Independent home improvement retailers and their time spent at the National Hardware Show® will be the focus of the May 31 episode of “Designing Spaces,” the Lifetime Television Network home improvement series, according to North American Retail Hardware Association (NRHA). As part of a partnership between Designing Spaces and PlanItDIY.com®, this half-hour program will focus entirely on independent retailers and showcase how they use the National Hardware Show to find new products and network with one another. “Designing Spaces on the Road to the National Hardware Show,” will air 7:30 a.m. EST May 31 and feature retailers Megan Menzer, owner of Newton’s True Value in Cherryvale, KS; Gary Copeland, owner of Valley Supply in Rising Sun, IN; and Jason Stapleton, owner of Buck’s Building Supply in Williston, SC. Using the National Hardware Show as a backdrop, the crew accompanied Menzer and Copeland around the show floor as they explored new products and networked with vendors in preparation for picking the winners of the 2012 Retailers’ Choice Awards.
The TV series will keep its focus on the independent retailer by featuring how-to tips from PlanItDIY.com, the website created by and for independent home improvement retailers, in six consecutive episodes this summer, the report continues. Each tip segment will end by directing viewers to head to their local independently owned home improvement retailers and their website PlanItDIY.com for more advice. “This kind of vehicle will put independents in front of millions of viewers during this summer’s big selling months, enforcing what we’ve known all along, ” says Bill Lee, president and CEO of NRHA, “that the independent home improvement market is not only alive and well, but the independent retailers who run these operations truly offer the best information and products available today.”