Fort Wayne, Ind.— Tony Miller, president of Hanneke Hardware & Industrial Supply in St. Louis, recently accepted the award for Innovative Retailer of the Year from Home Channel News (HCN), the industry’s leading trade publication.

Founded in 1927, Hanneke Hardware (a Do it Best Corp. co-op retailer since 1999) has continually adapted its three area stores to serve a shifting clientele of landlords, industrial users, builders, contractors and homeowners. According to HCN editor Ken Clark, the publication’s staff selected Hanneke Hardware based on several factors:

• Reshaping the business as a competitor in the commercial building market
• Balancing retail and commercial customers
• Displaying corporate nimbleness, such as reacting to changes in the local markets, identifying new business opportunities, and executing them in a tough market
• Being a technology innovator

“HCN could not have made a better selection. Tony Miller has been extremely successful at growing a business that is equally important to commercial builders and do-it-yourselfers,” said Bob Taylor, Do it Best Corp. president and CEO. “All of us at Do it Best Corp. have been impressed by Hanneke Hardware’s ability to differentiate itself, respond to the economy and stay true to servicing its customers and the community.”

Based in Fort Wayne, IN, Do it Best Corp. is the only full-service, U.S.-based, member-owned hardware, lumber and building materials buying cooperative in the home improvement industry. With annual sales of $2.81 billion, Do it Best Corp. is the second largest co-op in the industry, serving 4,100 member-owned stores in the United States and in 47 countries.