Home Depot tests landscape concept to meet spike in garden market: traditional nursery product dominates selection - Brief Article

DSN Retailing Today, Sept 9, 2002 by Debbie Howell, Tanja Kern

DULUTH, GA. -- The Home Depot's first test to grab a larger share of the professional landscape market was launched last month in a suburb of Atlanta. Dubbed The Home Depot Landscape Supply, the new store initiative rolled out Aug. 29 in Duluth; it is the first of three units planned for the Atlanta market, and two more will open in Dallas. Featuring a broader array of live goods and more bulk and specialty landscape product, the concept store is targeted to pros and serious home gardeners.

"We've created a larger footprint that allows for greater depth of inventory and variety," said Todd Williams, director of Home Depot Landscape Supply. "We've been looking at how we can extend the garden department of Home Depot for many years."

The store features a 12,000-square-foot interior divided into two parts targeting pros and consumers, with separate entrances and checkouts. Behind is a 25,000-square-foot open greenhouse.

On the consumer side, a broad array of houseplants, accessories and tools could be found, while the pro area featured more bulk packaging of products, such as mulch, and specialized equipment, such as irrigation systems. A dedicated pro desk also is featured, where both consumers and landscapers can rent tools.

Other than having signage in green, the layout and feel of the store was typical of a Home Depot warehouse. Signage in live goods assisted customers in choosing items, such as indicating whether certain plants needed full sun or shade. Handouts explaining how to care for specific plants were merchandised nearby

Williams said the store isn't intended to compete with Home Depot, which is positioned as a convenience in lawn and garden. Landscape Supply has more variety and a depth of product to suit the tastes of the discriminating gardener, he said.

"Between Home Depot and Home Depot Landscape Supply, the goal is to present our customers with the widest array of landscaping products, top-quality live goods and expert service in the industry" he said.

Spokesman Don Harrison said the store would stock larger and more mature items, such as 35-foot maple trees with 5-foot root bulbs. With a 5-to 7-acre footprint including outdoor space, Landscape Supply has more room to stock larger items than a typical 28,000-square-foot Home Depot garden department.

"Rather than do that within Home Depot, we really couldn't do that aggressively enough to meet [the pro's] needs," Harrison said. "We really had to go with a separate pro yard."

Home Depot anticipates its business will be split equally between pros and consumers. After a period of testing and tweaking, the retailer will decide whether this specialty business is lucrative enough to roll out on a larger scale.

This new concept is one of several Home Depot has tested in recent years as it nears saturation with its classic orange box. Other specialty retail formats include Expo Design Center, The Floor Store and Home Depot Supply. Another test, Villager's Hardware, has been transformed into a small-format Depot store.

Tanja Kern is an associate editor at Home Channel News, a sister publication of DSN Retailing Today.