Industry News

Wholesale distributor Handy Hardware hosted its spring market this month, offering a buying event focused on delivering great product assortments and values. Building on the company’s value proposition of “Profit Plus,” Handy Hardware’s markets are intended to help drive success for dealers …

As the economy continues to strengthen, a growing group of young professionals is expected to buy real estate. The number of first-time homebuyers was at a 30-year low in 2014, but Douglas Duncan, chief economist at Fannie Mae, predicts the improving economy …

Manufacturer Palram Americas is working with a distributor of specialty building products to sell non-wooden trim boards that can be painted, cut and used instead of wood. The Palight Trimboard planks are made of polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, and are durable, without wood’s susceptibility to rot and damage …

One co-op will be hitting the links on the PGA Tour this season. Ace Hardware Corp. announced a multi-year sponsorship with PGA Tour star Hunter Mahan. The sponsorship marks the first time the company has sponsored an active professional athlete and secures Ace as …

Despite the cold weather in Minneapolis this past weekend, United Hardware retailers were thinking about the warmer weather as they worked the market floor at the United Hardware Spring & Summer Buying Market, held Jan. 9-11 at the Minneapolis Convention …

Consumer confidence increased in December, rising nearly 14 percent from December 2013, according to recent research. The Surveys of Consumers from data providers Thomson Reuters and the Institute for Social Research shows that consumer confidence in the national economy was higher in December …

For home fashion, expect 2015 to bring in natural and subtle colors and textures integrated with a modern ambiance. That’s according to home improvement and real estate information company Zillow Digs, which recently recommended five home design trends to keep an eye out for in …

A 90-year-old worker at a True Value store in Wisconsin is still on the job. Al Hutterer has been a part of the team at Puhl’s True Value for more than 30 years, and he’s still at it. He took a job …