True Value Co. bankruptcy won’t affect Port store

True Value Co. has started bankruptcy proceedings and agreed to sell its business, but that doesn’t mean area residents will see changes to Drews True Value in Port Washington, owner Paul Drews said.

“It’s business as usual,” Drews said last week. “We’re 100% independently owned and operated.”

True Value, he said, supplies the store with merchandise and is continuing to do that.

“True Value is continuing to operate, the trucks are showing up,” Drews said.

As part of its filing, he noted, True Value Co. has agreed to sell substantially all of its operations to Do It Best, a rival firm.

And Do It Best has agreed to continue True Value as an operating brand, Drews said.

True Value is a 75-year-old company that for years operated as a cooperative, Drews said. In 2018, an investment company purchased True Value and paid off the co-op members, he said.

Since then, Drews said, his store and others like it have been a customers of True Value, paying for use of the brand and services such as the customer rewards program and advertising.

In addition, True Value Co. has also served as a supplier, with stores purchasing the merchandise they wanted from the company.

“It’s like going to a buffet,” Drews said. “You avail yourself of the services you want and need.

“They’ve been a good supplier over the years.”

True Value has been a part of Port Washington’s business community for decades.

The building itself was constructed according to True Value plans by the Greisch family in about 1978, Drews said. It was Lauer’s True Value for years, until Drews and his parents purchased the business in 1995. More recently, they purchased the building.

Do It Best has said that if its bid for True Value is approved, they will continue to operate the True Value brand, Drews said.

“If Do It Best ends up with the deal, there probably will be minimal change,” he said. “They’re a very conservative company. They’ve been around for a long time.”

Do It Best has “considerable presence” in the industry, Drews said, noting that the company was the supplier for Stevlin’s Hardware and Belgium Hardware when they were in business.

If another company is awarded the bid, he said, Drews True Value has “at least two or three options,” including Orgill, a wholesaler that already sells to 800 True Value stores, and Emory Jensen, a wholesaler subsidiary of Ace Hardware that would not require use of the Ace name.       

Do It Best has historically been strong in the lumber side of the industry, Drews said, while True Value’s strength lies “more in the true hardware side of things.”                                                                          

For Do It Best, Drews said, acquiring True Value Co. “is a way for them to increase their presence very quickly. True Value has considerable assets.”

Those assets include a paint factory that makes products for other paint companies in addition to the True Value brands, he noted.

In its bankruptcy filing, True Value Co. said it is facing a significant cash crunch as the housing market has stalled, costs have increased and consumers have become more selective about discretionary purchases such as hardware.

Company officials said the bankruptcy filing was the best was to proceed to maximize the firm’s value and serve its retail partners into the future.

The Chicago-based company entered bankruptcy with a so-called stalking horse, or lead, bid to sell substantially all its operations to Do It Best, a competitor.

However, bids for True Value will continue to be taken through Nov. 18, Drews said.

The company hopes to have things wrapped up by the end of the year, with the new ownership decided by then, Drews said.