HomeBase seeks to put everything under one roof'

Home Channel News, Oct 23, 2000 by Brae Canlen

House2Home, currently being tested in five locations, targets female shoppers with lifestyle choices

FOOTHILL RANCH, CALIF. -- Female shoppers are notorious meanderers. They stop in a store to buy one thing and soon wander off into other departments, filling their carts with impulse items or objects they think they need. While this behavior can drive their husbands crazy, it serves as the active ingredient in HomeBase's new retail format.

House2Home, which opened five test locations in southern California and the Las Vegas area on Sept. 9, bills itself as "The Incredible Home Decorating Superstore." Comparisons to retailers like Bed, Bath & Beyond or Linens 'N Things are inevitable given House2Home's focus on soft goods, housewares and decor accents. But the experimental stores, each a former HomeBase unit, are twice as big as these other dealers' outlets. House2Home has the acreage and the merchandise to fit its billing as "everything you need for inside and outside the home." What the retailer needs now is lots of women who love to shop.

"Our target customers are [females] aged 25 to 54 who tend to be married and tend to have children," said Ginger Silverman, vp-marketing and advertising. These customers also tend to live in places like Foothill Ranch, a new community several miles east of Irvine in Orange County. Single family homes average $300,000, condos are equally pricey and the area is rapidly growing. Existing homeowners have the necessary income to indulge in what Silverman calls "the thrill of the hunt."

Throughout the power aisles of the House2Home here are free-standing displays of decorative baskets, holiday decorations, bed linens and other one-time-only items. House2Home will change these 90 to 100 skus every two weeks in order to create a treasure-hunt feel, according to Silverman.

Seasonal merchandise, located right inside the entrance, is intended to encourage a flow of new products.

With 100,000 square feet of interior selling space, homeowners looking for wall or window treatments pass by hundreds of candles, silk flowers, frames, towels and other assorted accessories. A small paint department is tucked away behind the sprawling garden section and outdoor nursery. House2Home offers the Dutch Boy, Williamsburg and Disney lines of paint, all made by Sherwin-Williams. An entire aisle of faux finish products includes an area where customers can try out some of the special effects on big sheets of paper. "Everyone thought I was crazy to put in four feet of empty space," said Michael Cable, one of eight buyers who are dedicated exclusively to House2Home. In addition to paint, Cable is responsible for books and magazines, hard-surface flooring, hand tools (there are a dozen skus from Oxo) and hardware.

Crossover categories

Hardlines involved some difficult choices, said Cable, who limited the category to decorative hardware and fasteners needed to install other products sold by House2Home. The final selection included locksets, cabinet knobs and dimmer switches.

Flooring, window treatments and lighting span the back wall of the store. These are the crossover categories between HomeBase and House2Home, along with lawn and garden. But House2Home tends to carry the higher price points. In lighting, for example, Tiffany-style chandeliers by Kichler and Robert Abbey torchieres share a department with novelty lamps by Galleria, HomeBase's private label. The rug collection exceeds the typical selection found in home improvement warehouses.

House2Home offers 225 styles of carpeting, all of them made by Shaw Industries. Decor buyer Don Dark, who is responsible for rugs, carpets and window treatments, explained some of the benefits of dealing with only one vendor. "When you have three or more [vendors], it never seems to flow the way it should," Dark observed. "But with only one supplier, they have more of a stake. It [represents] a huge chunk of their volume."

Shaw representatives have been coming to House2Home stores every weekend to work with associates and help customers, Dark said. The Cypress, Calif.-based manufacturer also developed a lift-up display that allows customers to bring home -- and keep -- small swatches of carpet. A separate racking system provides larger samples on loan.

The free carpet swatches are among the customer niceties found at House2Home. Next to most special order desks are a video and Nintendo station to keep the kids entertained, a no-brainer that most retailers seem to overlook. Shoppers can also have ready-made blinds and shades cut to order while they wait or browse through the party supplies next door and watch a balloon bouquet being made to order.

In an effort to catch the attention of browsers, each House2Home employs a "visual presentation manager" to set up displays, find cross-merchandising opportunities and determine the overall look of each department. This role is especially important in the stores' tabletop and cookware departments.

Wide assortment

House2Home's mission to have "everything under one roof" has led to some curious product additions. Mattresses are sold alongside the beds, dressers, and dinette sets. Two sections are devoted to furniture, with a special emphasis on home offices. Special order consultants help customers design a home office and a subcontractor will assemble and install it. A similar arrangement exists in Outdoor Living, a department where built-in barbecues and "entertainment islands" can be custom ordered. House2Home offers installation services for flooring, window treatments, lighting, ceiling fans and fountains.