Dan Tratensek

As 2023 was winding down, many of us held high hopes that 2024 would mark the year for a return to upward momentum in the industry. Following the outsized growth the industry experienced during the pandemic and the marked retreat recorded in 2023, most industry watchers were bearish but optimistic about the industry’s potential this year. In fact, the NHPA team was anticipating modest growth for 2024 of 0.9%.

In a transcript obtained by Hardware Retailing from an emergency discovery conference held on October 23, the judge overseeing True Value’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing openly stated her concerns about whether True Value has been providing “adequate protection to the lenders” throughout the process. In the transcript, concerns were brought before the court by PNC Bank, one of the largest lenders involved in the bankruptcy.

While few might call what the home improvement industry experienced during the pandemic a party, 2023 had all the feelings of a day-after hangover as businesses struggled to find their footing and were left dealing with the aftermath of three years of outsized growth. It’s not fair to blame the industry’s woes in 2023 solely on the explosion in business experienced during the pandemic or the subsequent supply chain issues.