August 6, 2018 Volume xxiv, #31

"Do not read, as children do, to amuse yourself, or like the ambitious, for the purpose of instruction. No, read in order to live.”
―Gustave Flaubert (French novelist, 1821-1880)

SUMMER PUBLISHING SCHEDULE: Please note that HARDLINES is published only once in August. There will be no issues on August 13, 20, and 27. We resume our regular

publishing schedule with our September 3 edition. However, the World Headquarters remains open during this time, should you need to contact us!

INSIDE OUR BIGGEST SUMMER READING ISSUE EVER:

Store Operations

• Home Hardware will invest in supply chain improvements to drive future growth
• Hardware stores reflect diversity of communities they serve
• Home Depot’s Pickering, Ont., store celebrates 10 years of innovation
  
  

International Perspectives

• spoga+gafa garden fair: a must-attend for this fast growing sector
  
  

Housing Market Indicators

• CMHC identifies vulnerable spots in Canada’s real estate market

Big Picture Trends

• Luxury market offers opportunities for dealers willing to step up the experience
• Big boxes turn to task automation to reduce labour costs

PLUS: Giant Tiger celebrates more grand openings, BMR prepares for seasonal dealer show, Canadian Tire plans home-delivery rollout, Amazon will open another Canadian fulfillment centre, Uniboard invests in Val-d’Or facility, Dy-Mon Sales adds to sales team, Gaumond resigns from Continental, Armstrong reports Q2 profits, home resales plummet, results slip for Mohawk Industries, lots of Classified Ads and more!

Home Hardware will invest in supply chain improvements to drive future growth

ST. JACOBS, Ont. ― Home Hardware has announced improvements to its supply chain with the intention to move forward with an automated material handling system. 

The project, in partnership with Dematic and Manhattan Associates, has been a part of ongoing efforts by the company to optimize its supply chain and reinforce the strength of the co-op wholesaler in distribution. The investment is intended to position the company for future growth.

“I am very pleased we continue to invest in our state-of-the-art distribution systems with updates to our material handling equipment at our St. Jacobs facility,” says John Dyksterhuis, vice-president, distribution. “Our strength in distribution is one of the best in Canada and we are proud to continue to provide excellence to both our dealers and our customers.”

The project is set to launch in the third quarter of this year with a targeted completion date of July 2020.

Hardware stores reflect diversity of communities they serve 

SPECIAL REPORT — If there was ever a home improvement professional who embodies the phrase “in the right place at the right time,” Danny Tse is it. Back in 2007, when RONA went looking for a manager for its new store in the heart of the emerging Chinese community in the northeast corner of Toronto, it only made sense to find a person who shared their heritage and could speak their language. Tse was the perfect choice.

“I speak Cantonese and Mandarin; I learned at home when I was growing up,” Tse explains. “In this store, it’s essential. I would say about 90% of our customers are Asian.”

Of course, cultural heritage wasn’t the only credential that qualified Tse for the manager’s job at the RONA McNichol store. Tse got his start in the home improvement retailing business working part-time at Canadian Tire. He stayed at that job right through college, where he would study urban planning in preparation for a very different career. When the time came to start that career, though, Tse realized where his true calling lies.

“I just always loved retail,” Tse says. “I like the pace of the retail environment. I have a real passion for it—every aspect of it—and I really love being able to meet the needs of a community that I have been a part of since I arrived in Canada from Hong Kong as a child.”

In response to the demographics of the local market, the McNichol store features in-store signage in Chinese to help customers navigate their way around. In addition, there are numerous associates on staff able to assist customers in Cantonese and Mandarin, as well as Tamil and Hindi.

“We have to cater to the local communities if the store is going to succeed,” says Tse. “If you just throw up a cookie-cutter-type home improvement store in a market like this, it would never connect with the people. When I’m hiring, I also try to look for team members who reflect the face of the community we serve.”

Tse has become somewhat of a home improvement guru for Toronto’s Chinese community. In addition to managing what has become a destination store for Chinese immigrants across the GTA, Tse hosts a weekly home improvement radio show in Cantonese where he fields questions from homeowners. “They call me the Chinese Mike Holmes,” laughs Tse. “But it’s all about connecting with the community, educating consumers and providing people with the support they need to make good buying decisions.”

(This is an excerpt of a larger feature that appears in the current edition of our sister publication, Hardlines Home Improvement Quarterly. HHIQ is mailed to 11,000 dealers, owners and managers. Click here to get your own subscription today!)

Home Depot’s Pickering, Ont., store celebrates 10 years of innovation

PICKERING, Ont. — Home Depot’s store in Pickering, Ont., will celebrate its 10th anniversary next month, marking a significant milestone at the time in the growth of the country’s largest home improvement retailer.

In 2008, Home Depot Canada had 175 stores in all 10 provinces. However, fully half those stores were located in Ontario, where the company had first established a foothold with five stores in 1994. The Pickering store, which opened September 4, 2008, was part of a new wave of sites for the Atlanta-based chain. It was the third to open with LEED certification, reflecting state-of-the-art energy saving methods of the time.

Those features included: a reflector roof to deflect the rays of the sun, which lowered air-conditioning demands; light fixtures with photocell sensors that worked on timers; and sensor-operated faucets and toilets to conserve water.

The Pickering store was also Home Depot Canada’s third project store, a merchandising concept that had previously been developed at stores in Richmond Hill, Ont., and Markham, Ont.

Today, Home Depot has 182 stores in Canada, with estimated annual sales of about $8 billion and employs some 30,000 people (source: the 2018 Hardlines Retail Report, which features in-depth analysis of Home Depot, Lowe’s Canada and the other top retail banners in Canada).

spoga+gafa garden fair update

COLOGNE, Germany — For dealers doing a lot of business in lawn and garden, one of the world’s leading garden fairs, spoga+gafa, would be well worth a visit.

The show, held in Cologne, Germany, from September 2 to 4, will play host to an expected 39,000 attendees who will visit 2,900 exhibitors across the show floor’s two million square feet. The event takes place in several buildings at Koelnmesse, the giant trade fair complex across the Rhine from Cologne’s Old Town.

Under the theme, “Outdoor Furniture Trend Show”, this year’s spoga+gafa will present the trends of the coming season. A special event entitled “Icons of Outdoor Furniture” will present the bestselling and most stylish garden furniture available from today’s designers and suppliers.

Other trends to watch for at spoga+gafa 2018:

• Gourmet fans are really coming into their own in the outdoor kitchen, as products are becoming increasingly higher quality. Besides the classic charcoal grill, the market is offering mobile solutions for the balcony and emission-free and electric grills.
• Colour is in with bright benches, cool dining chairs or elegant pillar-shaped pots adorning the home outdoor landscape. Hip carpets with a dash of colour are also taking off. Dramatic colours of chairs are an example here. Among the palette of red shades, cherry tomato leads the way. 
• Table tops developed with thin materials exude a weightless appearance. Graceful design, visual lightness and high functionality are trending for the coming season. Appearing minimalist at first glance, many seating options are equipped with practical features, including adjustable backrests or comfortable covers using synthetic fibres. 
• Fully equipped outdoor kitchens are the trend for open-air cooking. Many high-quality, modular spaces where the barbecue, sink and work top can be combined are on offer. Smokers are still the rage and these are often integrated into appliances that offer multifunctional handling options.
• Watch for new twists on outdoor lighting at spoga+gafa this year. Rechargeable wireless lights are in high demand. Splash-proof loudspeakers for music systems and a combination sound bar, cool box and lighting system are among the products that will be featured at the show.

Looking ahead at the future of outdoor furniture, the show will highlight the latest functional and innovative products—all with an eye to sustainability as well as comfort, ergonomics and flexibility. (Click here for more information about spoga+gafa; or contact Darrin Stern, Koelnmesse’s director of new business development for North America.)

CMHC identifies vulnerable spots in Canada’s real estate market

OTTAWA — Canada’s overall housing market remains highly vulnerable, a trend that has now persisted through eight quarters. Based on data as of the end of March and market intelligence as of the end of June, a new report from CMHC, Housing Market Assessment, identifies the trends within some key markets, primarily due to evidence of over-valuation and price acceleration in Toronto, Vancouver, Victoria and Hamilton.

In Vancouver, moderate evidence of overheating was detected, although price growth has been slowing considerably over the last two quarters, and has even turned negative in some areas. Declining prices for detached properties in some areas, particularly Vancouver’s West Side and West Vancouver, are due to high inventories that have accumulated thanks to continued falling sales volumes.

Evidence of overbuilding remained high in Calgary, but the peak inventory count for apartment units, the largest share of inventory, occurred in December 2017, and has since declined. The absorption rate of condos at completion averaged 83% year-to-date as of May 2018 compared to 67% in the same period last year. This has helped reduce inventory and mitigate the same buildup of inventory experienced in 2017.

Evidence that the growth of house prices in Saskatoon was accelerating remained low in Q1 2018. Among housing categories, the resale prices for single-family, townhouse and apartment units all declined in Q1 2018 from Q4 2017, and were down on a year-over-year basis. Compared with the same quarter the previous year, the price decline during the first quarter of 2018 was significantly larger among townhouses, where supply was far exceeding demand.

Evidence of over-valuation in Winnipeg has changed from low to moderate, as the combination of rising house prices and declining incomes has created some imbalances. Real personal disposable income levels have decreased year-over-year for the third consecutive quarter, while mortgage rates have started to increase from historically low levels.

Despite price growth slowing down across the Greater Toronto Area, lower house prices would have to persist longer in order for CMHC to discount any evidence of price acceleration. In nearby Hamilton, the market has also remained healthy. While over-valuation decreased on average, moderate evidence of over-valuation remained as house prices were still considerably higher than expected. Population growth remains a key driver of housing demand in Hamilton.

In Montreal, the seasonally adjusted sales-to-new listings ratio was close to 69% in the first quarter, which is barely below the problematic threshold of 70%. This ratio increased for a seventh straight quarter and this maintained significant pressure on prices.

With Halifax enjoying 12% year-over-year sales growth as of the end of May, the sales-to-new listings ratio continues to increase, climbing to 62%. As this remains well below the threshold of 85%, the Halifax market still exhibits low evidence of overheating. The average number of days on market has been on a downward trend throughout 2018, with homes selling more quickly in all Halifax sub-markets.

Overall, there is a low degree of vulnerability for the Moncton region, as the indicators of over-building, price acceleration and over-valuation remained below the thresholds that correspond to problematic conditions. However, monthly house sales in the Moncton area, buoyed by increased immigration and improved labour market conditions, are setting records, while listings remain at historical multi-year lows and continue to fall. Resale price growth can be expected if demand continues to outpace supply.

Luxury market offers opportunities for dealers willing to step up the experience

SPECIAL REPORT — Market researcher and speaker Pam Danziger has published several books examining high-end purchasing behaviour in a post-recession market, the most recent being a short book on what she calls the “HENRY” phenomenon. These “high earning, not yet rich” professionals have the means to dabble in luxury goods and services but aren’t yet living such an elevated lifestyle full-time.

In Shops that POP: 7 Steps to Extraordinary Retail Success, Danziger teams up with freelance writer Jennifer Patterson Lorenzetti to explore the factors that drive thriving independent retailers.

While acknowledging the inherent challenges of the business, Danziger argues that existing independent merchants have one common advantage: their survival of the Great Recession, which winnowed out the mediocre. Those independent retailers who remain, therefore, are the best of the bunch, who have stood the test of natural selection.

Another trend working in favour of the independent retailer, according to Danziger, is shoppers’ increasing abandonment of large shopping centres. This tendency leaves an opening for retailers who can offer a smaller, more personal experience. Independent retailers are also well positioned to become specialists in their area, creating opportunities for vertical integration by becoming a one-stop shopping destination for their customer base’s needs.

Danziger’s seven steps, illustrated by case studies, cover various facets of that ideal customer relationship. Many of those common themes will be familiar to readers of our quarterly magazine, Hardlines Home Improvement Quarterly, and its retailer profiles. “Involvement” and “curiosity” cover efforts to draw customers in and to give them an opportunity to interact with the store. Tips include appealing to all five senses, focusing on a specific area of expertise and using the storefront to arouse interest.

The third step, “creating a contagious, electric quality” includes hiring passionate staff and sticking to inventory the team can get excited about. “Convergence” involves making store design tell a coherent story that drives the product. “Authenticity” of concept means having a mission beyond simply moving product—for example, not simply selling clothes, but helping the customer to invent their personal style.

Danziger’s steps don’t neglect the basics: price and value are still important. That means targeting the right customer profile, emphasizing value and making judicious use of strategies like discounts. Finally, “accessibility” includes training staff to greet customers, and not overcrowding the retail floor.

Big boxes turn to task automation to reduce labour costs

INTERNATIONAL REPORT — Across the retail landscape, more big boxes are relying on task automation to reduce labour expenditures and enable employees to interact directly with customers, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Target says it plans to add cash-counting checkout machines to 500 stores this summer. The machines count customers’ cash, “but they also allow stores to digitally bank their cash and predict how much money is needed for each cashier’s shift,” the article says.

Target employees who previously worked at checkouts will be assigned to other positions. This change presents “the opportunity to have those same team members spend even more time helping our shoppers,” a Target spokesperson says in the article.

Walmart is also relying on technology to free up employees’ time. The company will use robots in stores next year to review inventory to notify employees about items that are low in supply or out of stock.

Walmart is also examining ways to speed up inventory delivery to its stores, the article says. The company will install automatic conveyor belts in backrooms to facilitate the unloading of delivery trucks. The conveyor belts will cut the number of employees needed to unload a typical truck in half, from eight employees to just four.

The Journal reports this addition will allow Walmart to spend more money on “pickers,” employees who fulfill online orders and deliver those purchases to customers waiting in designated areas.

DID YOU KNOW...?

... that you can now find out the market share, sales and forecasts for Home Depot, Canadian Tire, Lowe’s Canada? Yup, the 2018 Hardlines Retail Report is now available, with in-depth analysis of the country’s top hardware and home improvement players and breakdowns of the Top 20 retail groups. With 200 PowerPoint slides, it has more trends analysis and more forecasts than ever. Click here for details and to order your Hardlines Retail Report now!

RETAILER NEWS

BOUCHERVILLE, Que. — BMR's new dealer show will be held later this month. The wholesaler and buying group will hold its first Imports and Seasonal Products Trade Show August 28 to 29 in Boucherville. The company says the show is intended to compensate for the increasingly long delivery times faced by its overseas suppliers, in order to ensure all dealers receive their merchandise in plenty of time for spring. Among the categories to be showcased are patio furniture, barbecue, garden decoration and accessories.

OTTAWA — Giant Tiger celebrated the grand opening of its Riverview, N.B., store late last month. The 22,000-square-foot location marked the occasion with a day of family events and promotional giveaways. The Ottawa-based general merchandiser has been expanding aggressively since Target retreated from this country in 2015. The demise of Sears Canada has also opened up opportunities for more sites for the discount retailer. In April, Giant Tiger opened in St. Thomas and Renfrew, Ont., and in Steinbach, Man., in May. In November 2017, it opened stores in Brampton, Mississauga and Owen Sound, Ont.; and Winnipeg. The company now has 243 locations, up from 220 just two years ago.

TORONTO — Canadian Tire Retail has been testing its home delivery pilot for online sales in the Ottawa area through the first part of this year and it plans to expand the service across the country later this year. According to Canadian Tire CEO Stephen Wetmore, this is just one of the strategies that align with the company's goal to become the number-one retail brand in Canada by 2022.

MONTREAL — A "growth scenario", and not synergy, supported Lowe's acquisition of RONA, President and CEO Sylvain Prud'homme told the Canadian Club of Montreal earlier this summer, on the heels of the merger's second anniversary. Invited to speak on the topic of leadership development during periods of corporate change, Prud'homme stressed the expansion in staff and store openings in that time as well as RONA's 2017 comparable sales, the best in 13 years. He added that Lowe's Canada has kept the Boucherville, Que., head office as the base of decision-making and continues to privilege Quebec and Canadian suppliers.

TORONTO — The Reputation Institute has published the latest edition of "Canada RT50," the 50 most reputable companies as ranked by Canadian consumers. For the second year in a row, Google tops the list, while the top Canadian company is Mountain Equipment Co-Op at number five. Canadian Tire came in at number 14 and Home Hardware is in the 21st spot with 75.4.

SEATTLE — Amazon will open its ninth Canadian fulfillment centre in Caledon, Ont., and its sixth in the province. The one-million-square-foot facility is slated for completion by the end of next year. Amazon says it will create more than 800 full-time jobs.

SUPPLIER NEWS

LAVAL, Que. — Uniboard has announced an additional $38.5 million investment for its Val-d'Or facility, on top of a $53 million investment made in 2017. The latest round of upgrades is the second phase of a project to increase the facility's capacity and productivity of particleboard and thermally fused laminate. It will focus on screening, sifting, milling and intermediary storage equipment.

OTTAWA — A year after the U.S. slapped protective tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber, its own consumers are being hit the hardest, while Canadian producers have emerged relatively unscathed. While the last round of the softwood dispute saw widespread losses of jobs and mill closures in Canada, those fears haven't come to fruition this time. Instead, American consumers are picking up the tab for the cost of the duties.

QUEBEC CITY — Building products supplier Ply Gem has opened a new facility in Saint-Nicolas, Que. The new facility is situated to help the company provide easier product and service access to customers in Quebec. The new branch, which is the third Ply Gem location in the province and serves as a showroom, sales and distribution centre, carries a range of products, including Ply Gem windows and patio doors, Mitten vinyl siding, shake, stone, accents and other building envelope accessories.

MONTREAL — JRTech Solutions Inc., the Canadian reseller of Pricer digital price tags, is rolling out the electronic label technology in 20 more BMR stores. Installations are planned for 2018 with a total order value of $2.2 million. This brings the number of BMR stores using the technology to 40. Another 20 stores are expected to take on the electronic tags in 2019, as well, says Pricer. JRTech has been involved in more than 400 store installations with Pricer technology since 2009.

LANCASTER, Pa. — Armstrong World Industries reported Q2 profits of $66 million, a 5% decrease from a year ago, driven by costs associated with the closure of its St. Helens, Ore., facility. Excluding the St. Helens accelerated depreciation, operating income would have increased over the prior-year quarter by $2 million. Net sales rose 10% to $248.6 million, primarily due to higher sales volume from increased market penetration and new construction activity.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — W.M. Barr & Company, Inc., a specialty cleaning products maker whose brands include Goof Off, Mold Armor and Klean Strip, has acquired Spray & Forget, a brand in the outdoor cleaning market. Spray & Forget was invented to deal with black streaks on roofs, but has since been expanded into a full line of outdoor cleaning products. The products are reportedly eco-friendly, non-toxic and biodegradable. 

CALHOUN, Ga. — Mohawk Industries reported Q2 net earnings of $197 million and diluted earnings per share of $2.62. Adjusted net earnings were $263 million and EPS was $3.51, excluding restructuring, acquisition and other charges, a 6% decrease from last year. Net sales for the quarter were $2.6 billion, up 5% in the quarter and 3% on a constant currency basis.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

National home sales rose 4.1% from May to June. The number of home listings fell 1.8% from May to June. Actual (not seasonally adjusted) home sales activity in June was down a hefty 10.7% from the same month a year ago. The national average sale price edged down 1.3% year over year in June. The uptick in June follows a persistent downward trend, wherein May's level was down 0.1%, marking a five-year low for home sales.—Canadian Real Estate Association

NOTED

For the fourth year in a row, Amazon broke records on its own shopping holiday, Amazon Prime Day, which took place July 16. More than 100 million products were sold to customers across 17 countries. Online shoppers spent an estimated $4.2 billion, an increase of 33% over last year's event, according to estimates from Wedbush Securities Inc. Amazon says it now has more than 100 million Amazon Prime members worldwide.

OVERHEARD…

"At the national level, a high degree of vulnerability continues due to moderate levels of price acceleration and over-valuation. Regionally, we are seeing a fair amount of differences, for instance in major centres in Ontario and British Columbia, a high degree of vulnerability remains, while the Prairie and Atlantic markets range from moderate to low."
—Bob Dugan, chief economist for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., on the continued trend in many major cities of real estate markets to stay overvalued

OUT AND ABOUT

It's business as usual this next month, even though we aren't publishing HARDLINES. We're working on keeping you up to date through our Daily News sends and putting the finishing touches on our next Hardlines Conference in November. And we're also going to be moving! So if you need anything from us, let us know! But please be patient while we make this transition. As of August 15, you can find us at 330 Bay Street, Suite 1400, Toronto, Ont., M5H 2S8.

Dy-Mon Sales has added to its sales team, rounding out the agency’s representation in Western Canada, reporting to Dy-Mon’s partners, Harvey Dyck and Larry T. Bryant. Alan Graham has joined and is based in Vancouver. He has spent the last 28 years in the retail hardware and building supply market, first as a sales representative, moving on to regional responsibilities and as a retail sales manager for RCR in Canada. He was most recently a sales manager at Tree Island Steel. (alang.dy-mon@outlook.com).

Also at Dy-Mon Sales, Stephen A. van Kampen joins and is based in Calgary. A 15-year veteran of the industry, he started out as a buyer, then moved into regional sales responsibilities, and was most recently a national sales director for Lanart Rug Inc. (stephenv.dy-mon@outlook.com)

Stéphane Gaumond has resigned as general manager for Canada at Continental Building Products. Gaumond has been with the company, which was formerly Lafarge North America’s gypsum division, for 11 years. Previously he was sales director at Metrie.

Yoga wear maker Lululemon has named former Sears Canada CEO Calvin McDonald as its CEO. McDonald had been president and CEO of cosmetics giant Sephora for the past five years.

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