News

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that despite a decline in existing-home sales in December, the annual sales numbers hit the highest point since 2006. Year-over-year sales for 2021 were up 8.5 percent and existing-home sales topped 6.12 million, …

Independent hardware store owner Gina Schaefer attended a meeting on antitrust issues at the White House this week as a representative for brick-and-mortar businesses. The meetings addressed the challenges entrepreneurs, brick-and-mortar retailers and other businesses face competing against tech giants.  …

R.P. Lumber Co., Inc. is celebrating 45 years since Robert and Donna Plummer–school teachers at the time–took a big risk and put everything they had into a rough, vacant property in the small Illinois community of Staunton. Today the company operates …

Distribution center workers at Blish-Mize Co. voted on Jan. 12 to leave the Teamsters Local 696 union. With assistance from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, a Blish-Mize employee filed a decertification petition with the National Labor Relations …

The National Retail Federation (NRF) released the holiday spending numbers for 2021, which grew 14.1 percent over 2020. Holiday spending topped $886.7 billion, blowing NRF’s forecast, which was a growth of 11.5 percent, out of the water. The increase comes …

Incisiv, one of the leading insights firms for consumer industry digital transformation leaders, recently released its Omnichannel Customer Service Index and named Ace Hardware as the top omnichannel customer service provider. The index assesses top retailers’ customer service experience and …

Orgill, the fastest-growing independent hardware distributor in the world, has announced changes to the structure and operations of its purchasing department. These organizational changes reflect the company’s long-term plans for accelerated growth and a continued focus on its mission to …

The Supreme Court has blocked the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for large employers, but is allowing the separate rule applying only to health care workers employed at facilities receiving federal funding.  In November 2021, President Joe Biden released two new rules …