Newell Rubbermaid, the Atlanta-based company that recently reorganized its myriad brands into six business units, down from nine, gave investors insights into how those units have performed.

The six business units in the streamlined structure are home solutions, writing, tools, commercial products, baby and parenting, and specialty.

Last year, the original 50 Home Channel News Hardware Store All-Star honorees established a high bar and a hard act to follow. But the 2012 crop rises to the challenge. This year’s Hardware Store All-Stars, one from each of the 50 U.S. states, have at least one thing in common: Ask them what makes them special and you can bet they’ll include “excellent customer service” in the answer. From there, every path to stardom is unique.

The Empire Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of New Zealand-based Tenon LTD, has been selected as the exclusive distribution partner for Eastman Chemical Company’s new Perennial Wood decking product into Lowe’s stores.

Eastman is a Fortune 500 company with more than 80 years of history in acetylating wood pulp, according to the announcement. In 2010, 13% of Eastman’s total revenues were derived from sales of raw materials to the building and construction industry. 

Power Home Remodeling Group, an East Coast-based provider of exterior home renovations, has expanded its operations to Marlborough, Mass., where it will continue to serve the greater Boston metropolitan area. Power has already hired more than 50 employees in the Boston region and plans to create at least 100 jobs in 2011 and another 100 to 250 in 2012, the company said in a press release.

Hoffman Estates, Ill.-based Sears Holdings Corp. is no longer considering Ohio for a possible headquarters move, according to a report from Crain's Chicago Business.

A 30-year-old man was arrested at a Home Depot store in Natick, Mass. for stealing a $524 welder, according to an article in the Metro West Daily News. 

Store security apprehended Brandon Wood, a student at UMass-Boston, on July 13 after he loaded the welder into a cart. They told police they recognized him as someone who had stole the same welder the week before but had evaded loss personnel officers. 

The National Hardware Show revealed its charitable side this week as a stage for awarding the Sears “traveling toolbox” to Opportunity Village, a Las Vegas non-profit and preferred charity of the National Hardware Show. The charity serves people with intellectual disabilities.

The show also served as a stage for award-winning products across a diverse range of categories.

New Windsor, N.Y.-based lumber and building material co-operative ENAP has announced its 2011 Building Products Vendors of the Year honorees.

Lowe’s four-year effort to locate a home improvement store in Boston’s Brighton area suffered a big setback when its preferred site was purchased by New Balance Athletic Shoe, according to an article in the Boston Herald.

Two of the nation’s largest dealers of green building materials became one this week when Green Depot purchased Ecohaus, a Pacific Northwest icon, creating an East-West network of environmentally friendly LBM stores.