Home Center and Hardware Industry Alerts | May 2011

Personnel Updates:

ABC Supply has announced that several former Bradco associates have joined ABC Supply’s Southeast region team.

The new ABC Supply associates and their assignments are:
• Marc Kalman, Business Manager for metal products, ABC Supply region staff: Formerly Kalman was responsible for Bradco’s metal sales in Florida. 
• Bob Landrum, District Manager, new Central Florida district: He had been Bradco’s regional manager in Florida.
• Kim Burns, Florida Tile Product Manager: Previously she had managed Bradco’s Tile Center in Ft. Lauderdale.
• Drew Denick, Florida Specialty Products Manager: He had been Bradco’s regional specialty products manager in Florida.
• Ray Milewski, Florida Commercial Customer Relations Manager: He had been a regional manager for Bradco.
• Jack Morgan, Florida Residential Product Manager: Formerly Morgan had been Bradco’s regional sales manager for Florida.

Harbor Freight Tools announced that CFO, Michael Kaplan, has ft the company to become PacSun’s CFO

Parr Lumber has promoted Nate Rasmussen to the position of Eastern Washington Regional Sales Manager.

Snavely Forest Products announced the appointment of Mark Thorn as acting General Manager of the Houston Division and Cliff DeSpain joined Snavely as Market Development Manager of Snavely's International Division.

Stock Building Supply announced that Mark Fikse has joined the company as the Division President and General Manager for the Southeast Region.

Mergers and Acquisitions:

Cedar Creek announced that the company closed the deal to acquire Epperson Lumber of Statesville, N.C. 

ProBuild Holdings acquired the assets of Harbert Lumber Co., a building materials supplier based in Colorado, with locations in Grand Junction, Glenwood Springs, Aspen and Steamboat Springs.

Real Estate:

Aubuchon Hardware has opened a new location in Cohasset, MA.  The new 11,000-sq.-ft. store is located in a former Chevrolet dealership.

Menards continued its Midwest expansion with a soft opening followed by a grand opening in Marshall, a town in southwestern Minnesota.  Site preparation and construction for the store had been going on since August 2008.  Menards is also hoping to open a store in Bemidji, Minn., this spring.

Menards opened the first of two planned stores in Columbus, Ohio on April 12.  The Eau Claire, Wis. retailer purchased the land for the site in 2008 but did not start construction until last May. The company is also preparing to build a second location on the east side of Columbus.

Green Initiatives:

Lowe’s announced that it was celebrating Earth Day by giving away trees. On April 23, Lowe’s, in partnership with American Forests, gave away one million tree saplings to customers during in-store Earth Day celebrations nationwide. When planted, these one million trees will eventually produce more than 260,000,000 pounds of oxygen annually, providing air for more than 670,000 people for one year, according to the company.
Each tree was bar-coded so customers could register their trees online at Lowes.com/earthday and see where other trees are being planted across the country. Customers will also be able to scan a 2D barcode on the tree bag from a mobile phone for instant access to tree facts and a short informational video on how to plant and care for the sapling. Lowe’s and American Forests identified species for each region that can grow successfully in the climate conditions and terrain. The size of the sapling depends on the type of tree.