DISTRIBUTORS/CO-OPS

Corbin Prows has joined Do it Best Corp. as the retail program manager, responsible for the creation and implementation of marketing strategies

Ace Hardware affiliate Klinker's Lumber & Building Supply of Waverly City, Ohio, was recognized by the state's House of Representatives for opening a new paint studio in May.

The store's paint studio — essentially a remodeled and rethought version of its paint section — now sells Valspar paints, including their Aspire and Professional line of paints, in addition to the Ace line of paint. The paint studio will also allow employees to mix custom paint colors to match customers' color palettes.

Ace Hardware’s new television campaign marks a return of the co-op’s “Ace is the place” jingle.

While staff and service remains the most influential factor in satisfaction once customers are at a home improvement retail store, price is what drives customers to a retailer in the first place, underscoring the importance of competitive differentiation efforts via better price and value perception, according to the J.D. Power 2014 Home Improvement Retailer Satisfaction Study released today.

The survey results also showed Ace Hardware at the top of the 2014 Home Improvement Retailer Satisfaction Study, followed by Menards and Lowe’s.

An Ace Hardware store that burned down in an Atlanta suburb is being inundated with offers of help and free meals from local citizens and businesses, according to an article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Indianapolis -- Rich Lynch, who was named VP of marketing for Fort Wayne, Ind.-based Do it Best Corp. back in March, said he learned some valuable lessons about retail from his teenage years as a hardware store employee -- and also from his years as a marketing executive for Jim Beam.

Lynch met with the media here during the co-op's May Market. And with the words "helping members grow" stitched into his shirt sleeve, he talked about the importance of staying ahead of society's online movement and balancing all the "ingredients" of a successful hardware store.

Do it Best Corp. has named Gary Hoffmann to lead a seasoned business development team in the newly created role of national multi-location sales and business development manager, effective immediately.

Citing a shock and fire hazard, Ace Hardware is recalling the Ace Clamp-On LED Work Light, sold at Ace locations and other hardware stores between September and December 2013.

According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the cord bushing inside the light base has exhibited a tendency to fail, which allows the cord wiring to pull out of the base and expose bare wire.

No injuries have been reported.