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Residential remodeling activity in the United States declined 6% in June 2012 compared with May, according to an index compiled by BuildFax, a national database of building permit data. The June 2012 figure is 1% below the revised June 2011 number.

Advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales were up slightly in July, according to data released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, July monthly sales were $403.9 billion, up 0.8% from the previous month, and up 4.1% from July last year.

For building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers (NAICS classification 444), July sales were $23.46 billion, up 1.0% from both June 2012 and July 2011.

Boucherville, Quebec-based RONA, the Canadian hardware retailer and distributor, saw a distribution sales increase of 8.7% in its second fiscal quarter of 2012, while retail and commercial sales rose 1.8%.

Beginning with the quarter, RONA changed the way it measures comparable-store sales. For the first time, the company is including distribution sales to affiliate dealers, and on that basis, same-store sales rose 1% in the second quarter.

The responsibility of full engagement does not fall solely on employees. An employee may be engaged in one organization or department and disengaged in another environment. Or, the employee may start off engaged and then slowly move into the disengaged, or transactional, category. Managers often hold the keys to whether employees are engaged or transactional because employees’ level of engagement often depends on the manager’s.

Demand for fencing in the U.S. is forecast to expand 7.1% annually through 2016, according to a report just released by The Freedonia Group, a Cleveland-based market research firm. Growth will be driven by an expected rebound in building construction from a depressed 2011 base.  Advances will also be supported by rising installation of high-value fences, such as ornamental metal and composite fencing.  Consumers are turning to these materials because of their favorable aesthetic and performance properties, the report said.

The nation’s leading wholesale distributors of home improvement products and building materials saw an increase of 2.23% in 2011 sales, according to the research that produced the 2012 Home Channel News Top 100 Distributor Scoreboard.

It wasn’t easy.

According to the data culled from surveys, financial reports and estimates, the nation’s top 100 distributors produced a total of $40.263 billion in sales, compared with $39.385 billion in 2010.

Channel analysis
During the 12 months from June 2011 through May 2012, dollar sales of barbecue grills increased to $1.390 billion, up 1.2% from the previous year, according to Port Washington, N.Y.-based NPD Group. The company’s consumer research shows unit volume increased even more — up 6.7%. The consumer panel shows hardware stores losing dollar share to warehouse home centers and unit share to mass merchants.

Not surprisingly, there’s a big gulf between the under-35 and over-35 age group when it comes to using technology to make purchasing decisions, according to a recent survey by Today Info Retail, an Atlanta-based strategy and design agency. But while both groups have integrated technology into their shopping habits, 54% of all 18-34 year olds surveyed have used Facebook as an information source in shopping, compared to only 15% of those 35 and older. Similarly, 35% of the younger age group used mobile devices, versus 12% of the older consumers.

Long-Lewis Hardware, a distributor based in Birmingham, Ala., is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year. A division of Long-Lewis Inc., Long-Lewis Hardware serves hardware stores, home centers, agricultural retailers, industrial/commercial dealers and lumberyards in Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi and Tennessee. The other division is a Ford automobile dealership, one of the oldest in the nation.

The list of U.S. housing markets that showed measurable and sustained improvement rose by four to include 84 metro areas in July, according to the National Association of Home Builders/First American Improving Markets Index (IMI). This number includes representatives from 32 states plus the District of Columbia. 

Home channel stocks are all over the board, led by Home Depot and Sherwin-Williams. Existing-home sales are down slightly from April, but way up from May 2011.