Addressing top-of-mind topics, gleaning practical operational best practices and learning to be a little more creative, attendees of the 2025 Independent Home Improvement Conference (IHI Conference) left Orlando energized and invigorated to move the channel forward.
Hosted by the North American Hardware and Paint Association (NHPA) and The Hardware Conference, the conference was held at the stunning JW Marriott Orlando Grande Lakes and included retailers of all sizes from all affiliations, vendors, wholesalers and other industry partners.
Bringing the Industry Together and Moving It Forward
Each afternoon, the General Session featured speakers and panel presentations from the main stage. Kicking off Day 1, NHPA COO Dan Tratensek gave his State of the Industry presentation, providing insights into how the industry has performed so far in 2025 and where it’s moving. Tratensek says that even though the pandemic was five years ago, the entire industry is still “shell shocked” and facing challenges like inflation, delayed purchases, economic uncertainty and social uncertainty.
“This has caused independent retailers to rethink and reframe the basic value proposition that they stood behind for decades,” Tratensek says. “Convenience, service and product knowledge now mean something completely different. Convenience is giving way to curation, service is evolving to relationship cultivation and product knowledge is transitioning to customer confirmation.”
During Top Guns Live: Leadership Lessons From the Industry’s Boldest Leaders, the 2025 Top Guns honorees shared insights on leading their teams, leaders they admire and what the future of the industry looks like. This year’s honorees included president of Florida Paints Jeff Grasty, president of Gold Beach Lumber Yard Ryan Ringer and president of Home Lumber & Supply Hervey Wright. During the panel, each honoree shared what leadership means to them, how they build leaders in their organization and the biggest opportunities they see in the channel moving forward.
“Leadership is not just a title; you have to tailor your leadership to who you are leading,” Wright says. “Because of this, my role as a leader has changed over the years and involves more listening and empowering my team to lead.”
Ryan Ringer, president of Gold Beach Lumber Yard, says growth is a top opportunity for the independent channel and main goal for his organization.
“If you manage your piggy bank correctly, the growth opportunities in this industry are huge in the next 10 to 15 years,” Ringer says. “No matter how far technology takes us, brick-and-mortar stores will always be able to provide that personal touch and human experience customers want.”
Reflecting on what being a Top Guns honoree meant to him, president of Florida Paints Jeff Grasty says it’s not about him, but about his team.
“It’s about everyone who’s worked so hard to take us from zero 13 years ago to where we are now,” Grasty says.
Closing Day 2, Dave King, executive director of the Home Improvement Institute, broke down the key economic factors—unemployment, inflation, interest rates and more—influencing home improvement behaviors in 2025 in his presentation, Macro-Economic Factors Impacting Home Improvement Behaviors.
“When it comes to unemployment, in reality, we’re moving back toward historical norms,” King says. “We’re going to be OK.”
The General Session on Day 2 celebrated industry powerhouses during the panel presentation Voices of Impact: A Conversation With Young Retailer of the Year and Beacon Award Honorees. These award-winning retailers shared their stories, strategies and lessons learned from building strong teams, embracing innovation and driving meaningful change in their communities and businesses.
Huong Luu, chief executive officer of Luu Color Center and Young Retailer of the Year honoree, lost her father to COVID-19 and took on his business without any formal training in paint retailing, turning it into a thriving operation.
“When my dad passed away, I threw myself into the one tangible thing that I had left of my dad—his business,” says . “I poured everything I had into bringing his business back to life. Looking back on my decision, I realized I didn’t take over the business because I saw potential. I took it over because of love. And it was that love that got me to the point where I was able to see potential.”
Randy Andes, owner of Randy’s Hardware and Retail Beacon Award winner, takes a more collaborative approach to the operation’s competition, often partnering up with other stores who offer services or products his doesn’t and offering the same to them.
“It’s not uncommon for us to go to a store and and meet that department manager and say, ‘I noticed you don’t do this particular service, but we do, and we notice that you do a good job of this, and we don’t,’ and we try to build an alliance or relationship with them,” Andes says. “It turns out, they’re less of a competitor and more of an ally. This collaboration helps build relationships with our customers. We may not have everything, but we can get you to the place it does.”
Former Head of Innovation and Creativity Duncan Wardle sparked creative thoughts in an engaging and fun keynote address that appealed to to all three learning styles—auditory, kinesthetic and visual learners. He says we make creativity too difficult because we overthink everything and experience analysis paralysis.
“Creativity is a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it gets,” Wardle says. “But we think we can’t break our habits. We think we can’t learn new ones, but the habit of continually doing things in new ways makes a positive difference to our working lives.”
Wardle shared that innovating comes to down to being being brave.
“Having that butterfly feeling in your stomach is a good sign,” Wardle says. “It’s a sign to you and you alone, that you are thinking different, that you are innovative and that you are being brave. As my favorite quote says, ‘The opposite of bravery is not cowardice. It’s conformity.'”
Breakout Sessions Produce Practical Solutions and Helpful Takeaways
From creating a customer experience for every generation to innovating to win to expanding B2B sales, the breakout sessions at the IHI Conference took a deep dive into the most-pressing topics facing retailers in the independent channel.
In Beyond Your 4 Walls: Expanding B2B Sales Strategies for Long-Term Success, Flanagan Paint owner Jay Donnelly, says building a successful B2B program starts small.
“Pick two customers a week—chances are you already have their contact information—and make a point to go see their shop,” Donnelly says. “Start small. You don’t build friendships overnight, so it is all about consistency and building trust.”
Isaac Smith, owner of Matt’s Building Materials, shared in the The Future Is Now: How Independent Retailers Are Innovating to Win session that implementing technology starts with finding solutions to your operation’s most-pressing issues, not necessarily relying on the latest and greatest.
“I ask, ‘What do we want to accomplish? What do we want to push? What kind of culture do we want to drive?'” Smith says. “All of these solutions we’ve implemented are really easy, but are cost-effective and have made huge impacts.”
The session From Boomers to Zoomers: Creating a Customer Experience for Every Generation shared insights into what motivates each generation to buy, how expectations differ across age groups and how retailers can bridge the gap without losing their core identity. Christian Herrick, owner of Randy’s Hardware, says in order to engage with all generations, don’t be afraid to try things.
“We have to be engaging the younger generations, and we have to be doing it in the way they need us to do it,” Herrick says. “And even though it’s different than we’ve been doing it for years and years and years, we have to change things to meet all our customers where they are.”
During the sponsored breakout sessions, vendors presented on a variety of topics, including AI, disaster recovery, pricing strategies and more. Thank you to those vendors: Deluxe, It’s a Real Cinch, Pennsylvania Lumbermens Mutual, Rundoo, GenetiQ, National Cooperative Bank, OneBeat, Live Oak Bank, ECI Software Solutions and Watcher Total Protection.
IHI Celebrates the Best of the Best in the Industry
For the first time ever, the NHPA Young Retailer of the Year Awards and the Beacon Awards came together to celebrate excellence in the industry during the All-Industry Awards Gala on the first night of the conference.
As a Young Retailer of the Year honoree himself in 2020, Cody Goeppner, NHPA director of education and training, says hosting the All-Industry Awards was a full circle moment and shared with this year’s honorees how to make the most of this honor moving forward.
‘This is a launching point. Let this moment take you to the future. Lead louder, give more generously and keep growing, even when it’s uncomfortable,” Goeppner says. “And make sure you lift others up around you as you continue on. Because the future of this industry isn’t just in good hands. It’s in your guys’ hands. And the work we do tomorrow together will matter more than any single moment of recognition today.”
Learn more about the Young Retailer of the Year and Beacon Awards honorees here.
To cap off the celebrations and the conference, IHI Conference attendees honored the Top Guns honorees at a reception.
Making Connections in the Partner Pavilion
In the Partner Pavilion, over 20 exhibitors engaged with attendees and shared their services that can help attendees take their business to the next level in a variety of operational areas.
Jeff Flogel from Seattle, Washington, attended the IHI Conference looking for inspiration to set-up his new store.
“In the Partner Pavilion, I spent a lot of time with the vendors I met and was able to get a lot of help from the distributors and vendors attending on setting up and stocking a new store,” Flogel says.
Partner Events Expanded Learning and Networking
Partner Events at the IHI Conference welcomed attendees to gain insights on a variety of topics.
Addressing hot topics impacting the independent channel, Do it Best and True Value hosted two informational sessions presented by Stefanie Couch, nationally recognized speaker, lifelong leader in the hardware and building industry and strategic brand partner for Do it Best and True Value. The session “Unmistakable: Why Visibility Is Leadership” showed business owners how to turn visibility into a real growth strategy and the session “AI Unleashed: Embracing the Power of AI and Automation” broke down what AI really means for independent business owners.
Epicor’s training sessions took a closer look at the products and services the company provides for retail operations and covered topics like Epicor pricing tools and Epicor Eagle.
The Orgill Partner Event included the Orgill Services Area, where attendees explored the tools, programs and support Orgill offers and educational sessions, covering topics like tariffs, cost volatility, store planning, assortment strategy, managing payroll, employee loyalty, strategies for selling paint and the new Orgill Innovation Center. The Orgill Technology Symposium focused on the latest innovations shaping independent retail, from real-world lessons in tech implementation to breakthrough strategies in electronic shelf labels (ESLs) and loyalty programs.
