Staff Reports
Do it Best Group quietly pulled the plug on a piece of Chicago history this summer. The company announced it will fold True Value’s corporate operations into Do it Best’s Fort Wayne campus and call that site the world headquarters for the combined brands. That move ends roughly a 78‑year Chicago corporate presence and hands the political class in Springfield another data point it cannot spin away.
What happened: a straightforward consolidation
Do it Best Group says the decision is about operations, not politics. Do it Best Group CEO Dan Starr put it plainly: the consolidation creates “the leadership structure, operational focus, and shared momentum needed to support all of our store owners.” After True Value’s Chapter 11 and sale process, bringing teams together under one roof makes logistical sense. Still — the optics are impossible to ignore when the roof being left is downtown Chicago.
Why this matters for Illinois and Fort Wayne
Fort Wayne gets a win to tout. Indiana officials welcomed the announcement as jobs and investment moving across a state line. Illinois, meanwhile, loses not only a headquarters but the payroll and civic presence that come with it. Republicans in Illinois were quick to frame the move as another example of companies choosing friendlier tax and regulatory climates. Illinois State Senator Chris Balkema called it proof that rules and regulations are scaring businesses away. That’s a tidy, politically useful explanation — and it’s one many business leaders quietly echo.
Politics, policy and the unanswered questions
This was sold as an operational merger after the 2024 bankruptcy and sale, and that claim is reasonable. But reasonable and accidental are different things. What remains unclear is how many people will actually move, what incentives might have nudged the decision, and which functions will stay behind in Chicago. Those details matter, because a headquarters migration is more than a headline — it reshapes local tax revenue, real estate demand, and the municipal services a city must provide.
Where Illinois goes from here
If Illinois wants to stop the next company from folding up and drifting to the nearest red state, it needs to stop treating business like a bankroll to be milked. Lower taxes, fewer strangling regulations, and a predictable energy policy would be a start. Voters who like their city neighborhoods and want good jobs need to ask why companies look at Chicago and think Fort Wayne is the better business decision. If answers are slow in coming, expect more headquarters and more high‑paying jobs to quietly pack boxes and drive across the state line.
