Personnel Update:
ABC Supply Co. has named Todd Buehl as VP and Chief Administrative Officer, a newly created position. Buehl will focus on continued growth, including acquisitions, real estate, risk management and internal process improvements.
Do it Best Corp. announced that two longtime executives have retired. Dave Haist, Exec VP and COO, and Dave Dietz, VP Finance, have been replaced by Dan Starr and Doug Roth — Starr as executive VP and COO and Roth as VP Finance.
Home Depot division CFO Scott Bowman has left the company to accept the position of Senior VP, CFO for sporting goods retail chain Hibbett Sports Inc.
Lowe’s Cos. announced that Michael K. Brown, Exec VP and CIO, has retired after almost 28 years with the company.
Lowe’s,Cos. announced that Kevin Summers, has been appointed CIO. He replaces Michael Brown, who retired recently.
Zeeland Lumber has named Mike Dykstra as the new CEO, replacing Herk VandenBosch as part of an orderly transition. Dykstra previously held the title of President. The transition is the culmination of two-year plan to allow VandenBosch to slowly exit from day-to-day duties and reduce working hours. VandenBosch will continue as a board member and also continue working as Exec VP Business Development.
Industry Insight:
Mead Lumber Co. has closed its Ashland, Neb., location. The 102-year-old lumberyard was not able to generate enough volume to make the business viable. Mead Lumber will now operate 36 stores in Nebraska, South Dakota, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Kansas and Oklahoma.
Menards is planning four stores in the Detroit market, where it currently has no presence. Menards hopes to open the stores sometime next year.
Menards will break ground this month on a new site in Garden City, Kansas.
The Menards store, which will encompass about 162,000 sq. ft., will be built on about 28 acres.
Rocky’s Ace Hardware will open a brand new store in Fairhaven, Mass.
Construction at the new site will begin immediately. The store is expected to be open in September.
ProBuild Holdings Inc., cut 127 corporate positions across its operations nationwide “to reduce costs and better serve customers. The job cuts were across all departments and geographic areas, although most of the cuts were administration positions, including jobs in finance and human resources.
Westlake Hardware closed an underperforming store in St. Charles, Mo. The store opened in 2007.
