coverstory | TOP 100
The end
of the Tunnel
30
H A R D WA R E M E R C H A N D I S I N G
July/August 2010
W
Photo: Pierre Charbonneau
inston Churchill once famously said, “If
you’re going through hell, keep going,” and
you couldn’t find a more apt mantra for retailers in the hardware/home improvement
business in 2009. With the economies of
North America and the world still struggling to regain traction following the worst recession since the 1930s, last year proved to be
a study in persistence for businesses large and small.
Although 2009 ended with the economy on the upswing,
and 2010 is shaping up to be very much a recovery year, last
year began with prospects for the hardware/home improvement
industry, and the overall economy, looking decidedly bleak. According to Statistics Canada, steady growth in retail sales the first
three quarters of 2008 were followed by a sharp 8.7 per cent
drop in the fourth quarter as the recession finally began to take
hold in this country. In the hardware/home improvement industry specifically, StatsCan showed sales for building and outdoor
supply stores and home centres and hardware stores either flat
or up slightly in every month in 2008 except December, when
sales for those two retailer categories dropped 5.6 and 6.8 per
cent respectively. The December numbers signaled the beginning of a negative trend that would last almost an entire year.
The most striking feature of the results found in this year’s Top 100
Report is the virtual across-the-board decline in sales for retailers,
buying groups and distributors in 2009. However, when viewed in
conjunction with month-by-month and year-over-year general retail
sales and category specific sales figures from StatsCan, a negative result in the face of last year’s economic climate was really just par for
the course. Overall, we estimate that the Canadian hardware/home
improvement retailing industry contracted in 2009 by around 5.3
per cent, reaching a total sales volume of some $39-billion.
Although the Home Renovation Tax Credit, introduced in
February 2009 in the federal budget, did provide some incentive for consumers and a useful sales tool for retailers, it couldn’t
immediately reverse a downward trend that had been taking
shape for months beforehand. In fact, it was not until October
2009 that even one of the three industry-specific sub-categories tracked by StatsCan—building and outdoor home supplies
stores, home centres and hardware stores, specialized building
materials and garden stores—posted a positive year-over-year
sales number. It was December before all three categories were
showing year-over-year growth again.
There were exceptions to the rule, of course. Lowe’s Canada had
a huge growth year in 2009, adding nine more big box warehouse
stores to its rapidly growing roster of Ontario locations. Lowe’s had
16 stores in operation at the end of 2009, and the company will
finally cut the ribbon on its first locations outside of Ontario this
year. That rapid expansion pushed Lowe’s onto our list of the Top
20 Retailers & Buying Groups for the first time this year, and into
the top 10 on our list of the Top 50 Dealers and Retail Chains. As
Lowe’s continues to add stores in 2010, one has to start wondering
where all that market share is going to come from. —Ed.
As the global recession
finally hits bottom,
retailers begin the
long climb back
Compiled by John Caulfield,
Frank Condron and Stephen Payne
July/August 2010
HARDWARE MERCHANDISING
31
Embarking on a New World
Canada’s largest retailer moves into
phase two of its growth strategy
1. RONA
Boucherville, Que.
2009 Retail Sales: $6-billion
Points of Sale: 686
T
his spring, RONA’s CEO Robert Dutton sought to
assure jittery shareholders that their company had
“staying power,” and would continue to prepare for
future growth regardless of market conditions.
RONA celebrated its 70th anniversary in 2009,
which, in retrospect, could prove to be a transitional year for Canada’s largest home-improvement retailer and distributor. Perhaps
understandably given the economic climate last year, RONA’s
numbers for 2009 were far from good: the company’s consolidated
revenue was off by 4.4 per cent to $4.68-billion (this figure does
not include retail sales from independent affiliates - ed.), its same-
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H A R D WA R E M E R C H A N D I S I N G
store sales were down 4.8 per cent and its net income dropped
11.6 per cent to $138.3-million. Still, that financial performance
was a marked improvement over 2008, thanks in large part to RONA’s Productivity, Efficiency and Profitability (PEP) strategic plan,
launched in 2008, which focused on reducing inventory levels and
operating costs to achieve stronger gross margins.
RONA’s officers say their company is ready to pursue expansion more aggressively. On January 25, 2010, RONA’s fiveyear strategic plan shifted gears into what it’s calling its “New
World” phase, which over the next two years would place “renewed emphasis on growth” in both its new and existing stores.
RONA’s goal is to increase its market share of Canada’s homeimprovement sales, at 17.5 per cent in 2009, to 20 per cent by
2011. And it certainly got off to a good start in the first three
months of 2010, when revenue rose 12.5 per cent to $951.4million, same-store sales jumped 10.8 per cent, and net income
tipped north of $3-million, compared to a $2.5-million loss in
the same quarter in 2008.
July/August 2010
coverstory | TOP 100
Throughout 2009 and into this year, RONA—as much as any
of its competitors—has hitched its wagon to the green movement as a marketing vehicle. In February 2009, it expanded
its recycling program beyond paint to include the in-store collection of batteries and other hazardous household waste. The
following month, it launched a new advertising campaign with
the theme “Do it Right,” which RONA is using to demonstrate
its industry leadership, particularly in the area of sustainable
development and eco-friendly products. By May, the company
had come out with 50 new items under its ECO brand, with the
goal to reach 250 by 2011. In July, its stores stopped selling synthetic pesticides for household use. And in September, RONA
RONA sales by year
(in billions)
6.3
6.0
6
5
6.3
5.75
5.0
4
3
2
1
0
2005
July/August 2010
2006
2007
2008
2009
singled out five stores that would offer softwood lumber certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Its goal is for FSCcertified wood products to represent 25 per cent of all stores’
building materials inventory by 2012.
Dutton identified two “first pillars” of RONA’s New World
strategy. One was the launch, last November, of Studio by RONA,
a new deco-renovation specialty store concept. The company
touted Studio as the first of its kind to provide a retail solution for
three customer groups: consumers (especially women shoppers),
designers and professional painters. Three Montreal-area stores
invested around $1.5 million each to install the Studio concept,
which RONA is banking on to increase its share of Canada’s
$2-billion retail paint market. (The company is vague about the
timetable for Studio’s rollout, except that it will be added to stores
in Ontario and Western Canada over the next two years.)
The second “pillar” is aimed at attracting next-generation entrepreneurs to become storeowners. To that end, RONA announced
in December that it would invest $100-million over the next decade on succession plans and the development of young dealers.
The success of RONA’s New World strategy hinges on several assumptions: that the company’s same-store sales will increase by between 2 per cent and 2.5 per cent annually; that the
penetration of RONA’s private label and controlled brands will
grow to 24 per cent from 19 per cent; that its retail sales from
new recruits will add $100-million to $150-million in sales
annually; and that another $80-million in sales will be reaped
from new store construction and the relocation or expansion of
existing stores, as well as future acquisitions.
On that last point, RONA acquired two companies between
March 2009 and March 2010: Bishop’s Building Center in Bay
Roberts, Nfld., which it folded into its Chester Dawe banner; and,
through its Noble Trade commercial division, the assets of Plomberie Payette & Perreault, a specialized plumbing wholesaler.
Still, store additions and renovations by RONA and its dealermembers were relatively few last year. In early 2009, RONA renovated two Réno-Dépôt big boxes in Quebec—at a cost of $2-million for each unit—with that banner’s latest format. It opened a new
130,000-sq.-ft., $20-million Réno-Dépôt in LaSalle, Que., in April
2009, which replaced an older store. A 51,500-sq.-ft. Totem Building Supplies outlet opened in Strathmore, Alta., in August. Also, a
smattering of RONA dealers in the West opened “proximity”-style
stores, which bring big-box features—such as higher racking and
product boutiques—to a smaller-size retail footprint.
In addition, RONA signed 14 independent dealer-owners
in 2009, adding $30-million in annual retail sales to the company’s network. Dutton told analysts in May that Ontario and
the West “would be our playground” for expansion and dealer
recruitment going forward. But Claude Guevin, RONA’s CFO,
also stated that, at least for 2010, the company’s plans to expand in Ontario will skirt the Greater Toronto Area, where its
market share is less than 13 per cent and The Home Depot and
Canadian Tire dominate. —John Caulfield
HARDWARE MERCHANDISING
33
Smartening Up
The retail giant has big plans to expand
its latest store redesign concept
2. Canadian Tire
Toronto, Ont.
2009 Retail Sales*: $5.59-billion
Points of Sale: 488
(*estimated home and leisure sales only)
I
n April, Canadian Tire unveiled its latest strategy for growth
over the next three to five years. The Toronto-based retail
giant had just completed its first quarter of 2010, which
bounced back positively from a year in 2009 when sales
from its Canadian Tire and PartSource outlets dipped by
just under three per cent to $7.41-billion, and their adjusted net
earnings declined 3.7 per cent to $265.4-million.
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In a soft economic environment, last year’s performance
could be declared a victory and validation of Canadian Tire’s
ongoing efforts to refurbish and upgrade its stores across Canada with fresher displays, merchandise and services. “We ended 2009 in one of our strongest financial positions in the last
decade,” proclaimed the retailer’s president and CEO Stephen
Wetmore. He added that the company is now focused “on improving returns on retail assets and growing free cash flow.”
The company’s strategy aims for three per cent to five per cent
revenue growth per year, and revolves around expanding its business
through its existing stores, thereby capping annual capital expenditures at their current levels of around $290-million. The centerpiece
of this plan is the rollout of the company’s “Smart Store” concept,
which Canadian Tire introduced in 2008 and for which it received
the Retail Council of Canada’s 2009 Excellence in Retailing Award.
July/August 2010
coverstory | TOP 100
The Smart Store, which replaces Canadian Tire’s seven-yearold Concept 20/20 store concept, features new presentations and
a combination of updated category adjacencies. Departments
that get more space in Smart stores include automotive, sporting goods and tools. The racetrack aisle format has higher walls
and ceilings and also features product boutiques, as well as more
customer service desks and informational kiosks. Some stores include Mark’s Work Wearhouses. The initial two Smart Stores—in
Welland and Orleans, Ont.—were the company’s first to carry
grocery items.
Canadian Tire refined its Smart store concept last year before retrofitting 25 outlets, and replacing one, with the format.
The company also opened three stores with its Small Market
concept, which reduces its store footprint to between 14,000
and 18,000 square feet. Canadian Tire is attempting to use this
format to expand into secondary markets as part of its five-year
growth strategy, albeit to a lesser degree than Smart. The company plans to retrofit 60 stores to the Smart format in 2010.
The Smart and Small Market concepts reinforce Canadian
Tire’s “core brand” strengths, manifested in the retailer’s marketshare leadership in 17 of its 20 top-selling product categories.
The company is also expanding its focus on categories such
as outdoor living and exercise, pet supplies and household
Canadian Tire sales by year
(in billions)
6
(estimated home & leisure sales only)
5.2
5
5.6
5.6
2008
2009
5.4
4.8
4
3
2
1
0
2005
July/August 2010
2006
2007
consumables, even as it attempts to recapture lost ground in
consumer electronics. And in January 2010, Canadian Tire
launched an interactive website to offer customers products
and tips about storage and organization. In the first month
of that launch, professional organizer Clare Kumar answered
questions that customers posted online.
Wetmore has stated previously that his personal mandate is to
burnish Canadian Tire’s image for customer service in all 488 of
its stores. His unspoken reasoning is that contented customers buy
more products, and getting shoppers to spend more during every
visit is critical to Canadian Tire’s growth plans, especially when
cash-strapped shoppers are making smaller, less-expensive home
repair purchases. In May 2009, the retailer introduced a month-long
savings program that provided rebates ranging from $25 to $150 in
Canadian Tire gift cards for purchases of at least $199 up to $499.
The tagline for this promotion was “Small Jobs, Big Returns.”
In December, the retailer reaffirmed its iconic Canadian Tire
Money loyalty program with a limited-edition coin, equal to
one dollar in value, which customers receive when they spend
$25 or more. Mike Arnett, president of Canadian Tire Retail,
disclosed late last year that the company would re-launch its
loyalty program (which has been around since 1958) with new
twists in the spring of 2010.
In the summer of 2009, Canadian Tire opened a 1.5 millionsq.-ft. distribution center in Coteau du Lac, Que., outside of
Montreal, in order to better support its retail operations. This
state-of-the-art facility can process up to 55 million cubic feet
of throughput from more than 1,000 suppliers. The facility is
supplying 94 Canadian Tire stores in Quebec as well as stores
in Ontario and Atlantic Canada.
In November, the company revealed that it would inject
greater centralization into its departments for finance, human
resources, information technology, government relations, legal
and real estate. Michael Medline, a nine-year company veteran,
was named to head up Automotive and Dealer Relations, while
former CFO Huw Thomas now oversees Financial Strategy and
Performance. All of Canadian Tire’s financial operations fall under Marco Marrone, and Dean McCann was appointed president of Canadian Tire Financial Services.
Credit cards are the lifeblood of Canadian Tire’s Financial
Services arm. In July of 2009, the company rolled out new
point-of-sale terminals compatible with its latest credit-card
technology. The retailer aggressively targeted new credit customers. It introduced a card aimed at young professionals, for
example. Another card, called “Go Play,” donated a portion of
every purchase to local sports organizations and to Jumpstart,
a program the retailer sponsors to help kids in financial need
participate in sports. But weak economic conditions took its toll
on Canadian Tire’s already broad exposure in this plastic arena:
Last year the company incurred a significant increase in credit
card losses, which its officers blamed for the corporation’s 12.2
percent decline in adjusted net earnings. —JC
HARDWARE MERCHANDISING
35
Supply-chain Surge
Rapid Deployment Centres are a key
to profitibility in 2009 and beyond
3. The Home Depot Canada
Toronto, Ont.
2009 Retail Sales: $5.5-billion
Points of Sale: 178
W
ith sales still slumping, The Home Depot has
turned inward in search of revenue growth.
Through much of 2009 and the first months
of 2010, the Atlanta-based home improvement retailing giant continued its shift towards an operational strategy that leans heavily on technology
and an internal distribution network to manage its inventory and
make its stores more productive. And the company’s Canadian
division, whose business sagged in the second half of 2009, is a
vital starting point for several of Depot’s initiatives.
After a miserable 2008, during which its earnings sank by
nearly 49 per cent, The Home Depot had little choice but to make
dramatic changes. That became evident in the first few months
of 2009, when it discontinued its longtime sponsorship of the
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H A R D WA R E M E R C H A N D I S I N G
Olympic Games and closed its remaining 34 Expo Design Centers, two design centers, seven bath remodeling showrooms, and
five Yardbirds lumberyards. The company took a US$532-million
hit on its balance sheet to cover the impact of those closings.
The Depot was returning to its roots, with a renewed emphasis
on customer service and a new ad slogan—–“More Saving. More
Doing.”—that stressed value and encouraged shoppers to engage
in home-improvement projects again. Rebuilding its image, in fact,
took center stage, as Depot fine-tuned its marketing around specific
shopper groups like women, Hispanics and (in Canada) Chinese.
In November, the company entered into an alliance with Martha
Stewart Living to develop a line of branded merchandise under the
doyenne’s name. And Depot illustrated its environmental stewardship by noting that from 2004 through the first quarter of 2010 its
stores had reduced their energy consumption by 16 per cent.
In April 2009, the company hired new employees for the first
time in four years. By June, the Depot had added between 300
and 400 man-hours per store per week, so that it had the right
number of associates on its sales floor during peak selling periods. It also rolled out a training program for its installed sales
associates who go to customers’ houses.
July/August 2010
coverstory | TOP 100
One of Depot’s goals is to improve store productivity to
around US$375 per square foot (from US$270 in mid-2009).
Selling projects is a key to that productivity, but so far the economic and housing recessions in the U.S. have thwarted these
efforts. In the first three months of fiscal 2010, ending May 2,
Depot reported that customer purchases of US$900 or more—
which typically account for 20 per cent of the retailer’s annual
The Home Depot Canada sales by year
(estimated, in billions)
6.0
6
6.04
5.7
5.5
5.5
5
4
3
2
1
0
2005
July/August 2010
2006
2007
2008
2009
revenue—were off 1.4 per cent And while its business with remodeling contractors—which historically has been 30 per cent
of annual revenue—is improving, that segment is still generating negative comp-store sales.
In 2009, Home Depot’s sales overall were down 7.2 per
cent to US$66.2-billion and its comp-store sales were off by 6.6
per cent. The company opened only 13 stores in 2009, three
of them in Canada. The good news was Depot’s net income,
which rose 17.7 per cent to US$2.7-billion. Company officials
are convinced that future profitability hinges on better management of the stores’ inventory through massive Rapid Deployment Centers (RDCs), and on using computer-enhanced tools
to determine what those inventory levels should be.
Depot reduced its inventory by US$1.2-billion in 2009, and
relieved store employees of inventory management by shifting
those responsibilities to the RDCs, which are set up to deliver
product in a timely and efficient manner. During the first quarter
of 2010, the company opened its 13th RDC in Columbia, S.C.
The RDCs now handle 70 per cent of its U.S. stores’ inventory,
and will handle 100 per cent by year’s end. As its RDCs manage
more of Depot’s inventory, the company also has brought its instore merchandising services back in-house, which will require
the hiring of between 1,000 and 1,400 people for its Merchandising Execution Team, or MET. The Canadian division recently
formed its own Merchandising Operations and Strategy Team to
improve the productivity of the division’s product assortments.
Systems improvements are receiving a far bigger share of
Depot’s capital expenditures, which hit US$1-billion in 2009
and are budgeted for US$1.25 billion in 2010. For example,
in January 2010, Depot said it would invest US$60-million for
10,000 portable scanners that allow store employees to track
inventory. In Canada last year, the company installed a new
Enterprise Resource Planning system called SAP (for Systems,
Applications, and Products in Data Processing) to analyze and
refine its stores’ planograms with an eye towards increasing
turnover. Craig Menear, Depot’s executive vice-president, recently told analysts that merchandising and forecasting tools
like SAP would be used even more widely going forward, and
that the “next step” would be “space-planning integration,” to
determine how much shelf space a product or category gets in
a given store based on sales velocity. “We want to get the right
amount of products into the right stores,” he said.
Frank Blake, Depot’s chairman and CEO, sees 2010 as a
“transitional year” for his company. During the first quarter, it
eliminated 900 jobs by consolidating its human resources, real
estate and store construction functions. And some of the changes Depot began executing last year seem to be bearing fruit, as
its first-quarter sales rose by 4.3 per cent to US$16.9-billion,
and its net income increased by 41.1 per cent to US$725-million. The Canadian stores enjoyed positive comps, and Depot
as a whole saw its first quarterly comp gains since the fourth
quarter of 2005. —JC
HARDWARE MERCHANDISING
37
coverstory | TOP 100
Weathering the Storm
What recession? Just ask Home
Hardware’s 1,000-plus dealers?
4. Home Hardware Stores Ltd.
St. Jacobs, Ont.
2009 Retail Sales: $4.85-billion
Points of Sale: 1,063
W
hen it came to recounting Home Hardware
Stores’ performance in 2009, CEO Paul
Straus could barely contain his glee. Speaking at Home Hardware’s Spring Market in
St. Jacobs, Ont. this past April, Straus told
dealers that the buying group had “the best results in the history
of our company” in 2009. Not bad for a recession.
To help celebrate its 45th anniversary in business, Home
added 47 new dealers as members in 2009. Another dozen
dealers were added through the first four months of 2010, bringing the group’s current roster close to 1,100. The buying group
continued to raise the profile of its brand last year by increasing
its ad budget by 20 per cent, and its profit sharing allotment in
2009 rose by nearly ten per cent. And while dealer-members’
retail sales actually receded by 1.4 per cent last year, Straus—
who in April assumed the presidency of the co-op following the
retirement of its cofounder Walter Hackborn—remained confident that Home’s independent dealer network was in the best
competitive position to grow its business in the coming years.
Building on what had been a relatively strong 2008, Home Hardware invested in its operations and dealer base last year. The fact
many of its dealers serve smaller, rural communities across Canada
turned out to be a plus for the group because those markets were
generally less impacted by the economic and housing turmoil that
pounded dealers in urban areas. A poll that Home conducted of its
dealers’ pro customers early in the year found that 86 per cent of
respondents felt that 2009 would be as good or better than 2008 for
their businesses. Clearly, the success of the federal Home Renovation Tax Credit certainly contributed to the pros’ mindsets.
“We’re getting through the doom and gloom,” said Bill Ferguson, Home’s dealer support manager, commenting on how
dealers and their customers were faring in the face of so much
negativity last year.
Home Hardware continued to stress its stores’ product assortments and customer service in 2009, which are embodied
in the co-op’s latest marketing tagline “Home Owners Helping Homeowners.” And to help its dealers live up to the hype,
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H A R D WA R E M E R C H A N D I S I N G
Home Hardware rolled out or expanded a number of programs
in 2009 and the first months of 2010.
Of particular note has been the greater attention the co-op
has been paying to expand its Beauti-Tone paint brand’s market
penetration. Paint matching and colours are now part of Home’s
enhanced DIY project planning software, and Beauti-Tone now
markets a line of VOC-free paint under Home’s eco-friendly
Natura label. The company is also adding 55,000 square feet
to its 178,000-sq.-ft. paint factory in Burford, Ont. In addition,
the co-op recently struck a strategic alliance with Style at Home
magazine to develop Style at Home colors in 10 palettes exclusively for Beauti-Tone, which itself now offers a new look to its
higher-end Designer Series, a move supported by paint seminars
conducted across Canada by 720 of the paint division’s staff.
Home also expects Beauti-Tone to benefit from the partnership the co-op recently entered into with fashion designer Simon Chang, who is lending his name to a collection of paint
colors. The deal with Chang is one of several strategic alliances
that Home has cultivated over the past several months. In March
2009, it struck a cross-marketing deal with Toyota Canada, whose
vehicles are now being featured at Home’s “Tough as Nails” contractor events. In June, Home and Toyota conducted a sweepstakes promotion whose winners received a 2009 Toyota RAV4.
If that wasn’t enough, Food Network celebrity chef Anna Olson
is now doubling as Home’s Kitchen Expert and a representative of
the co-op’s kitchenwares department. Last fall, she was the face of
a sweepstakes promotion called “Home Hardware $50,000 Dream
Kitchen Makeover,” whose primary purpose was to showcase
Home’s stores as destinations for kitchen and housewares products.
Home is also making greater use of its gardening expert,
Mark Cullen, who lent his name in an accreditation program
for garden centers within Home’s dealer network. Last summer,
Cullen offered tips to customers about how they can save water
in their gardens with products available in Home’s stores.
Home’s dealer-members are also helping themselves to capture more business. The co-op estimates that more than half of its
1,063 dealers have adopted its store design and signage program,
which targets female shoppers. In May 2009, a dealer opened
what is generally believed to be the largest Home Hardware in
the country to date. Located in Gananoque, Ont., this Home
Hardware Building Centre has 55,000 square feet of retail space,
a 20,000-sq.-ft. drive-through lumberyard, and an 11,500-sq.-ft.
Home Furniture outlet. A month earlier, another dealer opened a
45,000-sq.-ft. Home Hardware in Picton, Ont. —JC
July/August 2010
coverstory | TOP 100
Pro or ACE banners), hiring, in late 2008, key members of the former PRO Retail Services team and setting up a special Montreal
office for the purpose. A number of dealers have switched to ACE,
with TIM-BR MART’s assistance, on the hardware side.
In Western Canada, TIM-BR MART struck a deal last year with
the B.C.-based IRLY buying group. Under the terms of that arrangement, IRLY’s approximately 50 members benefit from TIMBR MART’s buying power, while TIM-BR MART members in the
region benefit from IRLY’s distribution system in the province.
Finally, it appears that TIM-BR MART will go ahead with plans
for its own buying show, the first in its history, in the spring of
2011, at a location yet to be announced. —Stephen Payne
6. INDEPENDENT LUMBER
DEALERS COOPERATIVE (ILDC)
Ajax, Ont.
2009 Retail Sales: $1.7-billion (est.)
Points of Sale: 135
5. TIM-BR-MART
Calgary, Alta.
2009 Retail Sales: $3.0-billion
Points of Sale: 740
In the past five years, no LBM buying group in Canada has struck
as many new alliances, or expanded further afield, than TIM-BR
MART. It has quadrupled its member base since 2005, mostly
by absorbing or forming alliances with other groups. During that
time, it has roughly tripled what it can claim as its members’
retail (i.e., sales to end users) volumes.
The biggest leap in TIM-BR MART’s growth occurred in 2005
when it merged with the former Homecare in Ontario (later, TimBR Mart Ontario) before, shortly thereafter, picking up at least twothirds of the members of AWARD in Atlantic Canada when that
group went defunct. Then, in 2006, TIM-BR MART buttressed its
presence in Quebec by signing an alliance with Groupe Matplus,
an LBM group that had evolved out of the member base of Servimat, the LBM group formerly associated with Sodisco-Howden.
TIM-BR MART has, since absorbing all these new points-ofsale into its group, begun to address some of the operational
and marketing challenges that had been hampering these dealers for many years. For example, it has begun to address the
hardware distribution issue, always a thorn in the side for LBM
dealers who want to expand their front ends but don’t belong
to distributing wholesaler groups (like Home Hardware, for example). To that end, TIM-BR MART has begun to work closely
with CanWel Hardware to develop preferred assortments for its
members. To facilitate this, TIM-BR MART announced, last August, the creation of its first-ever full hardware buying team.
Also on the hardware program side, TIM-BR MART has accepted the challenge of providing merchandising and marketing
services to its Quebec Matplus members (many of them flying the
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H A R D WA R E M E R C H A N D I S I N G
For a number of years it looked as if the ILDC would continue
to erode in both membership numbers and buying volumes, as
its (typically) large, family-owned regional chains were bought
out by corporate competitors or went their own way. Between
2001 and 2008, ILDC lost such heavyweight chains as Revy (to
RONA in 2001), Totem (to RONA in 2005), Matériaux Coupal
(to RONA in 2006), Canac-Marquis Grenier (which left the
group to buy independently in 2007) and Potvin & Bouchard
(bought out by BMR-affiliated investors in 2008).
In January of last year, however, ILDC reversed that trend dramatically when it helped to create a new umbrella buying entity
with sales of $4.5-billion and a point-of-sale count of over 1,000.
It did this by welcoming into its fold as members four new groups:
Delroc, Sexton, Federated Co-ops and La Coop federee de Quebec. The increases in buying power and geographic positioning
appear to have reinvigorated the ILDC. (Editor’s note: Since those
four “new” ILDC partners are separately listed and described in
the Top 100, we have listed the ILDC’s retail sales volume, above,
taking into account just the original core members who do not
have their own separate write-ups.)
The ILDC is a venerable group, founded in 1964, whose membership roster has often read like a Who’s Who of the most powerful lumberyard families in Canada. This is not to say that other
buying groups don’t have powerful family members with multiple
outlets, but the ILDC, for many years, has certainly had a far higher
average member revenue base, with a higher number of average
locations per member, than any other Canadian buying group. Any
buying group that includes such giant presences as Irving-owned
Kent Building Supplies (now at 34 locations and an estimated
$400-million-plus in retail sales), Quebec’s powerful Patrick Morin
chain (13 locations and more than $100-million in retail sales) and
Ontario’s Turkstra Lumber (12 locations and some $80-million at
July/August 2010
coverstory | TOP 100
retail), to name just three ILDC members, is going to have the full
attention of vendors during its annual negotiations.
On the topic of Quebec, ILDC has taken a small step to begin
to replace some of the huge volume that departed when Canac
left the fold. Effective Jan. 1 of this year, Lebevre & Benoit, an
independent, family-owned dealer in Laval, Que. jointed the
group. Lebevre & Benoit has two locations and does a strong
business with contractors and builders. —SP
7. SEXTON GROUP
Winnipeg, Manitoba
2009 Retail Sales: $1.3-billion (est.)
Points of Sale: 285
With building supply prices deflating across the country during
last year’s recession, most Canadian LBM buying groups saw a
hit to their members’ sales in 2009, and the Sexton Group was
no exception. Speaking to the Hardlines news service in February, Steve Buckle, vice-president of the group, said that member
yards’ sales were off as much as 15 per cent, citing lower prices
for gypsum, roofing and other products, which plunged some
eight per cent. Dealers in urban centres, he said, were especially hard hit by decreased consumer demand.
This isn’t the first time the Sexton Group and its diversified
dealer base has battled through economic downturns. The group
itself was founded by GSD dealer Ken Sexton (Kenroc) in 1985,
exactly at a time when the Canadian economy was beginning
to turn sour again just three years after the 1981-2 recession
that was the worst since the Second World War. Then, five years
after Sexton was founded, the 1990 recession took a similar bite
out of the building supply industry. Back then, Sexton found the
tougher times allowed it to recruit new members.
Today, however, Sexton is a more mature group as it celebrates its 25th anniversary. Although it has lost about as many
former dealers as it has gained in recent years (with the exception of a block of 35 former Allroc dealers that came aboard
in 2005), expansion remains very much on Sexton’s agenda,
July/August 2010
Buckle says. Ontario and Atlantic Canada seem to hold the best
prospects for Sexton to grow, since the group remains more
thinly represented there than it is in Western Canada.
One recent addition to Sexton’s roster was the recruiting,
in February of this year, of Feldman Lumber, a Timmins, Ont.
dealer that has been run by the Feldman family since 1912.
Feldman Lumber was flying the RONA banner in recent years,
after stints with Castle Building Centres Group and, before that,
the ILDC, of which it was a founding member. Feldman had recently built a new store to serve as the flagship of a $16-million
commercial development that also includes residential units.
Sexton itself joined the ILDC in January of 2009 in order to pool
its LBM purchases more effectively. —SP
8. GROUPE BMR
Longueuil, Que.
2009 Retail Sales: $1.2-billion (est.)
Points of Sale: 183
Quebec’s No. 2-ranked hardware and building materials banner
continued to expand both its offerings and its dealer network
during the 2009 recession. Warren Buffett’s famous maxim, that
it’s best to be “greedy when other people are fearful, and fearful
when other people are greedy,” is an oft-quoted recessionary
strategy for any well-run business. BMR is a case in point.
Two years ago, with the recession already well underway south
of the border and clearly heading north, BMR decided to be proactive, launching a specialty hardware banner, which helped it
to sign about a dozen new dealers in Atlantic Canada and Ontario. Last year, BMR continued to add to its hardware store roster,
signing Paint & Flooring Warehouse in Mississauga, Ont., H&T
Hardware in Perth-Andover, N.B., and Emile Charette & Son in
Gatineau, Que. BMR also recruited building supply stores in Iles
de la Madeleine and Grand-Rivière, Que. last summer. Three additional Quebec dealers, in Chicoutimi, Yamaska West and La Minerve, Que. have come on board this spring.
So far in 2010, BMR has made significant additions to its product offerings. In February, it launched a farm hardware department
called Agrizone; it features 1,300 products, including greases,
lubricants, work clothes and boots, as well as farm fences and
implements. This new department appears to be a strategy to help
BMR compete against agro specialists such as La Coop fédérée de
Québec, which, in its turn, has been increasing its offerings in the
hardware and building supply categories.
In March of this year, BMR launched its own rewards card: The
360 BMR Reward program is targeted at both consumers and contractors. In a partnership with Transat Holidays and Nolitours, cardholders can exchange their BMR points for travel credits to holiday
destinations in both the Americas and Europe, as well as cruises.
And finally, BMR is also getting into the “home staging” business, in which a homeowner specially decorates and furnishes
HARDWARE MERCHANDISING
41
coverstory | TOP 100
a home to facilitate its sale. The company has teamed up with
France Arcand, a columnist and popular decor TV show host in
Quebec, who has trained more than 100 BMR store staff to help
their customers make their homes more fashionable. Some 40
BMR stores have signed up for the innovative program. —SP
9. CASTLE BUILDING
CENTRES GROUP
Mississauga, Ont.
2009 Retail Sales: $1.03-billion (est.)
Points of Sale: 226
Founded in Newmarket, Ont. in 1963 as BOLD Lumber (Buying
Organization for Lumber Dealers), today’s Castle Building Centres Group has stayed true to its original, no-frills, purchasingoriented mandate. In fact, at a Hardlines breakfast presentation
near Toronto last November, company president Ken Jenkins
made some pointed comments about the brand- and distribution-driven competitors that have targeted Castle members for
recruitment in recent years: “They’ve morphed into marketing
machines, advertising machines and sponsorship machines,”
Jenkins said. “It’s up to me to educate my members on what
drives those business models and make my members understand the cost that goes along with that.”
In contrast, Jenkins describes Castle as a “buying machine.” But
while other buying-oriented LBM groups in Canada have tended
to coalesce into larger buying entities in recent years (such as the
ILDC joining forces with four other large buying groups 18 months
ago), Castle has chosen to avoid such new alliances since Jenkins,
a former CGC executive, joined the group three years ago. Jenkins
was joined shortly thereafter by a new VP, James Jones, who previous worked for RONA, Reno-Depot and Lansing.
Instead of joining up with other groups, Castle has, under
Jenkins and Jones, launched two new divisions within: Commercial Builders Supplies (CBS) and Castle Specialty Dealer.
The latter includes such operations as kitchen suppliers, window and door dealers and truss plants, and it has had some
initial success. But it is the on the CBS side that Castle seems to
have gained the most ground. By March of this year, this commercial division, particularly relevant to gypsum and ceiling
42
H A R D WA R E M E R C H A N D I S I N G
specialists, had grown to include 12 members representing 28
outlets across the country.
Geographically, Castle has only minimally penetrated Quebec
during its 47 years of existence. That began to change in April, when
Castle signed Lise Godin, a former RONA dealer with outlets in Namur and Grenville, Que. And the hiring of Robert Legault, a bilingual development manager, last fall, is a sign of Castle’s renewed
interest in growing its member base in La Belle Province. —SP
10. ALLROC BUILDING PRODUCTS
Calgary, Alta.
2009 Retail Sales: $745-million (est.)
Points of Sale: 56
The Allroc buying group is part of the construction products division of Superior Plus LP, a conglomerate that is also a heavyweight in energy services and specialty chemicals. In energy,
Superior Plus is Canada’s largest retail supplier of propane.
Since recent acquisitions, the company also sells refined fuels
in the U.S. northeast. In specialty chemicals, Superior Plus is
the third largest global producer of sodium chlorate, used for
bleaching in the pulp and paper industry and also as an herbicide. In our industry, Superior Plus’s construction products
division includes some 60 points of sale that include members
of the Allroc buying group, including some 30 Winroc points
of sale, the majority of which are in Western Canada, although
there are six important dealerships in Ontario and one in Nova
Scotia. Allroc and Winroc outlets are typical GSD operations.
Most, but not all, are corporate-owned.
The acquisition of these GSD businesses by Superior Plus six
years ago has proven to be a savvy move. The construction products businesses remain the smallest of the company’s three divisions (accounting for just 10.7 per cent of Superior Plus’s EBITDA
in 2009) but they are growing quickly. There are 71 operational
centres in the mix, across six provinces and 31 states.
Superior Plus continues to build its presence in our industry. In
September 2009, the company purchased Specialty Products and
Insulation Co., based in East Petersburg, Pa. SPI is an important
distributor of insulation and architectural products for the commercial and industrial markets, operating 70 outlets through 28
states, including 11 distribution facilities. Part of the strategy outlined by Superior Plus at the time was to introduce the type of wall
and ceilings products, south of the border, that its Winroc points
of sale currently provide in Canada. Conversely, SPI’s products
and services will be added to the Canadian mix. The SPI deal was
worth $141.8-million, and was the 22nd transaction completed
by Superior Plus since 1997. Clearly, the deterioration of the U.S.
commercial and residential construction markets made the price
of SPI attractive to its well-funded new owner from the north. Superior Plus has notified its investors that it is on the lookout for
similar acquisition opportunities. —SP
July/August 2010
coverstory | TOP 100
11. DELROC INDUSTRIES
Langley, B.C.
2009 Retail Sales: $620-million
Points of Sale: 115
Founded in Langley, B.C. in 1974 by entrepreneur Bruno Mauro, Delroc Industries remains centred on its original purpose: to
combine the buying power of (mostly) Western Canada-based
building supply dealers, many of them GSD dealers specializing in the wall and ceiling businesses.
The original B.C.-based yards from 36 years ago, such as Windsor Plywood, Dryco Building Supplies, Northern Building Supply
and Peace River Building Products, continue to flourish. Windsor
Plywood is the largest member in terms of points-of-sale, operating 60 (mostly) corporate stores that include four in the United
States. Dryco Building Supplies is the second-largest member of
Delroc, with 12 locations spread throughout B.C., Alberta and, in
recent years, Ontario. The latest addition to the Dryco network was
a 27,000-sq.-ft. facility that opened in Barrie, Ont. two years ago.
Aside from Windsor and Dryco, Delroc buys for a number of
independent yards, being represented in every region of Canada except for the Atlantic Provinces, where it has yet to penetrate. Its membership gains roughly half of its business from contractors and half
from consumers, although that split is skewed by Windsor Plywood,
which has a much higher proportion of sales to the general public
than contractor-specialist businesses such as the Dryco units.
Delroc has not changed its business model substantially
since its early days, but it has, over the past half dozen years, increased the scope of the products it purchases for its members.
Alongside tools and hardware, it is heavily involved in engineered wood, finishing products, lumber, plywood, mouldings,
roofing, siding and such commercial-side commodities as steel
studs and metal sheathing. Windsor Plywood, uniquely, has a
thriving Asia - Pacific division, shipping house kits to Japan.
A former member of the now-disbanded Reliance Buying Group,
Delroc is now 18 months into its new buying partnership within the
ILDC. It joined ILDC as a full member (along with its regional competitor Sexton Group, as well as Federated Co-operatives and La Coop
fédérée de Québec, both of the latter joining as LBM members only)
in January 2009. Delroc’s new relationship with the ILDC is expected
to continue to help it add new products to its mix. —SP
12. TRUSERV CANADA
Winnipeg, Man.
2009 Retail Sales: $600-million (est.)
Points of Sale: 750
Owing to the recession, and with its general merchandise business constantly under assault from the giant discounters, espeJuly/August 2010
cially Wal-Mart, TruServ Canada endured a tough 2009, Bill
Morrison, president and CEO told the media in April. The Hardlines e-news service, in an interview with Morrison, quoted retail sales of all TruServ members dropping to $600-million last
year. Dealers in B.C. and Alberta were hit the worst.
On a brighter note, the Winnipeg-based distributor to some
750 points of sale seems to have managed its business much
more efficiently last year after structural changes and the introduction of new computer systems in late 2008. As a result, Morrison reported, profits improved over 2008 by $500,000 last
year, money that gets turned back to dealers.
TruServ (when it was known as Cotter Canada) has survived
stormy seas before. In 1992, things were particularly bleak for
the prairie-based co-operative. Macleod-Stedman, as it was
known then, got into serious trouble and had to be rescued by
Cotter & Company, the U.S.-based co-op for True Value. In fact,
then-president of Cotter Canada David Grubbe sent a special
message (as quoted in Hardware Merchandising) at that time to
vendors who wondered if they would get paid for the first round
of Cotter Canada purchase orders: “You gotta believe,” Grubbe
said simply. The company did emerge from its troubles, and
last year’s business slowdown never reached the point where
Morrison felt the need to similarly reassure his suppliers. The
company’s balance sheet has been cleaned up considerably.
TruServ Canada is now concentrating on its core members
18 months after its “banner management” agreement with CanWel came to an end on January 1, 2009. Until then, TruServ
had been overseeing a sideline operation called Pro Retail Services, helping to provide retail programs to Pro and Ace dealers,
which had actually once been the rivals of the almost 200 True
Value dealers that are TruServ’s largest hardware customers.
Now that those Pro and Ace dealings are in the hands of TIM-BR
MART, TruServ can concentrate on its True Value, V&S and Country
Depot banners, as well as providing a wholesale supply of various
products to grocery and other retailers. TruServ’s strongest categories, other than hardlines, include auto, sporting goods, housewares,
stationery, toys, pet food, apparel and crafts. The company offers
40,000 SKUs out of its 400,000-sq.-ft. Winnipeg warehouse, and
80,000 SKUs are available on direct-ship programs. —SP
HARDWARE MERCHANDISING
43
coverstory | TOP 100
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13. ALPA LUMBER GROUP
Mississauga, Ont.
2009 Retail Sales: $585-million (est.)
Points of sale: 19
Not only is Alpa Lumber Group the most thoroughly vertically
integrated LBM dealer in our industry, it is also the largest independently owned lumberyard chain in the country. And Alpa
earns most of its income in just a single market: the Greater
Toronto Area (GTA). The Toronto market took a pounding last
year, as the rocky economy dropped housing starts to the lowest level in a decade. Building permits in Canada’s largest city
were down 19.2 per cent in 2009. All of this likely added up to
a challenging year for Alpa, as for everyone related to the new
homes business in the GTA.
Just how challenging 2009 was for Alpa is a matter of conjecture. Notoriously publicity-shy when it comes to his firm’s
business activities, Alpa’s president and principal partner, John
Di Poce, only makes the news when one of his many philanthropic activities comes to light (such as, recently, his gift of 10
acres of property near Collingwood, Ont., for a new satellite
campus of Georgian College).
In fact, the only significant newspaper item about Alpa
Lumber Group in the past 12 months ran in the advertising,
not the news, pages. The Jan. 5 edition of the Globe and Mail
included an ad declaring the company was for sale, with purchaser qualification due by Jan. 10 and a signed letter of intent
by Feb. 12. Was Canada’s largest family-owned LBM dealer really for sale 52 years after it was founded?
It seems not. Shortly after the ad appeared, Orest Matkowsky,
the CFO of the firm, contacted the Hardlines e-news service,
who broke the story, to dismiss the “Rare Opportunity: Business
Available” ad as a non-Alpa initiative. Matkowsky said that there
had been a dispute within the Alpa ownership, resulting in a
minority partner “taking the dispute public against our wishes,”
Matkowsky said, according to a follow-up Hardlines story.
Now that the dispute has (apparently) been ironed out, Alpa
should benefit from a greatly improved new homes market in
the GTA this year. The company comes out of the recession with
all of its 19 yards, plus truss and millwork plants, fully intact.
Alpa’s vertical integration is unlike any other LBM player in the
Top 100. Di Poce and his partners do everything from buying and
developing land, to installing many of the structural components
that they themselves manufacture (especially in the stairs and windows categories), to selling building components across Canada
and south of the border. One of their most recent new initiatives is
Alpa Outdoor Products, in which they manufacture and distribute
a vinyl collection of railings, columns, pillars and fences.
All of this activity has pushed Alpa more than two-thirds of
the way towards Di Poce’s stated goal of reaching a billion dollars in annual revenues. —SP
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H A R D WA R E M E R C H A N D I S I N G
July/August 2010
coverstory | TOP 100
14. FEDERATED CO-OPERATIVES
Saskatoon, Sask.
2009 Retail Sales: $540-million
Points of Sale: 210
Nowhere in North America has the co-op movement succeeded
like it has in Canada’s prairie provinces. And the largest non-financial co-operative in Canada, Federated Co-operatives Ltd. (FCL),
continues to play an important role in the hardware and building
supply industry through its general merchandise division.
Last year at this time, the Top 100 reported that FCL’s general
merchandise purchases had experienced a 13.1 per cent increase
over the prior year. In 2009, however, the worldwide recession
drove a plough through FCL’s financial performance: Total FCL
sales last year dropped to $6.5-billion from $8.4-billion, a 23
per cent plunge. “Savings” (a co-op’s preferred wording for “net
income”) dipped to $492-million in 2009 from $756-million in
2008. (FCL savings are returned to members as a blend of cash and
equity.) Even Canada’s agro business sector, usually more resilient
to recession than, say, auto sales or electronics, felt the pinch.
But in our industry’s
segment of FCL’s activities, sales did not drop
as far as FCL’s overall
revenues did. Wholesale
sales of general merchandise were off just 6.1 per
cent, down to $326.3million. Forest product
sales (a separate division)
were off more substantially: down to $38.2-million (wholesale)
from $52.3-million the year prior. The latter was caused partly by
plywood and lumber price declines that continued throughout the
year. FCL’s sawmill operations were curtailed until inventory started to move. General merchandise patronage dividends remained
stable at 4.3 per cent in 2009, the same proportion of purchases
as in 2008.
Still, things appear to be bouncing back for FCL’s hardware
and building supply business, which it channels through banners like Co-op and Valumaster dotted from Thunder Bay, Ont.
(the easternmost outpost of FCL’s retail presence) to the Queen
Charlotte Islands.
At a presentation to the members of the Canadian Hardware
and Housewares Manufacturers Association (CHHMA) last fall,
Rod Baergen, FCL’s general merchandise division GM, said that an
extra 75,000 sq.ft. of space was becoming available in the company’s Calgary distribution centre, allowing the co-op to increase
the scope of its hardware and home improvement products.
Mr. Baergen also gave a positive report on the effects of FCL’s
joining up with the ILDC, in January 2009, to assist its purchasing power in LBM. FCL remains affiliated with Spancan for genJuly/August 2010
HARDWARE MERCHANDISING
45
coverstory | TOP 100
eral hardware products, and it is also part of the MEGA buying
group for furniture and electronics. Mr. Baergen told the vendors that FCL’s focus would remain on the West, with no plans
to move east into Ontario. —SP
16. UNITED FARMERS
OF ALBERTA
15. KENT BUILDING SUPPLIES
2009 Retail Sales: $350-million (est.)
Points of Sale: 36
Saint John, N.B.
2009 Retail Sales: $397-million (est.)
Points of Sale: 33
There are few regions in North America where The Home Depot plays second fiddle (in terms of market share) to other big
box operators, but Quebec and Atlantic Canada are two such
battlegrounds. In the latter, it is Kent Building Supplies that predominates, thanks to its seven full-size big boxes, 12 mini big
boxes (45,000 to 55,000 sq.ft.) and 14 traditional-sized stores.
Neither Kent nor Home Depot discloses its Atlantic Canada
market share, but based on its square footage and the aggressive marketing that Kent is known for, it would be reasonable to
assume Kent has at least 50 per cent more business in the region
than Orange Crush, and possibly twice as much.
Of course, Kent had a long head start on its American
competitor. Whereas Kent was founded in 1974 and began to
switch to larger store formats in 1994, Home Depot stayed out
of the Maritimes entirely until it entered the Halifax-Dartmouth
marketplace in 2000. (RONA arrived even later, in 2008.) But
Home Depot and RONA were probably wise to take their time
in entering the fray because Kent is, after all, no mom-and-pop
operation. It is part of the Irving Group of Companies, one
of the largest conglomerates in the world, which has almost
single-handedly vertically-integrated large swaths of Atlantic
Canada, owning everything from gas stations, to trucking, to
food processing, to media, to, yes, hardware and building supply yards. The presence of three big box operators as well as
such a well-established range of independent yards, in such a
thinly populated part of North America, makes for an interesting contest. Were Lowe’s to enter the marketplace in the near
future (extremely unlikely given the current competitive set),
Atlantic Canada’s home improvement customers would surely
start to experience the highest levels of customer service in the
world. They probably do already.
Kent is not just a retail player; it is a contractor-oriented
chain as well. In this activity it is supported by its two Shamrock
Truss plants in Saint John, N.B. and Lower Sackville, N.S. It also
runs a drywall facility in Mount Pearl, Newfoundland. Ever on
the lookout for independent yards that wish to cash out, Kent
has expanded by one store already this year, purchasing Nauss
TIM-BR MART in Bridgewater, N.S. The Nauss family will retain
control of the contracting side of their business, moving it to
a new location. Nauss TIM-BR MART is a former winner of a
Hardware Merchandising Outstanding Retailer Award. —SP
46
H A R D WA R E M E R C H A N D I S I N G
Calgary, Alta.
United Farmers of Alberta (UFA) had been growing at a tremendous pace until the recession slowed it down last year. Overall,
the co-op had topped $2-billion in sales in 2008, almost double
its revenues of just five years prior. Its “retail” sales (including farm
supplies amongst the hardware and building supply offerings)
were headed for $400-million, according to industry estimates,
and part of that growth was being driven by diversification.
That strategy, to get into product areas that consumers, and
not just farmers, would buy, was the brainchild of forwardthinking president and CEO Dallas Thorsteinson, a former executive with the North West Company who had joined UFA
near the beginning of its growth surge in 2005.
Thorsteinson believed that “lifestyle” retailing could dovetail well with UFA’s traditional farm and ranch stores (and
its 120 petroleum distribution points). Presumably given the
go-ahead by the traditionally conservative directors, Thorsteinson engineered two acquisitions within 12 months that
changed the face of UFA’s retailing assets. First, in the fall of
2008, UFA acquired Wholesale Sports, a Calgary-based outdoor outfitters chain with seven locations from Winnipeg to
Kamloops, B.C. Then, in March of last year, UFA completed
the acquisition of 15 Sportsman’s Warehouse locations in
the U.S. northeast. A further “lifestyle” initiative, during all
of this deal-making was to convert the UFA Red Deer, Alta.
location into a prototype “adventure” store, with all the gear
and gadgets that outdoorsy Albertan consumers would, theoretically, love.
It didn’t take long for reality to intrude, possibly aided by the
nasty economic downtown. UFA had been ploughing pretty much
the same fields since its founding in 1909 (by a small group of
Calgary-area farmers who, according to the official history of UFA,
contributed precisely $1.67 in start-up funding). With that in mind,
perhaps it wasn’t too surprising that there was some internal dissension when Thorsteinson started doing wheelies with the UFA’s
tractors. In February of this year, Thorsteinson was relieved of his
duties, along with chief financial officer John Steen. Bob Nelson,
formerly vice-president of petroleum, became interim CEO while
a search began for a permanent replacement.
“The board believes the co-operative had gotten away from
our core purpose and the executive changes reflect the commitment of the board to do what’s best for the co-operative
and its member owners,” said UFA spokesperson Natalie
Dawes when the departures were announced. “Our core purpose is agriculture.” And to think that the adventure had only
just begun. —SP
July/August 2010
coverstory | TOP 100
17. TORBSA
Bolton, Ont.
2009 Retail Sales: $342-million
Points of Sale: 47
While so many regional (as opposed to national) building materials buying groups have seen their fortunes dip in the last 20 years,
most of them disappearing entirely, merging, or being bought out
by others (Homecare, AWARD, Servimat, Dismat, among others),
TORBSA, the “little engine that could,” continues to operate successfully, strictly within Ontario. (Well, almost: It does have one
Quebec-based member called Manugypse, near Quebec City.)
TORBSA, IRLY and Groupe Matplus remain the only LBM
buying groups to operate mostly within a single province.
TORBSA distinguishes itself from those other two, however,
by having a uniquely diversified group of members that mixes
GSD dealers, traditional lumberyards, hardware dealers and,
particularly, specialty building materials dealerships.
The specialty dealers are, in fact, what make TORBSA unique
in Canada. It has some interesting niche players. Two years ago,
for example, it welcomed O.C.P. Construction Supplies, a dealer
with branches in Sudbury, North Bay, Elliot Lake and Timmins. And
while O.C.P. is a big player as a traditional building materials dealer, it is an even bigger deal as a pumper of construction concrete—
not a typical sideline for most LBM dealers in Canada.
Another niche player in the TORBSA roster is Merkley Supply
in Ottawa. This dealer bills itself as Ottawa-Carleton’s “masonry
boutique,” and it is a specialist in stone, brick, concrete block,
glass block and speciality materials. Then there’s TORBSA member Glass Cell Isofab (GCI), a Toronto-based fabricator and distributor of thermal and acoustical insulation products. If you’ve got
a specialty niche, and you prefer to belong to a group in which a
lot of other members have different, but equally tight niches, then
the prospects for sharing business leads are ripe. That has been
one of the keys to TORBSA’s success over the years.
All told, TORBSA claims some 47 points of sale among its
28 member firms. It operates as a “no frills” group, providing
only limited marketing programs but a collegiality and closeness among members that has seen very little membership turnover in recent years. A member of the Reliance umbrella buying group until that organization disbanded in 2008, TORBSA
seems to be thriving without the need for such alliances. —SP
18. LA COOPERATIVE FÉDÉRÉE
DE QUÉBEC
Overall, La Cooperative fédérée de Québec, the province’s giant organization that pools the activities of 106 affiliated coops, posted a healthy 8.7 per cent sales increase last year. Its
total revenues rose to more than $3.9 billion. But business
wasn’t that exciting in the traditional coop staples of fuel and
fertilizer, as the recession bit hard into the prices of these commodities. In fact, the coop’s 2009 revenue increase was largely
due to the mid-year acquisition of the Agronomy Company of
Canada, which distributes fruits and vegetables in southwestern
Ontario and the Maritimes. Without those added sales, a much
less healthy picture might have emerged.
Nevertheless, in its 2009 annual report, La Cooperative fédérée spoke highly of the performance of its retail hardware and
building supply division. Wholesale sales to these businesses
increased an impressive 11.8 per cent, to $240-million and the
division, according to the report, increased its 2009 profits in
this sector by a whopping 70.9 per cent compared to 2008. The
coop sells to 170 points of sale in our industry, including about
25 Unimat stores, its specialty hardware and building supply
banner launched in 2003, as well as the familiar Co-op banner
that looks very similar in Quebec to its branding and offering
in Western Canada. La Cooperative also supplies some 60 independents. It has a “store-within-a-store” brand called Inov,
which is a decoration centre.
La Cooperative cites a number of factors for its hardware
division outperforming almost all of its other sectors. First, it
opened new stores and expanded or renovated others. It also
added to the number of independents it counts as customers.
And a new look for Unimat began rolling out last year as well,
helping to make that still-fledgling banner more attractive to
customers. A new look for the better-known Co-op retail banner
is also about to be deployed, the company says, without specifying a timeline. The coop also had high praise in its annual
report for the buying power increases it has gained by joining
the ILDC, effective Jan. 1, 2009.
La Cooperative fédérée de Québec may not be the first banner in La Belle Province that our industry associates with hardware and building supply sales; RONA, BMR and even Canac
dwarf La Cooperative’s market share in the province, overall.
But when it comes to rural settings, the balance of power shifts
slightly, and no doubt La Cooperative will continue to improve
its position in this sector. —SP
19. CANAC
Quebec City, Que.
Trois-Rivières, Que.
2009 Retail Sales: $286-million (est.)
Points of Sale: 17
2009 Retail Sales: $310-million (est.)
Points of Sale: 170
When the American big boxes started arriving in Canada more
than 15 years ago, you might not have bet on Canac-Marquis
Grenier surviving the competitive onslaught that would eventu-
July/August 2010
HARDWARE MERCHANDISING
47
coverstory | TOP 100
ally bring three powerful corporate, large-surface brands into
direct competition with it in Quebec (RONA, Réno-Dépôt and,
eventually, Home Depot).
But whereas their big box adversaries did absorb powerful family-owned regional chains like Lansing, Totem and Lumberland,
Canac-Marquis Grenier, owned by the Laberge family, has remained defiantly independent. In fact, the chain has more than tripled its sales since the big boxes arrived in Quebec, and increased
its store count from eight (in 1995) to 18 (as of January this year) in
that time. While there are still many family-owned regional chains
in operation across the country, none of them has grown as rapidly
or as aggressively in recent years as Canac-Marquis Grenier
In March of this year, after being known by its hyphenated
name for some 130 years, president and CEO Jean Laberge announced that the chain would henceforth be officially known
as, simply, Canac. The first store to get the new logo and signage
was the chain’s oldest store in Charlesbourg, one of three Canac
outlets in the Quebec City suburb. The store also received a
$2-million renovation in addition to its new name.
The most recently opened Canac store, the 18th, is in SaintNicolas, part of Lévis, another Quebec City suburb. That store,
which opened in January of this year, was the first Canac store
to be built according to environmentally oriented LEED standards (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design).
Canac now has an even dozen stores in the Quebec City
region, which is where the business began in 1875, and another
six stores outside of the provincial capital region, all of which
have been added since the big boxes entered Quebec. Canac’s
strategy since 2000 has been clear: To completely upgrade its
stores and distribution facilities in the capital and to expand to
the west and south. Given that RONA and Home Depot are
publicly traded, deep-pocketed competitors, each with more
than 20 times the Canadian revenues of Canac, the Laberge
family and their partners have shown remarkable courage.
It has now been just over two years since Canac left the ILDC
buying group (in fact, was asked to leave, it appears; Canac had
been moving into fellow ILDC members’ marketplaces). Whatever the Quebec French term for “no guts, no glory” is, it seems
to fit this enterprise. Canac’s marketing slogan is “C’est Pas
Compliqué” (It’s Not Complicated), but it is becoming apparent
that Canac’s own success has been the result of some very carefully laid-out plans. —SP
20. LOWE’S CANADA
2009 Retail Sales: $256-million (est.)
Points of Sale: 16
The second-largest home improvement retailer in the world,
Mooresville, N.C.-based Lowe’s is a relative newcomer to Canada
and the fourth corporate-owned big box to hang out its shingle in
the Great White North. That Lowe’s was the fourth, and not the
48
H A R D WA R E M E R C H A N D I S I N G
second, big box operator in Canada shows how cautious the company has been about expanding out of its American homeland. In
fact, Home Depot arrived here 13 years before Lowe’s opened its
first three Canadian stores in December 2007.
In spite of its late entry into Canada, Lowe’s has progressed
steadily since that first ribbon cutting. The company had 16 stores
in operation by the end of its 2009 fiscal year (ending Jan. 31,
2010), all of them in Ontario, strung out along the well-populated
corridor between Windsor and the Quebec border (Belleville being the easternmost store). The Ottawa area was first penetrated in
December 2009, with a store in Orleans. In total, nine stores were
opened in the company’s fiscal 2009 year, quite possibly the worst
time to be opening new big boxes in Canada in the history of the
format. Lowe’s has the novelty factor going for it in Ontario, but its
brand awareness in this country has a distance to travel before it
can become the household name it is south of the border (where it
is among the top ten retail brands).
Lowe’s has gradually announced some of the nine new Canadian stores it says it will open during the remainder of its fiscal
2010 year. In Ontario, it will complete its retrofitting of three of
the five former Sam’s Clubs locations that it picked up last year
when they were shuttered by Wal-Mart. These new Lowe’s stores
will be in northwest London, Pickering and Vaughan. A second
location in the Ottawa area, in Kanata, is also rumoured.
For its first stores outside of Ontario, Lowe’s has announced plans
to open three stores in the Calgary area: Crosstown Mills, the Shepard Industry Area-McKenzie Towne and in the Sunridge Industrial
Area. The company has also said that it will soon expand into the Edmonton market, as well as into British Columbia and Saskatchewan.
Only the latter location has been more clearly defined: it will be in
Regina, with a midsummer 2011 opening foreseen.
Lowe’s has stated that it plans to open between 9 and 12 Canadian stores each year for the foreseeable future, to reach the
100-store plateau sometime in the next 8 years. Lowe’s is also beginning to tackle its third and fourth “foreign” markets, with a joint
venture deal with Woolworths in Australia now underway, and its
first store in Mexico opening in February of this year. —SP
July/August 2010
coverstory | TOP 100
Top 20
Retailers
& Buying
Groups
with few exceptions, our listing of the Top 20 Retailers & Buying Groups in Canada reflects the struggles endured throughout
the industry in 2009. RONA retains the No. 1 position, but the difficult economic environment that persisted through most of the
year is clearly reflected in the sales growth numbers for many retailers, although things might have been worse if not for the incentive
provided by the Home Renovation Tax Credit. Making its first appearance on the Top 20 list this year is Lowe’s Canada. The growth
in Lowe’s sales in 2009 is clearly out of step with the rest of the industry, and that is because the Mooresville, N.C.-based company
opened nine big box warehouse stores in Canada last year. Look for the world’s second largest home improvement retailer to climb
this listing in the years to come as it continues to expand its footprint north of the border.
*estimated sales
% DIY/
#
Dealer Sales ($M) %
# of Stores
Change ‘09
‘09
‘08
‘08 Change Pro
1. RONA, Boucherville, Que.
Ownership
6,000
6,300
-4.8
686
694
-8
85/15
Publicly traded
5,59
5,59
0.0
488
475
13
85/15
Publicly traded
3. The Home Depot Canada*, Toronto
5,500
5,738
-4.1
179
177
2
85/15
Publicly traded
4. Home Hardware Stores Ltd., St. Jacobs, Ont.
4,850
4,850
0.0 1,063 1,043
20
55/45
Co-op buying group
5. TIM-BR-MART Ltd., Calgary
3,000
3,770
-20.4
740
740
0
25/75
Co-op buying group
6. ILDC*, Ajax, Ont.
1,700
1,800
-5.6
135
135
0
60/40
Co-op buying group
2. Canadian Tire Retail*, Toronto
(Note: As of Jan. 1, 2009, ILDC began to purchase with Sexton, Delroc, Federated Cooperatives and Coop Fédérée de Québec, yeilding a retail sales volume for all participants exceeding $4.0-billion-ed.)
7. Sexton Group*, Winnipeg
1,300
1,400
-7.1
285
265
20
35/65
Private buying group
8. BMR Group*, Longueuil, Que.
1,200
1,300
-7.7
183
175
8
55/45
Private buying group
9. Castle Building Centres Group*, Mississauga, Ont.
1,03
1,100
-6.4
226
220
6
25/75
Co-op buying group
10. Allroc Building Products*, Calgary
745
836
-10.9
56
56
0
10/90
Private buying group
11. Delroc Industries, Langley, B.C.
620
645
-3.9
115
116
-1
50/50
Private buying group
12. TruServ Canada*, Winnipeg
600
687
-12.7
750
750
0
80/20
Co-op buying group
13. Alpa Lumber Group*, Mississauga, Ont.
585
650
-10.0
19
19
0
10/90
Private pro dealer
14. Federated Co-ops, Saskatoon
540
575
-6.1
210
210
0
60/40
Co-op wholesaler
15. Kent Building Supplies*, Saint John, N.B.
397
417
-4.8
33
32
1
50/50
Private retailer
16. United Farmers of Alberta*, Calgary
350
378
-7.4
36
36
0
70/30
Co-op wholesaler
17. TORBSA, Bolton, Ont.
342
380
-10.0
47
47
0
15/85
Co-op buying group
18. Co-op Fédérée de Québec*, Trois-Rivières, Que.
310
301
3.0
170
165
5
75/25
Co-op wholesaler
19. Canac*, Quebec City
286
302
-5.3
17
17
0
72/28
Private retailer
20. Lowe’s Canada*, Toronto
256
140
82.9
16
7
9
85/15
Publicly traded
July/August 2010
HARDWARE MERCHANDISING
49
coverstory | TOP 100
Top 50
dealers &
retail chains
no. 10 with a bullet— that’s the only way to describe Lowe’s Canada in this year’s edition of the Top 50 Dealers and Retail Chains.
Lowe’s made its debut on this list last year in 17th position, but jumped to 10th in 2009 on the strength of nine big box store openings.
Boucherville, Que.-based RONA retains the top spot in a year characterized by almost universal decline in sales owing to the effects
of the global recession, which bottomed out last summer. Sales declines were tempered somewhat last year by the introduction of the
Home Renovation Tax Credit (HRTC) in the federal budget in February 2009. Retailers made the most of that lifeline, altering their marketing and advertising campaigns to draw attention to the tax break. Unfortunately, marketing support from the Feds didn’t kick in until
late August.
*estimated sales
Retail Sales ($M)
‘09
‘08
1. RONA, Boucherville, Que.
% DIY/
%
#
# of Stores
Change ‘09
Change Pro
‘08
Avg.
sq. ft.
Affiliation
6,000
6,300
-4.8
686
694
-8
85/15
50,000 A.R.E.N.A.
5,59
5,59
0.0
488
475
13
85/15
31,000 —
3. Home Depot Canada*, Toronto
5,500
5,738
-4.1
179
177
2
85/15
110,000 —
4. Home Hardware, St. Jacobs, Ont.
4,850
4,850
0.0
1,063 1,043
20
55/45
8,339 Alliance Int.
600
687
-12.7
750
750
0
80/20
5,000 Spancan
6. Alpa Lumber Group*, Mississauga, Ont. 585
650
-10.0
19
19
0
10/90
15,000 —
7. Kent Building Supplies*, Saint John, N.B. 397
417
-4.8
33
32
1
50/50
50,000 ILDC
8. United Farmers of Alberta*, Calgary
350
378
-7.4
36
36
0
70/30
9. Canac*, L’Ancienne-Lorette, Que. 286
302
-5.3
17
17
0
72/28
45,000 —
10. Lowe’s Canada*, Toronto
256
140
82.9
16
7
9
85/15
117,000 —
11. Windsor Plywood, Surrey, B.C.
215
239
-10.0
63
62
1
50/50
10,000 Delroc
12. McDiarmid Lumber Ltd.*, Winnipeg
167
176
-5.1
13
14
-1
40/60
30,000 Tim-BR-Marts
13. TSC Stores*, London, Ont.
160
165
-3.0
42
39
3
92/8
14. Nelson Lumber*, Lloydminster, Alta.
155
163
-5.0
5
5
0
15/85
15. Pacific West Systems*, Langley, B.C.
150
158
-5.1
8
8
0
5/95
16. Peavey Industries, Red Deer, Alta.
135
142
-4.9
29
29
0
95/5
17. Rockett Lumber*, Mississauga, Ont.
130 140
-7.1
5
5
0
5/95
5,000 —
18. Patrick Morin*, Joliette, Que.
117
117
0.0
14
13
1
50/50
15,000 ILDC
19. Igloo Building Supplies, Edmonton
100
100
0.0
4
4
0
0/100
60,000 ILDC
20. Patene Bldg. Supp. Ltd.*, Guelph, Ont. 112
118
-5.1
12
12
0
3/97
2. Canadian Tire Retail*, Toronto
(Home and leisure sales only)
5. TruServ Canada*, Winnipeg
4,200 Sexton
L’Ancienne-Lorette, Que.
50
H A R D WA R E M E R C H A N D I S I N G
20,000 —
10,000 Tim-BR-Marts
1,000 Tim-BR-Marts
11,000 OCTO
3,000 Tim-BR-Marts/TSG
July/August 2010
coverstory | TOP 100
%
Retail Sales ($M)
Change
‘09
‘08
21. Central Home Improvement Warehouse, # of Stores
‘09
‘08
% DIY/
#
Change Pro
Avg. Affiliation
sq. ft.
90
86
4.7
7
8
-1
60/40
60,000 ILDC
22. François L’Espérance, Inc.*, Laval, Que.
81
84
-3.6
5
5
0
50/50
32,000 RONA
23. Piercey’s Building Supplies,* 79
81
-2.5
5
5
0
25/75
12,000 PAL
24. Star Building Materials*, Winnipeg
76
77
-1.3
5
5
0
95/5
5,000 ILDC
25. Turkstra Lumber*, Hamilton, Ont.
76
78
-2.6
12
12
0
20/80
4,000 ILDC
26. Groupe Dynaco, La Pocatière, Que.
71
65
9.2
11
11
0
n/a
9,330 BMR
27. L. Villeneuve & Cie Ltée.*, Montreal
69
72
-4.2
1
1
0
60/40
50,000 ILDC
28. Jacques Laferté Ltée.*, Drummondville, Que. 67
70
-4.3
4
4
0
65/35
25,000 ILDC
29. Copp Building Materials Ltd.*, London, Ont. 62
64
-3.1
4
4
0
60/40
25,000 ILDC
30. Potvin & Bouchard Inc.*, Jonquière, Que. 59
59
0.0
5
5
0
70/30
25,000 BMR
31. Notre Dame Agencies*, Lewisporte, Nfld.56
56
0.0
9
9
0
70/30
32. Builder’s Warehouse*, Orleans, Ont.
56
56
0.0
1
1
0
33/67
63,000 BMR
33. Matério Laurentiens*, Saint-Jerome, Que. 55
56
-1.8
3
3
0
80/20
— ILDC
34. Davidson Enman Lumber*, Calgary
54
57
-5.3
3
3
0
5/95
35. McMunn & Yates*, Dauphin, Man.
53
54
-1.9
11
11
0
40/60
8,000 ILDC
36. Millwork Home Centres*, Oshawa, Ont. 52
55
-5.5
3
3
0
50/50
25,000 ILDC
37. Gibson Bldg. Supplies*, Markham, Ont.
51
53
-3.8
2
2
0
20/80
38. J&H Builders Warehouse*, Saskatoon
49
49
0.0
2
2
0
35/65
18,500 ILDC
39. United Lumber*, Barrie, Ont.
45
46
-2.2
4
4
0
45/55
18,000 Home Hardware
40. Moffat & Powell*, London, Ont.
43
44
-2.3
5
5
0
35/65
5,000 ILDC
41. Groupe Gaston Côté*, Sherbrooke, Que. 42
43
-2.3
7
7
0
35/65
10,000 ILDC
42. J.O. Lévèsque*, Cowansville, Que.
36
37
-2.7
5
5
0
100/0
30,000 RONA
43. Bolt Supply House*, Calgary
36
38
-5.3
14
14
0
0/100
44. Payzant Building Products*, Sackville, N.S.
35
35
0.0
3
3
0
45/55
45. North American Lumber*, Winnipeg 35
36
-2.8
20
20
0
60/40
8,500 Tim-BR Mart
46. Logic Lumber, Lethbridge, Alta.
35
39
-10.3
2
2
0
10/90
3,000 —
47. Quincaillerie R. Durand*, Quebec City
34
34
0.0
1
1
0
70/30
35,000 RONA
48. Ferlac Inc.*, Saint-Felicien, Que.
34
35
-2.9
4
4
0
70/30
100,000 RONA
49. C. A. Fisher*, Edmonton
29
30
-3.3
8
8
0
30/70
12,000 Tim-BR Mart
50. L. Lapointe Ltée.*, Chicoutimi, Que.
29
30
-3.3
1
1
0
50/50
30,000 ILDC
Antigonish, N.S.
Dartmouth, N.S.
July/August 2010
9,000 Castle
2,000 Tim-BR-Marts
n/a Tim-BR Mart
5,000 —
18,000 Home Hardware
HARDWARE MERCHANDISING
51
coverstory | TOP 100
Top
On january 1 2009, a new partnership
between the ILDC, The Sexton Group, Delroc
Industries, Federated Co-operatives Ltd. and La
Coop Fédérée de Québec officially took effect.
The agreement created a new buying entity
with some $4-billion in purchasing power and
retail representation right across Canada.
However, because the groups involved retain
their individual automomy, we have continued
to list them separately on this chart.
Buying Groups & co-ops
*estimated sales
1. TIM-BR-MART Ltd., Calgary
%
Affiliation
Dealer Stores #
Purchases ($M)
Dealer Sales ($M) %
Change ‘09
‘08 Change
‘09
‘08 Change
‘09
‘08
1,800 2,100
-14.3
3,000
3,770
-20.4
740
740
0
Spancan
2. Sexton Group Ltd.*, Winnipeg
698
751
-7.1 1,300
1,400
-7.1
285
265
20
3. ILDC*, Ajax, Ont.
686
727
-5.6
1,700
1,800
-5.6
135
135
0
Spancan
4. BMR Group Inc.*, Longueuil, Que. 630
683
-7.8
1,200
1,300
-7.7
183
175
8
OCTO
5. TruServ Canada*, Winnipeg
440
504
-12.7
600
687
-12.7
750
750
0
Spancan
6. Castle Building Centres Group*, 412
440
-6.4
1,030
1,100
-6.8
226
220
6
OCTO
7. Allroc Building Products*, Calgary 372
418
-11.0
745
836
-10.9
56
56
0
Winroc
8. Federated Co-ops. Ltd., Saskatoon 333
355
-6.2
540
575
-6.1
210
210
0
ILDC, Spancan
9. Delroc Industries Ltd., Langley, B.C. 283
295
-4.1
620
645
-3.9
115
116
-1
10. Co-op Fédérée de Québec*,
216
210
2.9
310
301
3.0
170
165
5
ILDC, Spancan
142
158
-10.1
342
380
-10.0
47
47
0
—
12. IRLY Distributors Ltd.*, Surrey, B.C. 32
34
-5.9
173
182
-4.9
42
42
0
TIM-BR MART
ILDC
Mississauga, Ont.
ILDC
Trois-Rivières, Que.
11. TORBSA Ltd., Bolton, Ont.
TOP 100 METHODOLOGY
Rankings were compiled through surveys sent to each company president or a key executive in January and February of 2010. These
were followed up with faxed and emailed surveys and phone interviews done in April and May. Further information may come from
the files of Hardware Merchandising, annual reports and other news reports. Where a company declined to report data, Hardware
Merchandising has estimated based on previous data, retail sales space, store openings and closings, and economic factors. In some
cases, estimates were given by company executives and rounded off to the nearest $1,000,000. Percentage sales increases were
rounded off to the closest single decimal point. Where two companies had the same sales, the one that posted the highest annual
increase was ranked first. In addition, not all retail chains report manufacturing operations as part of their retail sales. Listings do not
show stores outside Canada.
52
H A R D WA R E M E R C H A N D I S I N G
July/August 2010
coverstory | TOP 100
Top
In Last Year’s top 100 report, distributors of hardware/home
improvement products were trying to forget 2008 and hoping for
better things in 2009. Clearly, it didn’t work out that way. As in 2008,
2009 was plagued by weak housing starts and persistently low commodities prices, resulting in across-the-board declines for companies in the distribution business. Luckily, 2009 may prove to be the
bottom of the curve. (We have chosen not to include companies
such as Home Hardware, TruServ and RONA on this list, although
all are distributors. They are covered in the retailer listings.)
distributors
%
% Sales to
# of
# of Stores
Change
Served Warehouses Retailers
Product
Speciality
*estimated sales
Sales ($M)
‘09
‘08
1. Taiga Building Products, Burnaby, B.C.
932
1,006
-7.4
6,100
16
100
LBM
2. CanWel Building Materials, Vancouver
650
804
-19.2
7,500
17
100
LBM/hardware
3. Broadleaf Logistics*, Vancouver
604
711
-15.0
6,482
14
100
LBM
4. AFA Forest Products*, Bolton, Ont.
503
547
-8.0
4,296
14
90
LBM
5. Goodfellow, Delson, Que.
437
481
-9.2
2,000
10
50
LBM
6. Richelieu Hardware, St-Laurent, Que.
424
442
-4.1
5,000
34
20
hardware
7. Guardian Building Products*, Mississauga, Ont. 191
210
-9.0
3,800
12
100
LBM
70
LBM
8. OWL Distribution*, Woodstock, Ont.
74
81
-8.6
500
1
9. Can-Save*, Barrie, Ont.
45
47
-4.3
1,390
1
10. Marcel Baril Ltee.*, Rouyn-Noranda, Que.
36
38
-5.3
1,800
5
100 specialty bldg. prods.
25
hardware/plumbing
Big Box map of Canada
For the year ending December 31, 2009
■
■
■
■
Home Depot
Kent Home Improvement
RONA
Lowe’s
1
(-)
25 4
(+1) (-1)
28 7
(+1) (-)
4
(-)
1
(-)
1
(-)
6
(-)
3
(-)
85
(+5)
20 16
(-1) (+9)
22
(+1)
41
(-1)
3
3
(-)
(-)
2
(-)
2 1
(-) (-1)
4
(+1)
July/August 2010
HARDWARE MERCHANDISING
53