News

This week, The Home Depot described progress toward strategic goals and outlined long-term financial targets for the company. The retailer’s key strategic initiatives continue to be centered on customer experience, product authority and productivity, as well as new goals, according to the company. In December …

This week, a labor union filed a charge against Menards, alleging that the retailer limits employees’ rights with “an unlawful and overbroad written employment agreement.” The Office & Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU), Local 153, filed the charge with the …

U.S. employment numbers were solid for the month of November. The unemployment rate stayed steady at 5 percent and 211,000 new jobs were added nationally, according to new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. From October to November, the number of …

The spring buying season is just around the corner. Buying markets are among the best opportunities to see manufacturers’ new and innovative products and plan for category growth. In its 2015 Magazine Readership Study, Hardware Retailing asked retailers which categories they are most interested in …

This week, PRO Group, Inc. announced that Lancaster will join PRO Group as its newest distributor member effective Jan. 1. PRO Group and Lancaster are excited about the opportunities this relationship will bring to both organizations. Over the coming months, PRO Group will be …

German manufacturer Bosch is making smart-home technology a top priority. Beginning on Jan. 1, the newly founded subsidiary Robert Bosch Smart Home GmbH will bring together the company’s smart home activities. The company will create a single mobile application that …

Three home improvement retailers ranked in the top 10 of “Happiest Retail Employers,” a list generated based on employee reviews of the companies. Ace Hardware is No. 2 on the list from CareerBliss, which is a website focused on helping employees find greater satisfaction …

For big-box retailers Target and Home Depot, their widely publicized data breaches continue to be a topic of discussion, and both are coming to agreements to pay for the costly hacks to consumers’ information. Target will pay about $39 million to …