Exclusive: New True Value President Gets Candid About Company’s Future

At the end of 2024, Do it Best made one of the biggest acquisitions in the history of the home improvement channel, purchasing the assets and operations of True Value. The sale closed on Nov. 22 and in the weeks since, both sides—and the industry—have been following the developments. 

Dan Tratensek, North American Hardware and Paint Association COO, sat down for an exclusive interview with True Value president Dent Johnson, who openly answered a range of questions, sharing how the leadership teams are navigating the challenges of the acquisition and providing insights on what the future holds for both companies.

Listen to the full Q&A with Johnson on the “Taking Care of Business” podcast at YourNHPA.org/podcast to learn more about the long-term plan for integrating the two companies’ systems, repairing vendor relations, updating the rebate program and harnessing the equity of the True Value brand.

“The first thing our new leadership team has been doing is addressing these tough challenges head-on, and we’ve been working hard to stabilize operations,” Johnson says. “Part of stabilizing operations is getting a supply chain up and running that had been virtually frozen since the middle of October. We have also been very focused on rebuilding confidence with our retailers and our vendors and streamlining and driving efficiency in the company’s warehouse network and across operational areas.”

There have also been a number of questions around what the now-combined Spring Market in Orlando will look like for Do it Best members and True Value retailers. Johnson says there will not be a Do it Best side or a True Value side, but that it will be one market. 

“There’s quite a large swath of vendors that are common to both companies, and we’ll also have those vendors unique to each,” Johnson says. “Everyone who’s there can buy anything they see there. We’ve come up with a way that if you’re at the market and you see a deal you want, we’re gonna make that available to you.”

The floor will also be organized so that both True Value and Do it Best store owners will be able to engage with those areas they are accustomed to seeing, such as deal areas like Assortment City and Solutions in Action, Johnson says. 

“We’re able to incorporate the uniqueness of both sides while also bringing everybody together,” Johnson says.  

While the depth and breadth of the operational challenges faced by True Value in the last few months, and even the last several years, was far more complex than Johnson and the leadership team expected, he has been reassured by the resilience and loyalty of the company’s retailer base. 

“Our retailers have gone through an extremely difficult period of time—really over the last several years, but particularly the last three or four months—but many of them are still sticking by us,” Johnson says. “They’re giving us a chance to reestablish trust as we’re moving forward with business. We are applying a lot of best practices from the Do it Best side of the business, being transparent and just being who we are.”

Johnson has agreed to sit down with the NHPA team again in the coming months to provide regular updates on the progress the company is making post-acquisition. Catch this podcast and future updates from Do it Best and True Value on the “Taking Care of Business” podcast at YourNHPA.org/podcast.

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Follow along with all the True Value and Do it Best news:

• Do it Best and True Value Move Forward Together
• Do it Best Addresses Retailers’, Vendors’ Concerns
• Do it Best Announces Combined Spring Market With True Value in 2025
• Do it Best Successfully Completes Purchase of True Value
• Industry Wholesalers Reach Out to True Value Retailers
• Vendors Seek Return of Goods or Payment From True Value, Courts List Exec Bonuses and Payouts
• True Value Temporarily Suspends Drop Ship Program
• True Value and Lenders Reach Milestone Agreement Moving Sale to Do it Best Forward
• True Value RDCs Prepare for Potential Shutdown
• Judge Shares Concerns With Direction of True Value Bankruptcy Filing
• Bankruptcy Judge Allows True Value to Use Cash Collateral While Lenders Push Back
• Industry Reacts to True Value Bankruptcy and Potential Sale to Do it Best
• NHPA Offers Tools, Reassurances to Retailers Potentially Impacted by True Value Bankruptcy
• Do it Best CEO Adds New Insights to True Value Purchase Plans
• True Value Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, Do it Best Bids to Acquire Assets