PRO Group Inc., PROflash September 4, 2009

BOSTWICK-BRAUN AND MOORE-HANDLEY SIGN ASSET PURCHASE AGREEMENT

The Bostwick-Braun Company and Moore-Handley, Inc. announced today that they have signed an Asset Purchase Agreement with respect to the proposed sale of substantially all of the assets of Moore-Handley and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Hardware House, Inc. to Bostwick-Braun. The transaction remains subject to the approval of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Alabama, which will oversee an auction process that is designed to assure that the assets of Moore-Handley and Hardware House are sold for the highest and best price available. Bostwick-Braun has stated that, if it is successful at the auction, Moore-Handley and Hardware House will continue to go to market under their current names, with their business being operated out of the Pelham, Alabama facility. Moore-Handley, Inc., founded in 1882, is a large, regional hardware and building materials distributor headquartered in Pelham, Alabama. The Bostwick-Braun Company, headquartered in downtown Toledo, Ohio, is a wholesale hardware distributor and industrial supplier. Established in 1855, it is the city’s second oldest business. Bostwick-Braun has distribution centers located in Ashley- Indiana, McKeesport -Pennsylvania and Avon -Ohio.

PRO HARDWARE NAMES 2009 PAUL L. COSGRAVE MEMORIAL AWARD WINNER and 2008 PRO HARDWARE RETAILERS OF THE YEAR

PRO Hardware has named Warehouse Sales & PRO Hardware of Sharon, Pennsylvania, the winner of the 2009 Paul L. Cosgrave Memorial Award. Warehouse Sales is also the 2008 PRO Retailer of the Year for the Bostwick-Braun Company. The 2009 Paul L. Cosgrave Memorial Award finalist is Burgess Feed & PRO Hardware, in Benton, Tennessee. The store is also a 2008 PRO Retailer of the Year for Wallace Hardware Company, which is located in Morristown, Tennessee. The 2008 PRO Retailer of the Year for Horizon Distribution is a second-generation family business, Brewster, Washington-based Brewster PRO Hardware. The 2008 Long-Lewis Hardware Company PRO Retailer of the Year is the successful, Hanceville, Alabama-based Mann’s Home & Garden PRO Hardware. Read the Full Press Release Here.



Warehouse Sales & PRO Hardware - Sharon PA	Steve and Dana Burgess, Stephanie Everett Burgess Feed & PRO Hardware - Benton, TN


Jim McChristian Brewster PRO Hardware-Brewster, WA	Charles and Linda Mann, Charlie and Steven Mann Mann's Home & Garden - Hanceville, AL

The future is looking brighter, according to industry manufacturers. The American Hardware Manufacturers Association (AHMA) Home Improvement Industry Confidence Indexes improved in July. Read the Full Story Here.

Near the heart of downtown Erie, Penn., sits a community institution. Kraus Department Store PRO Hardware fills a 26,000-square-foot brick building on Parade Street that's a vision of Norman Rockwell's America. It's been family owned since 1886, surviving two World Wars, the Great Depression and 21 U.S. Presidents, from Benjamin Harrison to Barack Obama. Read the Full Story Here.

The numbers from the Department of Commerce are the latest in a string of statistics that point to the end -- or near end -- of a housing slide. Sales of new single-family houses rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 433,000, according to data released today from the Commerce Department. That's 9.6% above the revised June rate of 395,000. Analysts’ surveys showed an expectation for the rate to be about 390,000. The Commerce Department data follow on the heels of the closely watched Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller Housing Price Indices, which fueled optimism that the housing market could shore up sooner that expected. Read the Full Story Here.

Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 560,000. Read the Full Press Release Here

Privately-owned housing completions in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 802,000. Read the Full Press Release Here

SHE SAID, SHE SAID: LOOKING FOR CLUES IN WOMEN’S SHOPPING CHOICES
Pink is a color, not a sales strategy, author Bridget Brennan says in her new book "Why She Buys: The New Strategy for Reaching the World's Most Powerful Consumers." And perhaps, she suggests, errant rose-colored thinking is why half of marketing budgets purportedly get wasted. In her book, Brennan argues that marketplace friction results when a male business world collides with a female consumer economy. Women, she argues, make or influence most buying decisions, for themselves and their families. When products don't sell, she argues, male-dominated companies may assume it's because the advertising failed. Likelier, she said, is that they miss the gender gap. Read the Full Article Here.

With their lively chirp, stunning agility and brilliant colors, hummingbirds have captured our imaginations as no other flyers have. Best of all, every gardener in North America can expect to play host to at least one hummingbird from late March through September. Read Garden Master How-To Guides Here.

One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon - instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today.