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.

Whether it’s a product designed to bring efficiency to the home, save time for the DIYer or allow a consumer a chance to feel good about buying a Made-in-the-USA product, show organizers have taken steps to give permanence to the show-floor activity.

The May 1 to 3 event at the Las Vegas Convention Center will see a few new twists.

For the first time at the show, a “Made in the USA Pavilion” will showcase domestic-made products.

By the end of March, Ace Hardware Corp. will convert 13 hardware stores owned by 10 different retailers to the Ace banner. 

The 13 stores will continue to be part of the local buying group Ferrmax, but will end ties with True Value, according to Ace.

“These excellent retailers are a welcome addition to the Ace family,” said Bob Moschorak, president of Ace Hardware International Holdings.

Mike Clark is already looking ahead to Christmas. 

During Chicago-based True Value’s 2012 Spring Market general session last month, Clark, the co-op's senior VP and chief merchandising officer, told member retailers: "We know you're looking ahead to fall and winter and thinking about what's going to help you drive your sales."

Chicago-based True Value CEO Lyle Heidemann had some good news for dealers gathered in Orlando, Fla., during the general session of the co-op's 2012 spring market. Sales were up, he said. So are expectations. 

For the year ended Dec. 31, True Value revenue increased 3.4% to $1.86 billion, as the co-op is riding a wave of consecutive quarterly sales increases that now extends to five. Full-year earnings for the co-op were $60.3 million, down 0.7% from $60.7 million in 2010.

In his first market presentation to True Value retailers, the co-op's new VP marketing and chief customer officer Blake Fohl laid out a plan for -- what else? -- improved marketing. 

He also promised improvements to True Value Rewards (TVR).

From coast-to-coast to yet another coast, Chicago-based True Value Company recognized 14 True Value hardware stores as winners of its annual "Best Hardware Store in Town" award.

This year's list included a Bermuda retailer, marking the first time a member outside of the United States was honored by the award.

“Our vision is to help every True Value be the ‘best hardware store in town,’ and these 14 stores represent what it takes to exceed customer expectations,” said Lyle Heidemann, president and chief executive officer of True Value Co.

When True Value retailers assemble in Orlando, Fla., Feb. 20 to 22, the Chicago-based co-op will invite retailers to audition for its television campaigns. 

According to Chris Taylor, True Value's director of communications, the one-day-only open auditions for camera-friendly retailers will be among the highlights of the co-op's market event. The retailers selected will play roles in the co-op's national advertising campaign in 2012.

A True Value store in Walnut, Calif., a suburb of eastern Los Angeles, has begun its liquidation sale and will close within the next 90 days, according to an article in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.

Walnut True Value Hardware has been operated by Stuart Tielens, a 64-year-old businessman who eventually succumbed to his customers’ lack of spending from the poor economy and competition from a Home Depot that moved in two years ago.

As founder of the home channel’s leading Internet retailer of power tools, Don Cohen of ToolKing.com has as good a perspective as any on the trends shaping the power tools market.

His observation: “Faster, smaller, cheaper, better — that’s where products are going,” Cohen said. “There are more technology-enhanced products that are better looking, and better working, than ever before.”

Store design and the art of packing high-volume sales in a small space was one of the front-and-center topics at the True Value Market in Philadelphia.

The company's Destination True Value (DTV) initiative -- its store design and merchandising concept -- came to Philadelphia in a new package that measured just over 5,200 sq. ft. The concept store, on full display at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, included 50% less lineal feet than the medium-size DTV format, but had 68% of the SKU count, according to the co-op.