Old stories, new optimism
True Value Company has generated a disproportionately heavy share of headlines for Hardware & Building Supply Dealer over the last several years, and even more so in recent weeks, with its bankruptcy and sale to Do it Best.
Not all of that coverage has aged well. Consider the headline “ACON’s vote of confidence.” In it, the principal of the private-equity firm that had purchased True Value in 2018 said, “Rest assured, management is working hard to grow the value of your remaining equity in the business.” Also consider “Carter Lumber teams with True Value.” Carter converted to Orgill last year.
It’s not surprising that old stories don’t age well given the furious pace of industry change. Journalism, after all, is merely the first draft of history.
But one article has aged well — our 2018 interview with David Thompson, owner of Thompson True Value Hardware & Rental of Marshalltown, Iowa. Thompson didn’t vote for the ACON deal, criticized the process and railed against the early policy of being charged $150 per store per month to use the True Value brand — “A name that many of us had worked a lifetime to build,” he said at the time.
Six years later, I reached out to Thompson again. Looking back at the ACON deal, Thompson said that while dealer equity was unlocked, something else was lost. “We lost a lot of the family feeling,” he said. “This industry has always been very family oriented — from the manufacturers to the rep firms to the individual store owners. It’s pretty much what makes it all so much doggone fun.”
Since 2018, Thompson True Value has expanded. Dave’s son Paul is taking over the business. Business is strong. And in a word, the Thompsons are optimistic about the sale to Do it Best, partly because of the Fort Wayne, Indiana-based co-op’s balance sheet, and partly because of its structure.
“They’re a co-op, which by its very model exists only for the benefit of the membership,” he said. “That’s something that I’ve always felt extremely strong about.”
He added that it’s safe to say there are many True Value retailers who feel the same way.
“If this goes through [read update here] all in all it will be a good thing for our industry,” he said. “I think Do it Best will strengthen the distribution network as far as trucking and warehousing. And I think those were a couple of our weaknesses.
“I hope in another six years if you and I have another conversation, you can come back and look at this conversation and say, ‘There he goes again, he nailed it.’”
Here’s hoping.
More Blog Posts In This Series
An existential question
