Recovering from a violent incident or disaster in the workplace can take months, but having a plan and sources of help prior to the event can make the process smoother.

Employees’ emotional reactions to a violent event in the workplace begin within the first few minutes after the event, said experts from AlliedBarton security services during an April 2012 webinar, “Regaining Your Ground: Resilience After a Workplace Violence Event.”

Home Depot’s Craig Menear, executive VP merchandising, shared details and data from a first quarter that saw double-digit comps in certain seasonal product categories.

Overall, Home Depot saw comp-store sales increase 5.8% in the first quarter of strong sales and earnings growth.

An Indiana hardware store gained some notoriety last week when a photo of a motorized barstool went viral on the Internet. But for the last three years, Hardware Plus, a Do it Best dealer in Osceola, Ind., has been making any number of unusual motorized vehicles, according to an article in the South Bend Tribune.

The world’s largest retailer is taking steps to display its home improvement prowess through a digital marketing campaign centered on a “Projects Made Simple” area at Walmart.com.

Millwork Products LLC, a Paducah, Ky.-based firm, has opened a new location in Wilkesboro, N.C. and hired most of the former workers of a closed Jeld-Wen facility, according to an article in the Winston-Salem Journal. 

The other day, an HCN editor received an email from Cambridge -- the one in England. A senior analyst and Ph.D. was asking for an example of an adhesive, paint or sealant product that has “transformed the market.”

Two thoughts came to mind.

When it comes to designing and communicating employee benefit programs, employee input and involvement can be a boon. After all, one of the best ways to gain buy-in for and to communicate employee benefit programs is to use peer-to-peer interaction. If a group of employees supports these programs and makes it a point to tell other employees, organizations can build buy-in for programs and changes more readily.

Oldcastle Architectural, a leading producer of concrete masonry products in North America, has renamed its high-density, pre-finished architectural concrete masonry unit Cordova Stone, according to a company announcement. The rebrand is part of the company’s research and development in artisan stone veneers.

An event organized by the PRO Group from 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, N.Y., and R3 Redistribution – Metro South in Perth Amboy, N.J. Both distributors are affiliated with PRO Group, Inc.

Last year, the original 50 Home Channel News Hardware Store All-Star honorees established a high bar and a hard act to follow. But the 2012 crop rises to the challenge. This year’s Hardware Store All-Stars, one from each of the 50 U.S. states, have at least one thing in common: Ask them what makes them special and you can bet they’ll include “excellent customer service” in the answer. From there, every path to stardom is unique.

The 2012 crop of Home Channel News Hardware Store All-Stars marks the second year of the state-by-state accounting of high-performance retailers. The common theme of “excellent customer service” runs through the entire list, but that’s just the beginning.

Here are the first three on our alphabetical listing:

One year ago it was just a set of blueprints, but Menards first location in Kentucky -- a megastore measuring more than 200,000 sq. ft. -- opened on May 1 in Owensboro, Ky., according to an article in the Messenger Inquirer.

Menards will be the first store to operate in the 67-acre Heartland Crossing shopping center. Designs for that $45 million development feature building pads for restaurants, banks, offices and a hotel.