Content about Bob Taylor

Attendance numbers are expected to increase at the Do it Best Fall Market in Indianapolis, which officially kicks off Oct. 13.

An early reading about five weeks ahead of the upcoming October market showed double-digit percentage increases in store attendance, and increases in total badges even higher.

“It’s a dramatic difference,” said CEO Bob Taylor. “We’ll have to see, but it’s a great early sign that maybe [the industry] turned a corner.”

Taylor’s Do it Center of Virginia Beach, Va., celebrated the grand opening of its 11th store Saturday. 

The hardware store retailer’s newest store is in the Courthouse Marketplace shopping center in Virginia Beach. The store is the chain’s fifth in Virginia Beach.

 “It was an old fashioned grand opening with a board cutting, the mayor and chief of police,” said marketing manager Tom Townsend. The store’s soft opening took place in August.

Indianapolis -- Hockey legend Jim Craig, the goalie from the gold-medal winning U.S. Olympic hockey team of 1980 delivered the keynote speech during the Do it Best Corp. May Market here. Craig’s message of teamwork was similar to that of Do it Best CEO Bob Taylor. 

The 28th Golden Hammer Awards saw Bob Taylor enter the Home Channel Hall of Fame and Westminster, Mass.-based Aubuchon Hardware take home the Retailer of the Year award.

Single-store operator McDaniel’s Do-It Center of Snohomish, Wash., was also recognized as the Golden Hammer “Tools of the Trade” honoree. 

In 1999, Bob Taylor achieved a feat accomplished by no other home improvement executive in the annals of business journalism.

He was compared with “Bonanza” character Adam Cartwright and U.S. President George Herbert Walker Bush — in the same article.

We’ll explain later.

First things first: Do it Best Corp. CEO Bob Taylor is to be congratulated for his selection as the 2012 inductee of the Home Channel Hall of Fame.

Dan Starr and Doug Roth will be promoted into Do it Best's upper management June 1, when longtime executives Dave Haist and Dave Dietz plan to retire. 

“Any transition like this is a mix of emotions and sentiment,” said Bob Taylor, president and CEO. “While we are saddened to see a couple of key, longtime contributors like Dave Haist and Dave Dietz retire, we are equally excited to have two very talented individuals in Dan Starr and Doug Roth stepping up to fill those positions.”

The Do it Best October Market will return to Indianapolis Oct. 8 to 10, with some things remaining the same, and some things changing. 

“We really believe this market will be like no other that our members have seen or experienced,” said Do it Best CEO Bob Taylor. “With the continued momentum of our Extreme Growth initiatives, along with outstanding purchasing opportunities in an expanded convention center and top-notch slate of events and speakers, we’ve got a lot of very exciting things in store for our members."

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels appointed Do it Best CEO Bob Taylor to the Indiana Economic Development Corp.'s board of directors.

The announcement was made earlier this month during an IEDC board meeting. 

The IEDC describes its mission as growing and retaining Indiana businesses, while attracting new investments to the state. It consists of 12 members appointed by the governor.