “We look forward to maintaining our independence while taking advantage of TIM-BR MART’s programs and services.” This newest member will benefit from TIM-BR MART’s affiliation with the Spancan hardware buying group and access products through TIM-BR MART’s building materials distribution centre in St-Nicolas, Que., says Daniel Rioux, TIM-BR MART’s regional director of member services for Quebec.

TORONTO — Lowe’s celebrates the grand opening of its new Milton, Ont., distribution centre tomorrow. Mayor Gordon Krantz will join Lowe’s Canada executives and employees for an official board cutting and community grant presentation, followed by a 45-minute guided tour of the new facility. With 1.3 million square feet of space, 197 bay doors, and a fully automated conveyance system, the new centre will be fully operational in time for the holiday rush.

MONTREAL ― La Coop fédérée has signed a deal to buy the majority of Co-op Atlantic’s agricultural assets. Through its Agri-business Division, La Coop will take over feed mills in Moncton, N.B., and in Truro and New Minas, N.S., along with the Farm Supply and General Merchandising division. The deal is subject to approval by the Competition Bureau.

ST. JACOBS, Ont. — Stratford, P.E.I.’s Home Hardware will close its doors on December 16, the parent company has announced. Home Hardware opted to shutter the store after failing to find a local entrepreneur to take it over. The closure leaves 11 stores in the province operating under the Home Hardware banner.

SUPPLIER NEWS
BYHALIA, Miss. — Roxul USA affiliate Rockfon, a subsidiary of Danish-based Rockwool International, has confirmed plans to build its first North American acoustic ceiling manufacturing facility in the United States. The facility will be located in Marshall County, Miss., adjacent to the current Roxul USA factory, approximately 30 miles south of Memphis, Tenn. The new Rockfon facility represents an initial investment of approximately $40 million. Construction of the 130,000-square-foot facility is expected to begin in early 2016 with production expected to begin mid-2017. The new facility will employ approximately 100 people.

COLOGNE, Germany — Registration is now open for the 4th Global DIY Summit, a conference for European and North American home improvement retailers and suppliers. The DIY Summit will be held June 8 and 9, 2016, in Stockholm, Sweden. This year the motto of the event is “A Disruptive World−New Trends in Home Improvement.” Topics will include: connected home, new challenges in the digital world, leadership performance, and an examination of home improvement around the world. Early bird registration is available until March 15, 2016.

MIDDLETON, WIS. — Earnings for Spectrum Brands Holdings fell 45% on higher expenses, stemming from the consumer-products company’s recent acquisitions and other one-time items during the fourth quarter. At the same time, the company reported a sales leap of 11%. Overall for the fourth quarter, Spectrum Brands reported a profit of $26.6 million, down from $48.1 million a year earlier.

FRANKFURT — Henkel’s Q3 operating profits increased by a higher margin than anticipated, with a gain of 12.3% to €778 million ($1.12 million). CEO Kasper Rorsted noted the Russian and American markets were areas of improvement. Rorsted wants to see the firm’s brands expand in the U.S. “We need to consistently become bigger in the U.S.”

ECONOMIC INDICATORS
Sales in the U.S. new single-family houses in October were 495,000 at a seasonally adjusted annual rate, up 10.7% from September and up 4.9% from October 2014. New home sales jumped 10.7% from the previous month. Strength in new housing sales was offset by a 3.4% drop in existing home sales. The median sales price of new houses sold in October was $281,500; the average sales price was $366,000. The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of October was 226,000, which represents a supply of 5.5 months at the current sales rate. (U.S. Commerce Dept.)

Following four months of gains, retail sales fell 0.5% in September to $43.3 billion. Sales were down in eight of 11 subsectors, representing 60% of retail trade. Sales at building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers advanced 0.4%, though the level of sales remained below the all-time high recorded in May. Retail watcher Ed Strapagiel notes that the figures represent a “soft” trend leading into the holiday shopping season, bad news for store merchandisers, who rely on holiday sales the most. (StatCan)

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE
The Canadian Hardware & Housewares Manufacturers Association will induct three industry veterans into its Hall of Fame in 2016. Vaughn Crofford, the association’s president, announced that Home Style magazine founder Laurie O’Halloran, Bill Calisina of Bissell Canada, and James Mumby of Dynamic Paint Products will form the 32nd cohort of honourees. The three will be inducted at a luncheon during the CHHMA Spring Conference in April.

Coast Distributors has appointed Anthony Snell to its management team as purchasing manager for all three warehouses in British Columbia. He will work with re-buyers in each location and manage Coast’s new Surrey office and warehouse. He’ll also oversee the three Coast sales reps and the warehouse staff in the new Surrey location, a major step for the company in its push to be a complete hardware supplier on the West Coast. (604-371-1341)

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