CURRENT CONTENT | Photo essay: 2007 Ace Fall Convention & Exhibits | | | As an estimated 7,500 Ace Hardware store owners, managers and employees gathered in Denver for the company’s 2007 Ace Fall Convention & Exhibits. Ace CEO and president Ray Griffith, as well as other executives, pointed to a focus on growth and continued to describe the company’s accounting problem as a manageable challenge. Read more |
| Lead paint test kits: the must-have item for fall? | | | The story of toys glazed with lead paint has made major headlines in the past few months, leading many consumers to try to find ways to test for lead contamination on toys and other home items, such as dinnerware and costume jewelry. Read more |
| Top 350 Pro Dealer Scoreboard | | | When the Chinese Year of the Dog came to an end on Feb. 17, 2007, some pro dealers looked at their 2006 sales figures and saw an apt comparison. Sagging lumber prices and dwindling housing starts had a negative effect on many dealers’ revenues. But overall pro sales for the industry’s top 350 players, according to HCN’s annual survey, grew by 9.0 percent, to $55.98 billion. Read more |
| Home improvement projects: How to influence homeowners when it counts | | | "It is easiest to influence consumers as they are initially gathering information and forming opinions because their thinking is closest to a 'clean sheet of paper.' " So begins "In the Beginning," a research study by Consumer Specialists. The report, a 50-page PowerPoint and notes presentation, examines how homeowners begin to find information and contractors. Read more |
| Energy Star Bus Tour | | | Los Angeles will serve as the launch pad and first stop of a 10-city, coast-to-coast bus tour intended to spread the word about the Energy Star brand and energy efficiency. Read more |
| The importance of building a better brand through the Web | | | Home channel retailers, perhaps more than retailers in any other category, pour lots of resources into in-store customer service experiences, frequently highlighting friendly expertise for confused DIYers and better displays to help meet customers’ needs. But what about consumers who opt to make their purchases ... Read more |
| Lumberyard matchmaker: Q&A with M&A expert Larry Morgan | | | Pro dealers have witnessed a tremendous number of mergers and acquisitions since the early 1990s. In the last 15 years, Larry Morgan has been an active participant in 60 separate deals, an average of one every 90 days. Morgan, who ran Mountain State Acquisitions as ... Read more |
| Builders look for savings at PCBC | | | San Francisco -- Inspirational messages hung throughout PCBC 2007 last month, an attempt to lift the spirits of an industry suffering through an economic slowdown with no definitive end in sight. The banners urged attendees to refresh their business models, re-explore their markets and reconnect ... Read more |
| LBM co-op IBSA thinks big | | | Member-owned LBM buying co-op Independent Builders Supply Association (IBSA) has been on a roll, taking on 22 members with 38 locations among them so far in its current fiscal year. According to Tim Johnson, director of dealer relations, the key to the growth is adherence ... Read more |
ORGILL 2006 SPECIAL REPORT | Independent Focus - Major Milestone | | | In the genre of business milestones,nothing quite compares to the first dollar — unless it’s the first billion-dollar year.Orgill crossed that 10-digit threshold in 2005, with wholesale sales of $1.002 billion. Adding to its memorable year was an impressive growth rate — 14.3 percent over ... Read more |
| Whirlwind of Activity: DC in Hurricane, Utah, is a test lab for new strategies | | | Like all new distribution centers, Orgill’s facility in Hurricane, Utah, started as a tabula rasa, a place where the company could try out new ideas. Orgill seized the opportunity to do things differently in their first western DC, finished in 2005 to service dealers in ... Read more |
| Doing it their way: SF dealer seeks price, choice | | | Like all new distribution centers, Orgill’s facility in Hurricane, Utah, started as a tabula rasa, a place where the company could try out new ideas. Orgill seized the opportunity to do things differently in their first western DC, finished in 2005 to service dealers in ... Read more |
| West side story: Orgill continues to gain converts in its newest territory | | | As it continues to push past the Mississippi River, Orgill is finding itself faced with an unusual array of dealers, many of them different from the distributor’s customer base in the East. But Orgill has never been one to look for similarities and common denominators. Read more |
| Blazek Changes Gears: Texas dealer adapts to population growth | | | Forty miles south of Dallas in Ennis, Texas, Blazek Building Supply serves a community torn between two personas — the first is the face of a sleepy farm town, the “Bluebonnet City of Texas,” a destination with a few historical businesses and two competing farm ... Read more |
| Women at the Helm: Orgill’s LBM department defies stereotypes | | | When Beth Aureli, an LBM trader at Orgill Corp., makes a sales call to a new or potential customer, she sometimes notices a surprised tone on the other end of the telephone line. “Sometimes you get the feeling they’d prefer to talk to a man,” said Read more |
| Made to fit: Orgill customizes its offerings | | | Goodman’s Hardware has been a mainstay in the New York suburb of Teaneck, N.J., since 1933. It’s a big, warehouse-style hardware store without much glitz or glamour. But it’s one of those places that everybody knows and that area residents shop out of habit, or ... Read more |
| Stepping up to the plate: Revamped housewares compete with Target, BBB | | | Homes are being embellished as never before, with baubles in every size, shape and color to attract a more affluent baby boomer market, as well as savvy female home improvement shoppers. Retailers across the home channel now stock items that go way beyond convenience in ... Read more |
| Borrowing means bucks for Orgill customers: Orgill restarts its rental business | | | More than a year ago, Orgill identified a large opportunity that was available for its dealer-customers who ran rental programs in their stores. Essentially, a change was taking place as national rental chains began to cater their businesses more toward long-term builder and heavy construction ... Read more |
| The Orgill Wide Web: Keeping high-tech low-profile | | | Retailers, manufacturers and marketers are engaged in a constant struggle to keep their Web sites visible. They pump dollars into popular search engines and online advertisements. They relentlessly promote their dot-coms and all the content they have to offer. But, for the most part, Orgill ... Read more |
| Heart of the South: Employee volunteers work on spring build for Memphis Habitat for Humanity | | | This spring, 40 volunteers from Orgill’s work force traveled to the Frayser neighborhood north of Memphis, Tenn., to help build a new home in conjunction with the Memphis affiliate of Habitat for Humanity. “Our difficulties, being an urban affiliate in the South, are probably similar ... Read more |
| Historical annex: Wright and Wilhelmy date way, way back | | | When Orgill purchased the assets of Wright & Wilhelmy, a 135 year-old wholesaler, the deal brought more than just inventory to the Memphis distributor. Wright & Wilhelmy serviced retailers in seven states, with two of them — North and South Dakota — being new territory ... Read more |
| A match made in hardware: New York pro dealer Curtis Lumber finds long-term partner in Orgill | | | With a business that dates back as far as 1827 helmed by a fifth-generation owner, Curtis Lumber clearly knows a thing or two about running a pro dealer and home center business. But nearly eight years ago, the dealer ran into a dilemma when its key ... Read more |
| Selling tradition: Olde tyme store, modern niche | | | It’s like something out of a Norman Rockwell painting: a quaint village street, store shingles weathered by time, a barber shop with a hand-painted sign, and an old-fashioned hardware store where the owner knows you by name. The description applies to Allentown, N.J., Village Hardware, and ... Read more |
| Spanning the Globe: Orgill’s International Division delivers profits | | | Al Thompson Jr. has identified several keys to a successful home center and hardware store operation in the Caribbean. First, take your product research very seriously. Second, always factor in shipping time. Third, take inventory more often than the next guy. Thompson, the second generation owner of A.L. Read more |
| Orgill’s Fall Show preview: Q & A with Orgill’s Ron Beal | | | On Aug. 17, thousands of retailers from around the nation will gather at McCormick Place in Chicago to see the latest and greatest offerings from Orgill Inc. and its vendors at the company’s annual fall market. The sold-out 800,000-square-foot space will host hundreds of exhibitors ... Read more |
GOLDEN HAMMER AWARDS | 2006 Event | | | 22nd Annual Golden Hammer Awards
Hundreds of the nation’s leading home channel retailers and vendors came to Las Vegas on May 9 for the 22nd Annual Golden Hammer Awards. Nearly 550 industry executives attended the gold-standard event at the National Hardware Show to see ... Read more |
| List of Award Winners | | | COMMITTEE CHOICE AWARDS
Category management: P&G
Inventory management: 3M
New Product Innovation: Stanley
Quality Control: Schlage
Serving Pros: The Hillman Group
Vendor of the Year: GE
COMMUNICATION AWARDS
Business-to-Consumer: The Stanley Works
Packaging: M-D Building Products
Point-of-Purchase: Therma-Tru Door Read more |
| Home Channel Hall of Fame | | | Home Channel Hall of Fame:
Mike McClelland, President Emeritus, Do it Best
Mike McClelland, the 2006 inductee into the Home Channel Hall of Fame, ascended the ranks at Do it Best the old-fashioned way: through hard work and perseverance. He started at the co-op in ... Read more |
| Vendor of the Year: Jasco Products - GE | | | Vendor of the Year: Jasco Products – GE
First time was a charm for Jasco Products, which after 30 years in consumer electronics entered the hardware arena in 2005 and quickly earned top honors as Vendor of the Year. Leading up to the awards ... Read more |
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