Personnel Updates
Do It Best has announced the promotions of Cindy Hixson to Merchandise Manager Home & Hardware and Jenna Post to Merchandise Manager Store & Office Supplies, Toys & Games.
Home Depot announced that as of February 1, 2016, Marc Powers Executive VP U.S. Stores has left the company and was replaced by Ann-Marie Campbell.
La-Z-Boy announced that James Chickini has been named VP Real Estate.
Mattress Firm announced that Adam Blank, the previous CEO and General Counsel of Sleepy’s, will now be President for Sleepy’s.
National Nail announced Greg Hartmann is the new General Manager Northeast Region.
PRO Group announced the hiring of Trent Kauffman as Merchandise Manager. Kauffman will be managing electrical, home hardware and garden.
Industry Insight
Sherwin Williams is celebrating its 150th anniversary. The company’s founder Henry Sherwin invented the first premixed paint in a resealable can backed by a quality guarantee.
Tractor Supply announced with the grand opening of their newest location in Odessa, TX on February 13, 2016, the company now has 1,500 locations.
Mergers and Acquisitions:
Amerhart Ltd. has acquired Lumberyard Supply. Amerhart will serve lumberyard and industrial customers from the new location in Missouri.
Mattress Firm has completed the acquisition of Sleepy’s as of February 5, 2016 for $780 million. Mattress Firm now has approximately 3,500 locations and annual sales of $3.6 billion.
Lowe’s has acquired Canadian based RONA for $2.3 billion. RONA has a total of 496 stores, 236 are company owned and 260 are dealer owned and also nine distribution centers. Lowe’s will continue to distribute to the dealer owned locations. Lowe’s has plans to maintain the headquarters in Boucherville, QC and to continue with RONA’s multiple retail store banners.
Rocky’s Ace Hardware has acquired Rogers Ace Hardware location in Bath, ME. This will be the first Rocky’s Ace Hardware in ME.
Real Estate
Bob’s Discount Furniture has opened five new locations in Illinois on February 11, 2016. The locations opened in Aurora, Burbank, Orland Park, Skokie and Villa Park.
Costell’s Ace Hardware will open two new locations in April. The first location will open April 8, 2016 in North Bellmore, NY and the second location will open April 15, 2016 in Lincoln Park, NJ. With the addition of the two new locations the company will have a total of 24 locations.
Sears has opened a Sears Hometown store inside Nelson Ace Hardware store in Selma, CA on January 28, 2016. This is the fourth Sears Hometown store to open so far this year. The other locations are located in Fayetteville, GA, Mason City, IA and Caribou, ME.
TW Perry announced the move of their headquarters from Gaithersburg, MD to Silver Springs, MD as of February 29, 2016. The headquarters will be located at 9015 Brooksville Rd. The new facility will allow the company to expand their business and includes a design center, a larger modern hardware store and lumber yard.
West Elm will be opening a new location in Greensboro, NC in the fall of 2016. The location will occupy approximately 9,000 sq. ft. at the Friendly Center.
Financial Focus
The Sherwin-Williams Company Paint Stores Group, reported full-year consolidated net sales of a record $7.20 billion, up from $6.85 billion from the prior year.
Tractor Supply announced FYE December 26, 2015 sales of $6.23 billion an increase of 9.0% over 2014 FYE. As of FYE December 26, 2015, the company operated 1,488 locations in 49 states.
