ToughBuilt Industries, Inc. $TBLT U.S. and Global Distribution
We will update this page frequently as we learn more
StackTech is available in Bunnings Warehouse in Australia. In-store and in-stock, including the 1-drawer and 3-drawer XL size. They also carry the C500 sawhorse and the X-Large Massive Mouth TM rolling bag. In total, on May 16, 2024 9am CT, they carried 138 items in-stock, although a few are special order (like the Mitre Saw Stand and the QuickSet workbench.). This is big news, showing global growth into Australia. Call-out to @photogromer on Twitter for bringing this to our attention.
eBay (shopping May 16, 2024): My first search is for new products, buy it now, ToughBuilt brand, with free shipping. In general, everything is more expensive than you can buy at Home Depot, Lowe's or Menards. I am looking for bargains and deals that indicate people are reselling products they bought and could not return, or for retailers going out of business and closing out merchandise. No evidence of any of that...this is similar to Walmart dot com, where people are trying to make a few bucks buying products from regular, in-stock retailers and cross-shipping them.
We went shopping in Q1 2024 for their products in Chicagoland stores:
- Lowe's is their best product showroom, with multiple products in stock in every store in Chicagoland we visited. We have seen 'near perfect' displays of StackTech which are now running low on inventory. We have seen walls and shelves full of ToughBuilt tools and soft goods narrow down to key, core products which are well stocked. We did not see sawhorses, tables, nor mitre saw tables. Our January 2024 stopping was all full-price, then sales appeared in February and March, but in April we are back to full price. We have seen some products with price hikes.
- Menards in Long Grove, Mt. Prospect, Vernon Hills and Kenosha, Wisconsin carry their branded tool belts and pouches in an attractive floor to ceiling display. They also carry MasterForce TM private label ToughBuilt knee pads.
- Mutual Ace Hardware in Highland Park carries the knife cutter / scraper in the store, and the Zion store also has additional soft goods (but are poorly displayed).
- Home Depot does not carry ToughBuilt products in-store.
- Craftwood Lumber & Hardware in Highland Park, a Do it Best store, sells the cutter / scraper and replacement blades.
- Menards was fully stocked but Lowe's has been clearing out soft goods and hand tools.
- Lowe's was de-prioritizing of mobile storage products competitive to StackTech, Klein and Craftsman.
- At Lowe's, we see significant clearance and clearing out in their non-powered tools section.
We continue to shop for ToughBuilt products online, latest on 3 May 2024:
- Here are the online retailers we checked on 3 May 2024:
- Fungdecoration dot com of Hong Kong, a.k.a., Wilmar or FungHardware dot com: We see the phase one line of StackTech products on sale in stock in-store at 11 Sha Tsui Road, Tsuen Wan, Hong Kong and online at Fungdecoration dot com (they are the same company). This includes the rolling XL box, crate, XL boxes, organizers, wooden top, and others. They also carry the Massive Mouth TM tool bags, their soft goods, knives, wrenches, and more. We enjoy their ToughBuilt videos on YouTube and promotions on Facebook.
- Mercure is co-located with the Fungdecoration physical store at International Trade Center, 11-19 Sha Tsui Road, Flat 11,7/F, Tsuen Wan, and is offering ToughBuilt StackTech tool boxes for pickup at competitive USA pricing.
- Ratuken and Aliexpress in Japan: You can make a reservation in Japan via Rakuten, at JChere dot com for StackTech phase one products and the C700 Sawhorses. You can buy the ToughBuilt knives (multi-loader and the cutter scraper) in Japan on Aliexpress dot com.
- Ace Hardware carries 31 items online in our local store, including knee pads, knives, the folding pull saw, ClipTech, pouches, the C300 Sawhorse, and Massive Mouth bags. These are all available to be picked up in-store from their warehouse. This is more than in January 2024.
- Lowe's carries StackTech. Lowe's is carrying the full line of ToughBuilt although we we see stock-outs and unavailable items across product lines.
- Menards is selling the full line of soft goods online, with some sales. In a local store, there are 27 items from ToughBuilt (6 in-store, the rest shipped). There are 17 items from MasterForce that look like they could be made by ToughBuilt, and most of them are in-stock. Menards seems to have reduced its in-store stock position.
- Home Depot sells 34 ToughBuilt items online, and has no in-store products. These are mostly ClipTech soft goods and knee pads.
- Amazon carries a full line of new ToughBuilt products sold by the ToughBuilt store, although we see the selection is focused on ClipTech, soft goods, and focus products like the pocket level, the folding saw, and the C300 Sawhorse. Prices are rising, which likely means better margins for ToughBuilt (who earns revenue when items sell from their company store).
- Walmart has an assortment of ClipTech soft goods for sale, and a few of the focused products like the C300 saw horse and the utility knife and refill blades. Their prices tend to be higher than other retailers.
- eBay has 335 new products for sale, mostly Massive Mouth bags, ClipTech soft goods and pouches, and knives.
- Falabella sells the C550 sawhorse, which they call the 'steel stand.' They used to carry 55 products in early 2024. The site does have technical problems now, and will not allow a search by brand, only by category.
- Toolstation dot com (UK) online website carries 53 ToughBuilt products, except for StackTech. This includes the C300 Sawhorse in stock, along with the Quickset work bench, soft goods, and knives. They also carry ClipTech, shears, Massive Mouth bags, knee pads. The laser measurement devices and mitre saw stand are out of stock.
- Today, we checked the C300 sawhorse and see it for sale in many online tool resellers. Some have the Lowe's price, and others are higher. This is a global set of resellers carrying the standard 1,100 pound capacity sawhorse. Toolportal dot eu also shows the C300 in-stock, and shows it as a new product with new coloring (orange instead of yellow and black).
- Harbor Freight carries knee-pads.
- Many other job-lot tool resellers online carry ToughBuilt products, but small quantities only.
- Craftwood Lumber & Hardware has four SKUs of knee pads available.
- These online tool sellers do not stock, list and sell ToughBuilt Products: B.E. Atlas, Northern Tool & Equipment, Contractorsdirect.com, Contractor Tool Supply by Very Tools, Construction tool Warehouse, Jim and Slims Tool Supply, Professional Contractors Supply, Ilini Contractor Supply dot com.
ToughBuilt Focused on Increasing Global Distribution in 2023
North America seems well covered with Lowe's, Amazon, and a few other retailers offering products online. (As-of March 2024)
North America seems well covered with Lowe's, Amazon, and a few other retailers offering products online. (As-of March 2024)
- In the USA, Lowe's is the showroom for ToughBuilt and is the exclusive retailer for Stack Tech TM mobile storage solutions (full price, beautiful display). They sell the full assortment, although currently we see a clearance and sale effort on many ToughBuilt SKUs to clear space in January and February 2024.
- Home Depot has 31 products for sale online, and only saw horses that used to be available in stores. Now, customers are redirected to Home Depot's Husky brand of saw horse (we called, and this is what they did).
- Canada has Rona Canada, which bought Lowe's Canada stores and operations as of December 2023. Rona Canada carries 33 products from ToughBuilt, but only saw horses and knife blade refills were available in stores. The rest were available online for delivery to store, or home. Those 33 products included Massive Mouth bags, knee pads, Clip Tech pouches and belts, and hand tools.
- Canada also has Home Depot Canada, which carries the saw horses in store, and everything else was available via shipping to the store, or delivery home. There were 16 knee pads, and a total of 41 products available.
- ToughBuilt Industries tools recently expanded distribution from North America into Europe and South America. They identified and signed agreements gaining access into South America, the U.K., France and Spain in 2023 with large-footprint retailers and supply houses (and their eCommerce arms) that target the professional trades.
- We see the full line of ToughBuilt products in Hong Kong via Fungdecoration online, and in-store at 11 Sha Tsui Road, in Tsuen Wan.
- ToughBuilt UK, located in London, is led by Vahe Der Kureghian, Managing Director.
2023 Announcements:
Latin and South America: starting in early 2023, Sodimac Homecenter will carry 15 SKUs in-store, and 23 SKUs in the Sodimac Homecenter online marketplace.
We checked and found many products listed on the Falabella.com online store, that are priced and sold in US Dollars.Some are sold by the 'hardware store' and others by the 'equipment rental' business. We looked in one hardware store in Brazil, but that is not an easy search in Portuguese. ToughBuilt products include bags, ClipTech belts, many pouches and clips / accessories, also steel saw horses (steel stands), aviation snips (scissors), knee pads (4 SKUs), levels, brackets, a titanium coated knife with sheath, saws, a tool tote bag, Massive Mouth tool bags, and the products look great. Prices are higher than Chicago, but that is likely due to import tariffs, free shipping, and the like.
Latin and South America: starting in early 2023, Sodimac Homecenter will carry 15 SKUs in-store, and 23 SKUs in the Sodimac Homecenter online marketplace.
We checked and found many products listed on the Falabella.com online store, that are priced and sold in US Dollars.Some are sold by the 'hardware store' and others by the 'equipment rental' business. We looked in one hardware store in Brazil, but that is not an easy search in Portuguese. ToughBuilt products include bags, ClipTech belts, many pouches and clips / accessories, also steel saw horses (steel stands), aviation snips (scissors), knee pads (4 SKUs), levels, brackets, a titanium coated knife with sheath, saws, a tool tote bag, Massive Mouth tool bags, and the products look great. Prices are higher than Chicago, but that is likely due to import tariffs, free shipping, and the like.
United Kingdom has a regional sales manager who is calling on stores in the U.K. and European Union. However, we are not seeing much in our February 2024 due diligence, at least not on the Howdens and CEF websites.
In August 2023, ToughBuilt announced agreements to distribute products through both Howdens UK and City Electrical Factors UK, which combined includes 1200 locations. Those companies are UK joinery, kitchen, hardware, and electrical suppliers.
Howdens in the UK has three ToughBuilt products on sale online. They offer the 7" Scraper Utility Knife, and the 7" Reload Utility Knife, and straight blade refills (pack of 30). This is similar to the coverage at Ace Hardware near me, and this is a very small revenue product mix.
We picked a flagship store in Kings Cross, and did some looking at their products. They have one set of metal and plastic saw horses from Stanley, limited to no protective gear, and really could benefit from ToughBuilt. Same with Hammers and Saws. Good saws from Irwin, but no ToughBuilt, and we think they would benefit from the ToughBuilt line in their UK stores.
In August 2023, ToughBuilt announced agreements to distribute products through both Howdens UK and City Electrical Factors UK, which combined includes 1200 locations. Those companies are UK joinery, kitchen, hardware, and electrical suppliers.
Howdens in the UK has three ToughBuilt products on sale online. They offer the 7" Scraper Utility Knife, and the 7" Reload Utility Knife, and straight blade refills (pack of 30). This is similar to the coverage at Ace Hardware near me, and this is a very small revenue product mix.
We picked a flagship store in Kings Cross, and did some looking at their products. They have one set of metal and plastic saw horses from Stanley, limited to no protective gear, and really could benefit from ToughBuilt. Same with Hammers and Saws. Good saws from Irwin, but no ToughBuilt, and we think they would benefit from the ToughBuilt line in their UK stores.
CEF UK: Your Electrical Experts, does not carry any ToughBuilt products on their online web site. We see Klein and other brands. They sure could use the Clip Tech TM soft goods product line, in our opinion.
European Union: the French retailer, La Plateforme Du Batiment (67 depots) and French and Spanish retailer Prolians (290 storefronts) announced they will carry ToughBuilt products in August 2023. These two retailers serve the professional trades, with a combined 600,000 customers.
At La Plateforme Du Batiment, in the first location we checked Nanterre A86, in Paris, we noticed six products in stock, including two knee pads, two knives and two levels, and two products available for delivery (the C6500 1300 lbs capacity saw horses and 30 blade refill pack).
At Prolians, there are 23 products available online. It is a pretty good assortment of soft goods like tool belts and pouches with Clip Tech TM, rolling tool bags and tool bags Massive Mouth TM, saw horses, cutters, and knee pads. We do not see any hand tools other than the cutters.
The CEO's quote was informative at the end of the UK and European Union announcements:
Michael Panosian, Chief Executive Officer of ToughBuilt, commented, “We are thrilled to build relationships with these highly regarded and retail distributors in the United Kingdom, and further expand our network into new professional-focused storefronts in the United Kingdom. We continue to grow our distribution worldwide, accessing additional new revenue streams with careful steps to build greater shareholder value.”
Michael Panosian, Chief Executive Officer of ToughBuilt, commented, “We are thrilled to build relationships with these highly regarded and retail distributors in the United Kingdom, and further expand our network into new professional-focused storefronts in the United Kingdom. We continue to grow our distribution worldwide, accessing additional new revenue streams with careful steps to build greater shareholder value.”
The top 10 DIY retailers in Europe are:
Unfortunately, there are no ToughBuilt Industries press releases naming these specific retailers. We checked OBI for ToughBuilt products but none came up as available for sale. IMO: Selling ToughBuilt products into the European Tool & Accessory market is a significant growth opportunity.
- Groupe Adeo (formerly Leroy Merlin Group) (Fr)
- Kingfisher (owns B&Q, Screwfix, & Brico) (UK)
- Obi (Ger)
- Bauhaus (Ger)
- Hornbach (Ger)
- Stark Group (Den)
- Groupe Les Mousquetaires (Fr)
- Kesko (K-Group) (Fin)
- XL-Byg(g) Nordic (Scandanavia)
- Hagebau (Ger)
Unfortunately, there are no ToughBuilt Industries press releases naming these specific retailers. We checked OBI for ToughBuilt products but none came up as available for sale. IMO: Selling ToughBuilt products into the European Tool & Accessory market is a significant growth opportunity.
We went back to prior announcements, and other current announcements, and found these European and U.K. retailers, and buyer groups listed. We will share any due diligence on ToughBuilt products sold through these channels here.
French Retailers:
Toolstation, a multinational home improvement chain
Setin Group, a specialized hardware and tool chain
Gedimat, a major national group of independent home improvement retailers
Buyer Group:
EURO CRAFT SAS is pleased to announce ToughBuilt Europe as a new Euro Craft supplier.
Source: LinkedIn sometime in January 2024
Euro Craft SAS is the leading B2B marketing and purchase group for construction & industry in Europe. Paris, France
Our cooperation comprises five European partners: besides Groupe SOCODA (France), these are Zevij-Necomij (Netherlands and Belgium), Troy (UK & Ireland) and Cecofersa (Spain and Portugal) and 3e (Austria and 10 CEE countries). In their home markets the partners are considered the most important purchasing groups within the professional sector with more than 1100 associated dealers and more than 2450 outlets. Our partners are active in 17 countries in Europe.
German Retailers:
Specialty Retailer: Western Pacific. We read a few years ago that ToughBuilt products are sold in the professional trade through Western Pacific, a high quality moulding, doors and windows provider to the construction industry.
French Retailers:
Toolstation, a multinational home improvement chain
Setin Group, a specialized hardware and tool chain
Gedimat, a major national group of independent home improvement retailers
Buyer Group:
EURO CRAFT SAS is pleased to announce ToughBuilt Europe as a new Euro Craft supplier.
Source: LinkedIn sometime in January 2024
Euro Craft SAS is the leading B2B marketing and purchase group for construction & industry in Europe. Paris, France
Our cooperation comprises five European partners: besides Groupe SOCODA (France), these are Zevij-Necomij (Netherlands and Belgium), Troy (UK & Ireland) and Cecofersa (Spain and Portugal) and 3e (Austria and 10 CEE countries). In their home markets the partners are considered the most important purchasing groups within the professional sector with more than 1100 associated dealers and more than 2450 outlets. Our partners are active in 17 countries in Europe.
German Retailers:
- V-Toolstore. We notice V-Toolstore is an authorized reseller of ToughBuilt. They are a German reseller. https://www.v-toolstore.com/en/toughbuilt/?p=1. Their brand is Das Richter Gude[werk] Zeug. Their tagline: In tools we trust, and ToughBuilt is listed as a premium brand on their homepage. https://www.v-toolstore.com/en/
- Friedrich Delker GmbH & Co. KG (“Delker”). Delker is one of the largest privately owned hardware suppliers in Germany. With three general headquarters across Germany and Poland and a strong e-commerce presence, Delker is a professional wholesale group selling power tools, warehouse and factory equipment, machine tools, and occupational safety products from globally recognized brands.
- Witte Metallwaren GmbH & Co.KG (“Witte”). Witte supplies flooring, interior specialists, painters, and floor covering wholesalers and continues to be under family ownership today. All new additions to its portfolio of brands are subjected to a stringent round of quality testing to ensure they meet Witte’s exacting standards.
- Vageler & Christiansen GmbH (“Vageler & Christiansen”). A major online retailer, Vageler & Christiansen distributes tools, machines, protective clothing, and accessories to professional consumers across Europe. The business ships over 2,500 orders monthly to over 30,000 end users.
- Bernd Ulbricht Nachf, A supplier of professional customers with tools and consumables (such as fixings and fastenings), building chemicals, and workshop supplies from its headquarters in Großolbersdorf, is an established source of quality for the Saxon community.
Specialty Retailer: Western Pacific. We read a few years ago that ToughBuilt products are sold in the professional trade through Western Pacific, a high quality moulding, doors and windows provider to the construction industry.