April 24, 2017 Volume xxiii, #17

“Blues means what milk does to a baby. Blues is what the spirit is to the minister. We sing the blues because our hearts have been hurt, our souls have been disturbed.”
—Alberta Hunter (African-American jazz and blues singer, 1895-1984)


IN THIS ISSUE:

  • Ace Canada team takes shape amidst move to Lowe’s Toronto-area offices

  • Orgill begins shipping from Post Falls DC, promising freight reduction to Western Canada

  • Unique products, including bees, help Peavey’s expansion with new Winnipeg store

  • Gypsum dealers still feel the impact of tariffs in Western Canada

  • PLUS: Two new RONA stores, Richelieu buys Ontario company, Ace Canada lead merchant, Christine Joannou promoted at MAAX, Wal-Mart to buy Bonobos, CanWel sells shares, Grainger results, U.S. housing starts, and more!

Ace Canada team takes shape amidst move to Lowe’s Toronto-area offices

TORONTO — Following the announced closing of Ace Canada’s Winnipeg operations later this year, Ace’s operations are in the process of relocating, mainly to Lowe’s Canada’s Toronto-area offices. That facility, known officially as Lowe’s customer support centre, is also in the process of moving from its original digs in Toronto to 5150 Spectrum Way, Mississauga, Ont. The move-in is expected to happen by May 1. The new offices will have new phone numbers as well. (Watch the pages of HARDLINES for further updates. —Editor)

Bill Morrison, who has headed up Ace (and its previous incarnation as TruServ Canada) since 2004, is moving to Toronto. His title is divisional vice president. Also moving: Guy Lichter, director, dealer support. Reporting into the Mississauga office, he will continue to travel extensively to the various regions across the country. Debra Raven, who heads up training for Ace Canada, will also move.

New to the Ace team is Kim Leclair, who has just joined Ace Canada as merchandising director. Her retail merchandising background includes Ikea, Hudson’s Bay, and, most recently, Home Depot Canada.

Ace’s management includes Christian Roy, VP of shared services and operations, who will spend his time travelling between Boucherville, Mississauga, and Winnipeg; and Josée Desrosiers, Ace’s director of business development, who remains based in Boucherville. Her team of business development managers consists of Tony Perillo for the West, Chris Morton, Ontario, Marc Blouin, and Serge Vezina in Quebec and the Eastern regions.

 

Orgill begins shipping from Post Falls DC, promising freight reduction to Western Canada

MEMPHIS — Orgill, Inc. has announced that its Post Falls, Idaho, distribution centre is now fully operational and serving customers throughout Western Canada. Because of the efficiencies created by the new facility, says Orgill, retailers throughout this region can expect an immediate 25% reduction in their freight costs, as well as shorter delivery times and more efficient service.

“We are very pleased that customers throughout Western Canada will now have access to a broad assortment of products that they can have delivered in a timely manner and in a very cost-effective way,” says Ron Beal, Orgill president, chairman and CEO. “By locating a facility this far west, we are able to offer a significant savings to retailers on freight costs.”

According to Randy Williams, Orgill’s general manager of distribution, dealers can also expect faster order turnaround times. Customers in British Columbia will receive their deliveries within two days, Williams says. Trucks will service Alberta and Saskatchewan customers within three business days of their orders filling.

Using Orgill’s own truck fleet to deliver the majority of shipments out of Post Falls also offers benefits to customers, Williams says. They will be able to rely on a familiar driver and a consistent pre-scheduled delivery route. Customers will also benefit from heated trailers to protect product from damage due to freezing temperatures.

The Post Falls facility is Orgill’s seventh distribution centre overall and, together with the London, Ont., DC, provides service to Orgill’s retail customers throughout Canada.

 

Unique products, including bees, help Peavey’s expansion with new Winnipeg store

RED DEER, Alta. — Peavey Mart’s second Winnipeg location will carry on the company’s agricultural focus when it opens this fall. The new location is closer to home for the many customers who travel from the south end of the city to the existing store.

The primarily rural chain is known in Western Canada for offering everything from honeybees to baby chicks.

Peavey began importing live bees from Tasmania, one of only a handful of regions from which bees can be brought into Canada, about three years ago. At the time, it “seemed like a crazy idea,” Peavey’s customer experience director Jest Sidloski told the Winnipeg Free Press. “But our customers said there just weren’t many places across Western Canada where you can get bee supplies. So we got into it and it’s been successful year after year after year.”

The Winnipeg store represents continued greenfields expansion by Peavey Industries, following the acquisition last year of a controlling interest in TSC Stores, a farm and hardware retailer based in London, Ont.

 

Gypsum dealers still feel the impact of tariffs in Western Canada

SPECIAL REPORT — While Canada’s international trade regulator has upheld complaints made by a domestic drywall manufacturer about the dumping of U.S. gypsum in the Western provinces, the ruling continues to impact Western dealers.

The original complaint was filed by CertainTeed Gypsum, which has six gypsum board manufacturing facilities in Canada, including plants in Vancouver, Calgary, and Winnipeg.

The Canadian International Trade Tribunal found the dumping injurious to the domestic industry and recommended imposing final duties, which were initially as high as 276%. However, a final ruling by Finance Minister Bill Morneau reduced those tariffs.

In an effort to support rebuilding efforts in Fort McMurray, the tribunal suggested that the government could grant a special remission to alleviate the effect of the tariffs on rebuilding efforts in the wildfire-affected area.

However, the impact on dealers remains onerous. According to Dave Boyce, general manager of Delroc Industries, his dealers are facing shortages in Western Canada, where most of his group’s dealers are located. “We’re seeing some Atlantic Canada board come into British Columbia,” he says, as a result of both high costs and lessening availability in the West. “It’s been pretty disruptive to the industry.”

Doug Skrepnek of WSB Titan, which has locations across the country, warns that a lot more board will come in from Eastern Canada. And though the cost of gas, trucks, and other logistical considerations will increase the cost, it’s still cheaper than board in the West because it has no tariff. “It’s not the way it should have gone,” he says of the CITT ruling. “Titan is taking a massive beating.”

 

DID YOU KNOW…?

...that space is running out at our upcoming Meet the Buyers Breakfast? This amazing event will feature Lowe’s top buying influences for its Lowe’s, RONA, and Reno-Depot stores. It’s being held at the Hilton Mississauga Meadowvale Hotel on April 26. (Click here now to see who’s coming and to reserve your spot right away!)

RETAILER NEWS

BOUCHERVILLE, Que. — Lowe’s Canada has opened two new RONA stores in Quebec, in Saint-Félix-de-Valois and Rouyn-Noranda. This investment of more than $4 million will create 21 jobs in Saint-Félix-de-Valois and 30 jobs in Rouyn-Noranda. The Saint-Félix-de-Valois store has an area of nearly 19,300 square feet, plus a 13,000-square-foot indoor lumber yard. For its part, the RONA in Rouyn-Noranda takes up 32,000 square feet of space, in addition to a 90,000-square-foot lumber yard. The Saint-Félix-de-Valois opening included a photo and autograph session with NASCAR racer Alex Tagliani, whom Lowe’s Canada is now sponsoring.

TORONTO — Canadian Tire Corp. continues construction of its distribution centre in Bolton, Ont., about an hour northwest of Toronto. The development, which initially met with resistance from locals, is slated to be open by the third quarter of this year. It will operate in parallel with Canadian Tire’s existing DC in Brampton, Ont., until it is fully operational.

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Wal-Mart is in the final stages of negotiations to purchase men’s clothier Bonobos for some $300 million, according to an anonymous insider source. The start-up began as an online operation in 2007, but has since added bricks-and-mortar stores. Its products are also carried in Nordstrom’s department stores.

 

SUPPLIER NEWS
MONTREAL — Richelieu Hardware Ltd. has finalized its purchase of Weston Premium Woods Inc., a Brampton, Ontario-based distributor. Weston distributes a range of materials, decorative products, and hardwoods targeted to a customer base of kitchen and bathroom cabinet, storage and closet, home furnishing, and office furniture manufacturers, as well as residential and commercial woodworkers. The acquisition is Richelieu’s first this year and represents additional annual sales of about $60 million.

VANCOUVER — CanWel Building Materials Group Ltd. has closed the sale of 6,598,470 common shares at a price of $6.10 per share, worth $40.25 million. The net proceeds of the offering will be used to fund a reduction of CanWel’s revolving credit facility, which is expected to be used for future acquisitions, and for working capital and general corporate purposes. The company is evaluating additional acquisitions of U.S. and Canadian pressure-treated wood operations. Only hours after the announced share offering was announced, The Futura Corp. bought up most of the shares. Futura is a Vancouver-based private asset management and investment company owned by Amar Doman. It’s the principal shareholder of CanWel.

CHICAGO — Wholesale supplier Grainger reported first-quarter sales of $2.5 billion, a 1% increase over the first quarter of 2016. Net earnings for the quarter were $175 million, down 6%. Sales increased 1%. Operating earnings of $295 million for the quarter declined 7%.

 

ECONOMIC INDICATORS
U.S. housing starts in March were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,215,000, 6.8% below the revised February estimate of 1,303,000, but 9.2% above last March’s rate of 1,113,000. The rate of single-family housing starts was 821,000, 6.2% below the revised February figure. Building permits, at a SAAR of 1.26 million, increased 3.6% from the previous month and 17% from the same time last year. (U.S. Bureau of Statistics)

 

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE
At Lowe’s Canada, Kim Leclair has been appointed the new merchandising director for Ace Canada. Leclair joins Ace with more than 25 years’ experience with national retailers. Most recently the merchant for storage and organization at Home Depot Canada, she has also worked in the merchandising divisions at Ikea and Hudson’s Bay Co.

Christine Joannou has been promoted to director of sales, retail for Canada at MAAX Bath. She was formerly key account manager for retail sales at the Lachine, Quebec-based tub and shower maker.

 

OVERHEARD…
“If I was only in the drywall business—only in drywall—in Western Canada, I’m not sure Titan could continue.” —Doug Skrepnek, of WSB Titan, a gypsum drywall supplier, on the continued high costs and decreasing availability of drywall in Western Canada.


CLASSIFIED ADS