Shining light on Dallas' electricals market

Home Channel News, Nov 20, 2000 by Elizabeth Consavage

Big boxes offer low prices while independents counter with customer service

Shoppers living in the Dallas metroplex, if they're willing to shop around, can find the best prices, good service and variety at the hundreds of hardware and home improvement retailers in the area.

Last month, NHCN visited five stores in the market to compare prices on a selection of lighting and electrical merchandise. The stores -- Brader Ace Hardware, Payless Cashways and Elliott's Hardware in Plano; Home Depot in Richardson, and Lowe's of West Plano -- were located within a seven-mile radius of each other.

The stores presented major differences in prices, service, merchandising, layout and aesthetics. Employees in Elliott's and Lowe's, for example, were noticeably the most helpful.

Elliott's operates three stores in Texas and belongs to buying group Do it Best. Its store in Plano was the brightest, with the most open layout. The store -- which competes in the same strip mall with a lighting, plumbing and window-covering retailer -- displayed holiday products and housewares up front and hardware everywhere else inside. Payless is renovating its Plano store, but its products were still accessible, although some assistance from a store associate was needed to find some electrical supplies.

Home Depot was the most difficult store in which to maneuver and find items. But its store included the largest lighting section of the five stores, including an area for special-order lighting and ceiling fan installation. In the Depot store, electrical products were located near their corresponding fixtures (e.g., toggle fan controls were cross-merchandised with ceiling fans instead of other togglers).

The displays within each store's electricals and lighting department were pretty similar, though. Home Depot and Lowe's use shelving and pegboard displays within cantilever racking, where the other retailers favored gondolas and pegboards. Elliott's displays were the easiest to navigate, with Eagle Electric's gondola system that incorporates a product sample along with a description card that uses color and larger-sized print to provide product information.

NHCN chose products that are typically carried by both home improvement centers and pro dealers. Here is a list of the items, with model numbers in parentheses, along with their prices at the five stores.

Lighting fixtures: In its Richardson store, Home Depot featured a Tiffany island light, sold under its proprietary Hampton Bay brand (Model 20076-936P), which retailed for $299. In general, it appeared that Depot was stressing higher-end lighting fixtures more than its competitors and offered a larger selection of lighting priced over $200 than the other stores. Lowe's had two fixtures priced at $239 -- a Portfolio Lighting 11-light crystal pendant chandelier (Model LP1427PB) and a 7-Tier brass and crystal chandelier (Model 825802CK). Payless' store displayed two models it was selling on special order: Angelo Bros.' 8-Light Provincial (Model 69167) and Chateau (Model 69184) fixtures, both priced at $199.99. The lighting sold at Elliott's and Ace Hardware retailed below the $200 level.

Halogen bulb: Not all of the stores stock the same bulbs, so comparisons weren't always easy to make. However, Lowe's had the lowest price on halogen bulbs with an in-store special for Feit Electric's 60-watt soft white halogen (79640) at $1.68. Payless Cashways carried traditional halogen bulbs that are tubular and don't work as screw-in bulbs for regular fixtures. The Ace brand 50-watt indoor floodlight for track and recessed lighting cost $2.99. Elliott's carried the Sylvania 42-watt Capsylite halogen (42MB! CAP) for $3.59 and Home Depot had the Philips 60-wart halogen (291567) for $3.97.

Globe: All five retailers carry a variety of globe light bulbs in different sizes and colors. Prices vary by brand but each supplier carried the same basic clear or white bulbs in 25-, 40- and 60-watt illuminations. Payless and Lowe's carry Sylvania's 40-watt G-25 globe (Model 14148) for $1.99 and $1.78 respectively. Elliott's had the Allura 40-watt G-25 (A3641 for $1.99 and Ace had its name-brand 40-watt G-25 (3020039) for $2.09. Home Depot had the lowest price --$1.41 -- for the Philips 40-watt G-25.

Plastic junction/receptacle box (also called a zip box): These retailers carry a variety of zip boxes, with Lowe's and Home Depot having the largest selection. NHCN found prices for two: the Carlon 14-cubic inch non-metallic single-gang old work zip box (B114R) and the Carlon 18-cubic inch non-metallic single-gang nail-on zip box (B118A). Elliott's did not have the 18-cubic-inch box and charged $1.79 for the 14-cubic-inch model. Ace's prices were 99 cents for the 18-cubic inch box and 1.99 for the 14-cubic-inch. Lowe's and Home Depot's prices were the lowest --19 cents (18 cubic inch) and 79 cents (14 cubic inch) at Lowe's and 18 cents (18 cubic inch) and 78 cents (14 cubic inch) at Home Depot.

Junction box: The metallic cousin of the zip box was found in each store after some difficulty, since these boxes vary greatly in style and size. The 4x4 Hubbell-Raco 2 1/8inch deep metal junction box (Model 8232) cost $1.11 at Home Depot, $1.25 at Lowe's, $1.29 at Ace and $3.29 at Elliott's. Payless did not have the junction box in that depth but did have a 1 1/2inch-deep box for $1.99.