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Hipster Hardware Store in Austin Has the Big Box Stores Taking Notice

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Jason Ballard remembers the time some guys from Home Depot came poking around in TreeHouse, his eco-conscious home-improvement store in a strip mall in southwest Austin. They were wearing suits and trying to act nonchalant, a ruse undercut by their questions to Ballard’s employees. How much of this does the business keep in inventory? How much of that did it sell last week?

“So I marched up and said, ‘Hey, I’m Jason! How can I help you?'” Ballard recalls. With a little small talk, he got them to say they were in town from Atlanta. Then he asked where they worked. They admitted they’d come from the big-box home-improvement giant. Ballard wished them well and cautioned his employees to say nothing more.

A wafer-thin 33-year-old with a deep East Texas drawl and boyish grin, Ballard doesn’t look like a threat to Home Depot. So far, TreeHouse has only the one location. It is on track to do about $10 million in sales this year, compared with Home Depot’s $83 billion.

But many of the most innovative brands in smart-home technology and sustainable design have embraced TreeHouse in a big way. TreeHouse is reportedly the largest single retailer of Nest products, for instance. It was among the first retail partners and is by far the largest of the much-admired Kentucky company Big Ass Fans. Perhaps most impressive, TreeHouse will be Tesla’s sole retail partner for the launch of that company’s highly anticipated Power Wall home battery.

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The Home Depot Acquires Interline Brands

Source: Hardware & Building Supply Dealer

The Home Depot said Monday it completed its $1.625 billion acquisition of Interline Brands, a national distributor and direct marketer of broad-line maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) products.

The agreement to acquire Interline was previously announced on July 22, 2015.

“We’re delighted to officially welcome Interline’s associates and customers into The Home Depot family,” said Craig Menear, chairman, CEO and president of The Home Depot. “By joining forces with Interline, we’ll be able to better serve our pro customers whether in- store, online or at their place of business. We look forward to the value this acquisition will bring to our customers and shareholders.”

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