WOLSELEY’S LATEST OPENING CONTAINS SHOWROOM FOR HIGH-END FIXTURES

Why should hardware and home improvement dealers be interested in the latest opening by industrial plumbing and heating supplier Wolseley? Because it’s another example of how the lines between channels are getting blurred.

In recent years, Wolseley has updated its merchandising and its overall offering to contractors and trades. But its new outlet in Ajax, Ont., on the east side of the Greater Toronto Area, features a recent new addition to the Wolseley offering: “Studio,” a showroom that features higher-end fixtures and fittings.

The Wolseley Studio has a separate entrance and a more upscale feel than the rest of the store. The expanded offering includes highend faucets and lines of bath hooks and towel racks. There is also an in-house designer to help contractors offer suggestions for their end-user customers and to put together a full package for a project.

There are currently 225 Wolseley locations in Canada and only 25 of them have a Studio, but watch for more to come. “We have plans to open more showrooms across Canada in coming years in those markets where it makes sense,” says David Stern, Wolseley’s vice-president for eastern Canada.

The target customer, he adds, is the residential contractor, typically someone doing a reno versus building a new home. The first Studio showrooms appeared in western Canada, and the first one in Ontario was in an outlet in Hamilton. Another half a dozen stores that will open in coming years will have the showrooms, says Stern, including two that are expected to open this year. “We see this as part of our sales proposition to our plumbing contractors.”