The sad state of the housing market and recessionary environment have not discouraged some wholesalers from expanding facilities and/or hosting gala celebrations.

Walker Supply Co., Alcoa/Maryville, TN, hosted 500 vendors and customers at the inaugural festivities for the opening of its 10,600-sq.-ft. showroom in Maryville Oct. 27. The new showroom offers plumbing products, lighting, ceiling fans, appliances and cabinetry. Adjoining it is a 75,000-sq.-ft. warehouse, office and counter facility. Stanley Snowden, president, is among those pictured below at the ribbon cutting (at center, holding scissors). Third from the right, wearing a red tie, is John Wallace, owner. Just behind Wallace is Ric Miller, branch manager. Fourth from the left is Pam Tinsley, lighting manager, and sixth from the left is Nancy Butcher, showroom manager.

Adel Wholesalers, based in Bettendorf, IA, hosted 538 customers at its 26th annual fall festival at the Isle of Capri convention center in October. Attendees could browse through 55 tabletop displays set up by 45 vendors representing more than 200 product lines. During the day Trac Pipe Certification and Belimon Air Controls University presented programs. A jazz band entertained during dinner. Door prizes were awarded throughout the evening. The plumbing and HVAC wholesaler, a member of the Omni buying group, also has locations in Cedar Rapids, IA, and Moline, IL.

Wolseley Canada, headquartered in Burlington, Ontario, Canada, invited more than 90 designers, custom homebuilders, renovators and plumbers for a hospitality event at its Vancouver Kitchen and Bath Classics showroom. 

HVAC cooperative wholesaler Johnstone Supply, based in Portland, OR, said it has opened 22 new stores since January. The cooperative also announced at its annual meeting in September the completion this year of its five-facility regional distribution center network that enables it to provide about 87% of its stores with the ability to receive orders next day.