True Value’s latest message to former members

Interest checks owed to former True Value Company members were mailed out at the end of June. But the checks were accompanied by a letter explaining that True Value will continue to defer the Dec. 31, 2019 principal payments for former members.

A letter provided to HBSDealer by former True Value member Perry Hahn and addressed to “Former True Value Retailers” was dated June 30, 2020. It explained: “We continue to be very focused on conserving cash to ensure we are well positioned to serve our current customers. As such, we will continue to further defer the Dec. 31, 2019 principal payment for former members given the current economic uncertainties for the back half of the year.”

True Value did not immediately respond to request for additional information, including a request to quantify the number of former members who are affected.

According to Hahn, who now operates four-unit Hahn Ace Hardware in Wisconsin, a fair estimate for the number of former members affected by the deferment is “in the hundreds,” he said. 

The payments in question are related to the former structure of the co-op before it became a private company. With the sale to ACON Investments in 2018, True Value members received 70% of their investment in the co-op in a cash payment. Former members who held stock in the co-op were scheduled to receive payments over multiple years.

Former True Value members received a similar letter explaining a similar deferment of payments on April 1.