News

Retailer-led panels delivered industry-specific takeaways and anecdotes during the 2017 North American Retail Hardware Association (NRHA) State of Independents Conference in Chicago on Dec. 7. Dan Tratensek, executive vice president of NRHA and publisher of Hardware Retailing magazine, and Jim …

The North American Retail Hardware Association (NRHA) hosted its second annual Women’s Leadership Roundtable in Chicago, Dec. 6 during which attendees discussed the value that trades bring to the industry, and the importance of training employees among a variety of …

C. Jay Buikema, longtime owner and CEO of Buikema’s Ace Hardware stores in Illinois, died Dec. 5 at 78, according to the Chicago Tribune. Buikema was known in Naperville and Wheaton, Illinois, communities as a leader, defining “what it means …

During its 2017 Investor and Analyst Conference, Home Depot’s board of directors announced plans to initiate a $15 billion share buyback program, Reuters reports. “Since 2002 and through the third quarter of fiscal 2017, [Home Depot] has returned approximately $73 …

Attorneys representing people who say chemicals from Lumber Liquidators flooring made them ill claim a new settlement, valued at $36 million, excludes their clients. In October, Lumber Liquidators agreed to pay $26 million in cash and provide $12 million of …

The second annual eRetailer Home Improvement Summit was held Nov. 29-Dec. 1 in Orlando, Florida, and speakers at the event discussed how home improvement retailers and suppliers can compete online. Differentiating Your Store Al Meyers, who leads business innovation strategy …

The 2017 holiday shopping season kicked off over Thanksgiving weekend, with retailers seeing a large boost in consumer traffic. More than 174 million Americans shopped in brick-and-mortar stores and online, beating the original estimate of 164 million shoppers, according to …

Jack Kleinhenz is chief economist for the National Retail Federation (NRF), the world’s largest retail trade association. Formerly with the Federal Reserve Bank in Cleveland, Kleinhenz is a contributing forecaster to The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, the Federal Reserve Bank …