Growth Activity Continues Across Big-Box Retail and LBMs

Competition alert: The big boxes are planning to open more than a dozen new stores in 2026 on top of what their subsidiaries are opening--and buying.

The Home Depot shared this week the map above showing the dozen locations where it plans to grow in the U.S. this year. It's a remarkable development given how little its U.S. store count grew earlier this decade. It also plans to open a new store this spring in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada. And the many arms of its SRS Distribution subsidiary also have been busy (see below).

Meanwhile, Lowe's recently cut the ribbon on new stores in Celina and Manville, TX. It intends to add another Texas location, in Kaufman later this year, plus a store in Westlake, FL.

Even Menards is working on store redesigns after years of pulling back because of higher construction costs, press reports say. A store in Hempfield, PA, has been in the planning books for five years. And Tractor Supply--a competitor for some retail products--plans to open 100 new stores in 2026, adding to the 2,400 it already has running.

These announcements come at a time when we've seen 219 construction supply facilities acquired in 21 deals by 15 buyers so far this year. The big box openings are among the 72 overall greenfields that have already opened or will open in 2026, according to Webb Analytics' database.

At over 100 locations, QXO's purchase of Kodiak Building Partners remains the biggest acquisition so far this year. White Cap Construction Supply's purchase of Colony Hardware comes in second at 57 locations.

In other action:

The Home Depot's SRS Distribution took over another lumber-focused company. This time it was LS Building Products, which has four lumberyards and a truss division in Illinois. Earlier, it had purchased Sider Lumber & Supply of Long Island.

• Southeast Building Supply Interests acquired Alpha Lumber in Montgomery, AL.
• Sticks & Stuff and Swanton Lumber took over Lyndonville, VT-based Wheeler Building Materials.
• J&L Building Materials expanded to Littlestown, PA.
• Mill Creek Lumber & Supply strengthened its fireplace business by purchasing Tulsa Fireplace Supply of Broken Arrow, OK.
• Decks & Docks continued its inland expansion by acquiring Pro Deck Supply of Minneapolis.
• Heritage Landscape Supply Group, a branch of SRS Distribution, took in Heritage Nursery of Elkhorn and Lincoln, NE.
• Another SRS Distribution unit, Gypsum Management and Supply, acquired Miami-based Above Interior Distributors.
• SiteOne Landscape Supply bought Reinders, a landscaping company with a dozen locations in the Upper Midwest
• The Cool Hardware Co., metro Washington-Baltimore's dominant hardware chain, opened a new store in Rockville, MD, and plans to open another later this year inside Washington, DC.