True Value is packing up its corporate desks in Chicago and heading to Fort Wayne, with parent company Do it Best Group confirming yesterday that it will relocate the legacy hardware chain’s headquarters to northeast Indiana. The company plans to house True Value at the Electric Works campus downtown, centralizing key teams and decision-making. Executives say the move will roll out over roughly the next year and a half and is expected to bring additional corporate roles to Fort Wayne.
Company Calls Shift A Big Integration Play
According to Modern Distribution Management, Do it Best is pitching the relocation as a way to put operating and leadership teams under one roof. In a company news release, Do it Best CEO Dan Starr said, "Now it's time to bring that all together. We will have one headquarters, and that will be in Fort Wayne." The cooperative is stressing that True Value will continue to run as a distinct subsidiary even as shared corporate functions are pulled into the combined headquarters.
Deal Set The Stage For The Move
Do it Best completed its purchase of True Value in November 2024 after True Value entered Chapter 11 in October 2024, according to True Value Company. The deal included inventory, brand rights and paint-manufacturing assets, and company materials say True Value will remain a separate business unit during the integration period. As part of the acquisition, Do it Best named Nick Talarico president of Do it Best and Dent Johnson president of True Value, putting new leadership in place before the headquarters announcement.
State And City Leaders Cheer New Jobs
At the Fort Wayne announcement, Indiana Governor Mike Braun framed the headquarters shift as a win for the state’s economy and said roughly 100 jobs are expected to land at the Electric Works campus, as reported by WPTA/21Alive. Do it Best told local reporters the final stage of merging headquarters should take about a year and a half. City officials and economic-development staff cast the consolidation as a downtown victory that will deepen the corporate presence at Electric Works.
Supply Chain Shakeup Was Already In Motion
The headquarters move folds into a larger integration drive. Do it Best has been accelerating distribution center optimization and shifting volumes across its network to boost scalability and service levels, according to Distribution Strategy Group. Company materials also note that the acquisition brought more than 4,500 independently owned True Value retailers under the Do it Best umbrella, effectively doubling membership and creating one of the largest independent home-improvement networks, per True Value Company. That is a lot of red aprons funneling through a single cooperative system.
What Fort Wayne Stands To Gain Next
Do it Best moved its own headquarters to Electric Works in late 2022 and has been steadily growing its downtown footprint. Earlier this year, local reporting highlighted company requests for city and county incentives tied to an Electric Works expansion that would add jobs and investment, according to The Local. Economic-development leaders say concentrating more corporate workers downtown could give a lift to restaurants, transit and office activity as the integration unfolds.
For now, True Value will keep serving its independent retailers while corporate teams gradually shift to Fort Wayne. City officials and Do it Best say they will release more details on which teams will relocate and on specific hiring numbers as plans are finalized, and both companies say they will keep store owners and the broader community updated as key integration milestones are reached.
