A bright idea at lowe's: Updated departments in retailer's stores showcase high-end products, brighter displays - Electricals & Lighting - Brief Article

Home Channel News, Nov 19, 2001 by Eleanor Lee Yates

Customers in Lowe's stores throughout the nation are doing double takes when they walk into the lighting department. The home improvement giant has joined forces with five lighting manufacturers to create an innovative new lighting department that's a veritable store within a store -- with mote selection, more high-end lighting products and, in many stores, a completely redesigned display system.

"Home centers aren't just for building supplies [anymore]," said Diane Graham, Lowe's merchandise manager for fashion lighting. "We've expanded everything from our flooring to faucets. Lighting has been the last department to be accelerated."

Of Lowe's 720 stores, the majority -- including all the retailer's warehouse stores -- will showcase a new lighting department, according to Lowe's spokeswoman Chris Ahearn.

Lowe's executives laid the groundwork for revamping in-store lighting departments last year after realizing that customers wanted more choices in hard-wired chandeliers and pendants, portable lamps, floor lamps, bath bars and other lighting fixtures.

"I think we [had] done a good job in educating the consumer about lighting, such as explaining effects and function, recessed lighting and track lighting and picking the right light bulbs," Graham said. But she admitted that Lowe's lighting selection had been limited, particularly on the high-end, with much lighting focused on Lowe's own Portfolio brand, a middle price-point product. Graham also noticed that many customers were becoming aware of choices in lighting -- and that some of the products they wanted weren't carried at Lowe's.

"Once we saw the need for changes, we approached a number of companies," Graham explained. "We stepped up to the plate, and it was, 'Okay, who wants to play?'"

The lineup is an extensive one: Sea Gull Lighting of New Jersey; Design Trends of Massachusetts; Thomas Lighting of Kentucky; Pyramid Creations by California-based Maxim Lighting; and Stiffel Lighting of Illinois. All agreed to participate in Lowe's new lighting program by providing a wider product selection of products.

Participating company Design Trends, a joint venture between TSI Prime and lighting designer Patrick Dolan, also helped create a new way to display those products.

Gone are shelves of boxed lamps that took up so much space. The new departments display portable lamps on tilted, 16-foot-high shelves, so customers can look up at the choices. Coordinating shades are displayed on space-saving carousels. Each of the five manufacturers also will have its own 8-by-9-foot vignettes. Products are stocked below the display, most in open-front boxes to make it easy for consumers to see. Lamp bases are sold separately from coordinating shades, which are nearby. All the new displays fir in existing racking, according to Ahearn.

Special order stations are another feature of Lowe's new lighting departments. Here customers can order lighting with special finishes, find designs for homes with extremely high ceilings and fill other special needs. They also can bring blueprints of their houses for more customized service.

The first Lowe's store to showcase the new lighting program is in Winter Haven, Fla., which got its makeover last November. Next in line were stores in Concord and Mooresville, N.C., and Chamblee, Ga. The new lighting department is currently in about 180 new Lowe's stores and is slowly being phased into others.

"This is very labor intensive," said Graham, who explained that converting existing stores to the new format takes about three days.

Lowe's declined to release sales figures, but the home improvement retailer said that customer feedback on the new department has been extremely positive. The new format also appears to be working our well for vendors involved, four of which didn't have products on the retailer's shelves before.

Ace Rosenstein, vp-marketing and building development for Sea Gull Lighting, initially couldn't see his company's high-end decorative lighting products in a home improvement store, since Sea Gull lighting is traditionally sold at furniture and specialty-lighting stores.

"At most of the home centers, you walk in and there's a sea of lights all together," he said.

Sea Gull, which has been in business for 82 years, placed its lighting products in 10 Lowe's stores last year on a trial basis. The company's hallmark is a variety of designer finishes available for its chandeliers, pendants, console lamps, table lamps and bath lighting. These finishes include brass, hammered copper, antique creme, gold patina, rust patina and many others.

"Consumers are [now] able to find products at the upper end, products they don't expect to find at Lowe's," Rosenstein said. "In today's market, consumers are in charge. Why shouldn't they be able to buy what they want?"