HD Supply launches proprietary brands
HD Supply has launched two new proprietary brands covering kitchen and bath fixtures, ceiling fans, heavy-duty tools and hardware.
The new “Seasons” brand of kitchen fixtures, bath fixtures and ceiling fans, is geared toward the consumer and residential market. Seasons products are positioned in the “better” qualitytier, according to the prodealer, with a “best” quality brand under the “Seasons Gold” name.
Tools and hardware under the “Brigade” line will be primarily for contractors and professionals and sold through HD Supply’s White Cap and Facilities and Maintenance divisions. The line also will feature a higher-tier product group under the name “Brigade 5-Star.”
“The launch of these new proprietary brands is a cornerstone to HD Supply’s long-term growth and value creation story,” said Arleen Quiñones, HD Supply’s vp-marketing and communications, in a statement. She said the products fill a “product assortment gap” identified by the company.
The whole-sale distributor said it’s implemeted a number of quality control initiatives with its overseas suppliers, including audits to “confirm business practices are socially and environmentally responsible.”
In related HD Supply news, the company has opened a 20,000-square-foot warehouse to serve as the regional hub for Creative Touch Interiors (CTI), a division that caters to production builders. The Atlanta facility will serve the Southeast market, en compassing Birmingham, Ala., and Macon, Ga.
In addition to entering the Atlanta market, CTI recently expanded into Texas and the Southwest and is evaluating future investments in the Pacific Northwest and Midwest regions. The company intends to establish a national foot-print that will offer builders and their customers customized finish products, including flooring, cabinets, countertops and window coverings.
CTI operates more than 90 design centers and six counter-top fabrication facilities. It is part of HD Supply, a wholesale distribution company that once belonged to Home Depot but was sold last year to a group of private investors.
Earlier this year, HD Supply divested its stable of lumberyards, striking a deal with Pro Build Holdings. The deal, terms of which were not disclosed , included a collection of 39 lumberyards, seven truss plants, 10 engineered wood production facilities and a construction services division, all located in Florid a and Georgia.
The remainder of HD Supply is still owned by three private equity groups, who bought the division from Home Depot last summer for $8.5 billion (Home Depot still holds a 12 percent stake in HD Supply). The LBM side of the business, now spun off to Pro Build, was built upon three major acquisitions: Williams Bros. Lumber outside Atlanta; Cox Lumber in St. Petersburg, Fla.; and Forest Products Building Materials in Sarasota, Fla.