New Home Depot custom made for Manhattan

DSN Retailing Today, Sept 20, 2004 by Mike Duff

NEW YORK -- The new Home Depot in Manhattan is not just the company's first store in that most urban of urbanities but also the culmination of a long learning process. The new urban prototype borrows from current and past Home Depot concepts, including the company's first namesake urban prototype store, which operates in Brooklyn, and a dual-level unit in Lincoln Park in Chicagoland.

Indeed, diligent Home Depot observers might look past the antique facade of the new store to see traces of all of them in the store.

Home Depot's inaugural Manhattan store looms in the Flatiron district on the south side of 23rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, and has a second entrance on 22nd Street. At 108,000 square feet, the facility includes a street-level showroom and a lower-level retail floor. The space also will feature a mezzanine.

Still, some elements of the operation--including the three-level lay out--are unique. Other elements found in no other Home Depot locations include unique product lines, such as GE Monogram, an electronic project planning kiosk and a dedicated distribution center in Elizabeth, N.J. The DC will exclusively serve the newly opened and a second soon-to-debut Manhattan Home Depot, providing home delivery of products they provide but don't feature in store.

Lumber is among the typical Home Depot departments that aren't mounted in the store because the entire unit is dedicated to the do-it-yourself and home decoration needs of Manhattanites. Even live plants have been selected to fit apartment environments. The store includes unique items designed to appeal to well-appointed New Yorkers as well. For example, the store carries, on a daily basis, 40 unique, hand-crafted rugs among the 240 stocked. Prices range from $240 for lower-end machine produced area rugs to $8,000 for the costliest handcrafted, said Christine McVeigh, project director, Home Depot Manhattan. The store always has 40 more unique rugs available for restocking.

Cleaning, storage and small appliances likewise have been designed to support the stylish but cramped lifestyles of Manhattanites. Small appliances include wine coolers and mini-refrigerators that supplement the full-sized units displayed on the upper level mezzanine among kitchen and bath vignettes.

The scope of the operation is important to Home Depot's strategy for New York City.

"Our Manhattan store will offer customers the ability to purchase and leave with products, make arrangements for delivery or place special orders for any item sold by The Home Depot," said Tom Taylor, president of Home Depot's Eastern Division, at the time of the store's announcement. "One of the other unique features of the store will be the amount of space dedicated to showrooms for kitchen and bath vignettes. Several thousand square feet will be used to showcase complete projects. We sell tools, hardware and appliances, but we also sell complete rooms with the installation."

The ghosts of other Home Depot concepts become evident as the scope of the operation is surveyed. The Flatiron Home Depot offers enough high-end kitchen and bath vignettes to call an Expo design center to mind, while the strength and concentration of home decor harkens back to Villagers Hardware. From its earlier efforts, Home Depot has learned that the nitty-gritty atmosphere of its orange box suburban locations is a turnoff to many urban customers, particularly those shopping home decor categories. "Shopability is a critical aspect," said Jose Lopez, regional vp, New York Metro Region.

While the mezzanine tops off the retailer space, the two full floors below include the bulk of the cash-and-carry items as well as a delivery desk near the check out area. Check out, located at street level, features nine service and four self-serve stations. The store also stations a doorman and concierge at street level, as well as a service desk and classroom for home improvement clinics. The concierge, who has a stand just inside the entrance, is a guide to the store's full range of product and services. The concierge stand includes a concession to New York's multiculturalism. "It has store locators in three different languages," said McVeigh, "English, Spanish and Mandarin."

Rugs, small appliances and other home decor departments share the street level along with communications equipment, such as phones, cables and accessories, and some of the more everyday of home improvement categories, such as light bulbs and locks. The lower level houses outdoor and plants, seasonal and hardware, including tool rental. The bulk of home improvement, ranging from paint to cleaning supplies, storage, closet, furniture small appliances and lumber--as noted, a delivery item--also are housed on the lower level. The pro shop is an extension of hardware and boards on the wall highlight what can be ordered form a desk there. Emphasis is on products that meet New York City construction codes.

Clearly the assortment and positioning of items reflects the needs of the largely apartment/condo/co-op dwelling community, but none of the merchandising is based on assumptions but rather weeks of careful consumer research. "We did a lot of focus groups," McVeigh noted.