Industry News

More than half (52 percent) of homeowners plan to make a home improvement or addition this fall, according to the Zillow® Digs™ Fall Home Improvement Trend and Spending Survey, compared with 60 percent in the summer; homeowners plan to spend …

Both the number of unemployed, at 11.3 million, and the unemployment rate, at 7.3 percent, changed little but decreased in August. The jobless rate is down from 8.1 percent a year ago, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Overall, …

Jay Bullock is the owner of Jay’s Ace Hardware in Wrens, Ga., and author of “So You Want A Hardware Store“. He also runs retail consultancy Bullock Retail Advisors with his son, Preston, and writes about his experiences running a …

Lowe’s completed its previously announced acquisition of the majority of assets of Orchard Supply Hardware, including 72 Orchard stores, for approximately $205 million in cash, plus the assumption of payables owed to nearly all of Orchard’s supplier partners. The acquisition expands …

At PlanItDIY.com, we are always looking for great retailer bloggers who can tell us more about what’s going on behind-the-scenes at their stores, what their customers are up to and what projects they’re working on in their homes or stores. …

The team at PlanItDIY.com has selected Angela MacOwan’s DIY project—Creating a Mini Koi Pond—the winner of its recent Yard Makeover Contest. For her effort, Angela received a $250 shopping spree on Aug. 23 in the local independent hardware store where …

Driving past Kinnick Stadium, home to the University of Iowa Hawkeyes football team, Jerry Meis slows his driving to a crawl as something catches his eye. The university has planted corn on either side of the main entrance to the …

The new lead-free plumbing law, the phase-out of incandescent light bulbs: Recently, there have been big changes to the plumbing and electrical categories. Is your store ready? Parts of the light bulb phase out have already begun but additional deadlines …