The syndicated home improvement talk radio show “The Money Pit” crossed the 300-affiliate mark. The show’s newest markets include El Paso Texas; Huntington W.Va.; Savannah, Ga.; and Reno, Nev.

The Money Pit, heard in many of the country's top markets including New York, Atlanta, Orlando and Providence, R.I., added more than 20 new stations in the first quarter of 2012, breaking past the 300 affiliate station threshold. 

An event organized by the PRO Group April 24 to 26 brought together 25 distributors from around the country to tour two warehouse facilities and share new developments in distribution operations.  

The tours took place at Reiss Wholesale Hardware Co., Inc. in Brooklyn, New York and R3 Redistribution – Metro South in Perth Amboy, N.J. Both distributors are affiliated with PRO Group, Inc.

What does ENAP stand for? Either you know it or you don’t. The answer: “Everyone Needs A Profit.” And to Stephen Sallah, president of the New Windsor, N.Y.-based co-op, it’s anything but trivial. “As a co-op, you can’t lose money,” said Sallah, who joined ENAP as CFO in 2008 and rose to the CEO title in September. “Somehow at the end of the day, you have to be able to return something in the black back to the dealers.” ENAP has done that, he said.

Renewable Resources (Energy Solutions) Ltd launched operations in North America to provide roof-mounted solar technology for residential & commercial customers across New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Connecticut. 

As a result of Renewable Resources origins in Scotland, the launch is timed to coincide with Tartan Week 2012, a series of events in New York City celebrating Scottish culture and innovation in the United States.

According to an article in BuffaloRising.com, a small-format Ace Hardware store is slated to open close to downtown Buffalo in a building next to a paint store. 

Owner Paul Leahey, president of Schuele Paint Co. in Buffalo, described the 3,000 square-foot store set to open by Memorial Day as a “first class hardware store.”

Costello’s Ace raised $10,000 for the Muscular Dystrophy Association’s (MDA’s) Make a Muscle … Make a Difference program last month. 

The Deer Park, N.Y., operator of 19 neighborhood hardware stores on New York’s Long Island raised the funds by collecting donations that were recognized by shamrock decorations displayed throughout the store.

Melville, N.Y.-based Leviton, manufacturer of electrical devices, promoted Marvin Hagemeier to the position of director of commercial and industrial sales for the Western Region.

Hagemeier joined Leviton in 1985 as an electrical distribution sales representative in East and Central Texas, and was promoted to Electrical Distribution Sales Manager for the Dallas District in 1992. In 2010 he assumed the role of South Central Regional Sales Manager.

Hagemeier will succeed Izzy Oleinik, who after a career of 23 years with Leviton, retired on January 1, 2012.

In New York, Long Island Business News reported that Lowe’s took a bath on a real estate deal involving a proposed Long Island store.

According to the newspaper, the Mooresville, N.C.-based home center giant paid some $26 million for a piece of property formerly owned by Pall Corp. But it decided to sell when community opposition prevented a zoning change. According to the paper, Lowe’s recently sold it to St. Francis Hospital for about $16 million.

Consumer research from Port Washington, N.Y.-based NPD Group shows consumer perception of the economy increased slightly in March, compared with the prior month and the same month last year.

The March figure for the NPD U.S. Economic Perception Indicator measured 40.2, with 0 being “very concerned” and 100 being “very confident.”

Mike Henley, a Strober’s salesman whose battle with early onset Alzheimer's was chronicled in Newsday, died from complications of the disease at the age of 47.

Henley started his career in the LBM industry at the now defunct Channel home improvement store, in New Hyde Park, N.Y., in 1985. He was hired at Strober Building Supply as a salesman at the Farmingdale, N.Y., store. 

LBM dealers trying to deliver building materials into New York are wondering if they haven’t become a new source of state revenue, given the stepped-up enforcement of linkage laws by the Department of Transportation (DOT). Although the issue is being addressed in the New York State legislature by a bill brought forth by the Northeastern Retail Lumber Association (NRLA), lumberyard delivery drivers are playing cat and mouse with state troopers while their bosses are fighting $1,000 citations in court.