The Home Depot Pro

Wilmar delivery truck

The origin of Interline Brands first began with Wilmar Supply Company in 1978. Wilmar was a hardware store in Collingswood, New Jersey founded by William (Bill) Green and his father Martin Green.[5] To expand its business beyond retail it began selling MRO products to area apartment complexes and then expanded geographically by distributing to multi-family housing businesses. Wilmar went public in 1996 and purchased 14 regional competing businesses before acquiring the Sexauer Group, an established distributor of plumbing products to institutions, in 1999. A leveraged buyout in May 2000 took the company private in preparation for the next stage of growth.[6] Wilmar acquired Barnett, Inc. because the two businesses were very similar, but each targeted a different customer base. Wilmar's customers performed facility maintenance, while Barnett sold to locksmiths, retail hardware, and contractors.

Wilmar Industries acquired Barnett in September 2000 and renamed the umbrella company, Interline Brands in June 2001.[7] Their guiding principle was to "change as little as possible about the way our customers currently do business with us".[8]

Each of the businesses (including Sexauer) retained their identity from the customer's point of view, including salesmen, telephone numbers, products, etc. They realized the value of each company's brand, and preserved sales/marketing relationships built over the years. What did change was behind the scenes in accounting, distribution, and administration, realizing economies of scale. In 2000, Interline had a total of 76 distribution centers, which they were able to shrink to 56 in 2004. A 319,000 sq ft (29,600 m2) national distribution center in Nashville, Tennessee was opened in 2001, reducing the inventory required at the local distribution centers and improving delivery times.[7] In late 2004 Interline went public as NYSE: IBI but was later delisted in September 2012 to become privatized.[8][9]

To further expand the business of Interline the firm acquired several distributors of cleaning supplies. It first acquired American Sanitary or AmSan in May 2006 for $127.5 million along with AmSan's own line of products called Renown. Renown has base products such as toilet paper, paper towels, brooms, and cleaning agents. In the 1990s AmSan became a conglomerate by buying 44 independent janitor and sanitary distributors. Some of AmSan's acquisitions are AmSan Eve, AmSan Vonachen-Elton, AmSan Nogg Chemical & Paper, and AmSan West. In 2002 Michael Mulhern became CEO of AmSan. Mulhern moved the headquarters of AmSan from Raleigh, North Carolina to Chicago, Illinois. Under Mulhern AmSan underwent a series of reforms dedicated to increasing profitability. AmSan turned over 40% of its top 35 executives, downsized its office operations, and downsized under-performing distribution centers. By 2005 AmSan had revenues totaling $300 million.[10] American Capital invested $25 million in the recapitalization of AmSan in 2005.[11][12] AmSan West, which has operations in Sacramento and Los Angeles, was not acquired by Interline Brands.[13] In 2008 AmSan established a sales and distribution territory in Columbus, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Atlanta and Nashville.[14][15][16][17] In 2009 a showroom and walk-in store was established in Fort Myers, Florida.[18][19]

JanPak in West Columbia, South Carolina

Cleansource, a regional distributor of JanSan products, was acquired in October 2010 for $60.1 million.[20] CleanSource was founded in 1956 in San Jose, California. It distributes janitorial, food service supplies, and MRO products.[21] Customers of CleanSource consist of healthcare, education, and institutional facilities. In 2010 CleanSource generated around $115 million in sales.[22]

A regional supplier of cleaning and packaging solutions called JanPak was acquired in 2012 for $82 million. JanPak was founded in 1945 in Bluefield, West Virginia by James Shott, H. I. Shott, Jr., James Tilson, L. M. Kerley Sr. and B. L. Early.[23] It was first called Paper Supply Company until 2000 when the name changed to JanPak Inc. Mike Shott, James Shott's grandson, was serving as company chair of the board directors at the time of the name change to JanPak.[24] The name changed to JanPak to unite its sister branches such as Charlotte Paper Company or Greenville Paper Company who each were known by a different name.[25][26]

On March 16, 2015, Interline merged AmSan, CleanSource, JanPak, Trayco, and Sexauer into a new national brand called SupplyWorks.[27] AF Lighting was also sold to Almo Corporation in March 2015 because lighting was a minimal part of the business of Interline Brands.[28]

The Home Depot acquired Interline Brands in July 2015 for $1.6 billion from P2 Capital Partners, Goldman Sachs' private equity arm, and the management of Interline Brands. The acquisition of Interline Brands allows The Home Depot access to expand its business to the multi-family sector, hospitality, and industrial area. Craig Menear, CEO of The Home Depot, says that the purchase gives The Home Depot more opportunity to expand in the maintenance, repair, and operations sector that was previously not successful.[4][29] In January 2016 Michael Grebe retired leaving Kenneth Sweder as the new CEO.[30] In 2017 Interline Brands was renamed to The Home Depot Pro including its brand names except for U.S. Lock. Wilmar Industries was renamed to The Home Depot Pro Multifamily. Barnett was renamed to The Home Depot Pro Specialty Trades. SupplyWorks was renamed to The Home Depot Pro Institutional.[31]

In Ontario, Interline Brands has a distribution center in Mississauga under the Barnett and Sexauer brand. Sexauer, a brand of Interline Brands, had a distribution center in Edmonton and Toronto.[37]

Maintenance USA is a low price supplier of maintenance, repair and operations products. It was founded in 1974 as Ace Maintenance Mart USA in San Diego, California and acquired by Wilmar in 1999.[48][49][50]

J. A. Sexauer Manufacturing Company was founded in 1921 in Scarsdale, New York by James A. Sexauer. Sexauer was a specialty plumbing parts repair manufacturer and distributor. In December 1999 Wilmar Industries acquired Sexauer from the Dyson-Kissner-Moran Corp. for $85 million. J.A. Sexauer's subsidiary Sexauer, Ltd., based in Toronto, was also acquired by Wilmar. The acquisitions of J.A. Sexauer Manufacturing, Sexauer Ltd., and a similar business called Trayco by Wilmar were referred to as the Sexauer Group.[41] In 2000 Wilmar and Barnett merged to form an umbrella company called Interline Brands.[46] In March 2010 Sexauer added Kohler plumbing products to its plumbing inventory. It is now part of SupplyWorks which then became part of The Home Depot Pro Institutional.[51]

Trayco was founded in 1993 in Florence, South Carolina. Trayco distributes plumbing supplies, light fixtures, and maintenance parts to wholesale retailers or housing units. It is now part of SupplyWorks.[52]

Leran Gas Products was established in 1968 as a business-to-business distributor of propane gas products to the liquefied petroleum gas industry of the United States. It is the only national distributor of propane gas products such as Noritz, Tracpipe, and Marshall Excelsior.[60] Barnett acquired Leran Gas Products in 1997.[61]

Hardware Express is a supplier for hardware retailers and wholesalers that focuses on a quick response to high-velocity items and daily deliveries. Products of Hardware Express are sold through a 17,000 item catalog, direct mail marketing, inside sales representatives, or online. Hardware Express was acquired by Barnett and is a brand of Interline Brands.[62]

SupplyWorks has over 68 distribution centers throughout the United States along with 100 delivery vehicles. Next day delivery is shipped using SupplyWorks delivery trucks. Third party carriers such as UPS is also used for customers outside of the next day service area. There are also will call or pick up locations at most SupplyWorks locations. The customer base of SupplyWorks is property management, contractors, health care and educational facilities.

The logo of SupplyWorks.

After the re-branding of JanPak, CleanSource, Trayco, AmSan, and Sexauer into SupplyWorks, the new company applied a marketing strategy to increase revenue with expanded customers. The announcement of the new brand SupplyWorks was made at EverBank Field, with fireworks and a promotional video on the scoreboard to start the new brand announcement. CEO Michael Grebe said that "it's easier to grow one brand instead of five."[69] The SupplyWorks brand is also advertised on the scoreboard during Jacksonville Jaguars games. By being under one unified brand, SupplyWorks can now nationalize the commercial building supply business. The AmSan brand Renown is still distributed by SupplyWorks and marketed under Interline Brands.[70]

The company has a website and mobile app, with customer tools to create favorites lists, custom catalogs, and bin labels.

Renown is a private-label product owned by Interline Brands since the acquisition of AmSan in 2006. Renown consists of cleaning and janitorial products, such as trash bags, paper towels, toilet paper, cleaning agents, rubber gloves, and mops. It is currently marketed under the SupplyWorks brand.[10][71]