Ace Hardware CEO Named Retail Radical by The Robin Report

In its annual awards for innovation in the retail field, John Venhuizen was one of handful of executive honorees. “What is more radical than leading a 100-year-old brand into the future by reinventing the legacy hardware store model?” asks The Robin Report, the newsletter for executives in the retail field. It just awarded its Retail […]

Remembering Bernie Marcus’s Invention of the Modern DIY Retailer

The passing of the legendary co-founder of Home Depot earlier this month reminded the industry of his role in creating the biggest retailer in home improvement. When Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank were fired from the long-since-forgotten Handy Dan home improvement chain, it started a process that led to the creation of a $150 billion […]

Home Depot Defends Corporate Work-in-Store Mandate

When the giant home improvement chain told its corporate staff they need to work shifts in its stores, it set off a controversy. It wasn’t the first big company to do so but Home Depot’s renewed policy requiring all corporate employees to work an eight-hour shift in one of its stores every quarter has met […]

True Value Being Acquired by Do It Best

It’s yet another change in the home improvement and repair retail sector that will impact building materials suppliers. The upheaval in the retailing business continues with the news that True Value Co., the brand for more than 4,500 independently owned and managed outlets, had agreed to sell itself to a major competitor Do It Best […]

Home Depot and Lowe’s Forecasts Lowered by Analyst Firm 

Comments from the two giant DIYers have caused analysts to lower their forecasts for the immediate future.  They were the outliers in the retail world, continuing to remain optimistic while their brethren were less positive about the outlook going forward. And now, they too are a little more pessimistic. Home Depot and Lowe’s, the giant […]

Construction Equipment Rentals Remain Strong

Commercial construction continues to be the driving factor in the strength of the construction equipment rental market, according to a new report from financial services company TD Cowen. “Non-residential construction equipment rental rates remain strong, although commercial office continues to be pressured,” TD Cowen, the research arm of TD Securities wrote in a new report. […]