
DATE: Tuesday, November 4, 1997             TAG: 9711040316

SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MEREDITH COHN, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   71 lines

HOME DEPOT TO ADD SIX STORES HAMPTON ROADS' EXPANSION IS PART OF ITS LARGEST IN 19-YEAR HISTORY

The nation's home improvement titan, Home Depot, on Monday announced that it will open at least 10 stores in Virginia, including six in Hampton Roads.

The move will catapult the Atlanta-based company, which already has stores in Northern Virginia, into the battle among home-improvement superstores in Hampton Roads. Competition has been fierce in the regional market comprising Lowe's, Hechinger/HQ and Builders Square.

The entrance into the Hampton Roads market represents the single largest expansion into a new market by Home Depot in its 19-year history. The company expects to open more stores around the state, a spokesman said.

Currently, two Home Depot stores are planned in Chesapeake, and one each is planned in Virginia Beach, Norfolk and Hampton. Astore is expected to open in Newport News by the fall of next year. The remaining stores are slated for Richmond, Roanoke and Chester.

With 536 stores nationally and dozens more planned by the end of the year, Home Depot is the largest home improvement chain. Sales in 1996 were $19.5 billion. Its closest competitor nationally is Lowe's, which had 407 stores across the country and $8.6 billion in sales in 1996. Locally, Wilkesboro, N.C.-based Lowe's has six stores.

Each store will have about 150 to 200 employees, 85 percent of whom will be hired locally. Don Harrison, a spokesman for Home Depot, said that, because prices and stock basically is the same among the superstores, Home Depot tries to differentiate itself by hiring former tradespeople who can offer specific advice, he said.

With a strong economy and growing region, the time is right to move into Hampton Roads, Harrison said.

``At the rate we're growing, there are not many new markets left of this size with this promise,'' he said. ``The market is not saturated.''

Retail analyst Michael M. Via, of Anderson & Strudwick in Richmond, said he expects that independent hardware stores, already hard hit by new and larger megastores, and other less aggressive home improvement chains will be forced out of the market.

``It's evident that there is a lot of consolidation going on in the retail business,'' he said. ``Home Depot and Lowe's have been the most aggressive and successful with that aggression, so they may be the big winners in the Hampton Roads market.''

The large number of stores opening at once saves Home Depot advertising dollars, and the warehouse design makes them easy to put up, Via said.

``Mom and pop'' stores that cannot compete with superstore advertising budget, selection and prices may find a niche with customers interested in service. Counter to claims by Home Depot, the family-owned stores tend to know their business better and offer more time with customers, Via said.

For example, Taylor's Do-It Centers, a locally owned chain of five stores, focuses on do-it-yourself repair materials, paint and lawn and garden products, according to its president, Bob Taylor. It belongs to Hardware Wholesalers Inc., a national cooperative that can flex more buying muscle than an individual store or chain.

In the end, though, the competition will produce an undeniable victor, Via said.

``The customers,'' he said. ``They'll get some great prices.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color Staff/file photo

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