Do it Best reveals first of 10 new laboratory store locations

Home Channel News, Jan 24, 2000

ORLANDO, FLA. -- Do it Best plans to open a store designed to test new retail programs late this spring in the co-op's headquarters town of Fort Wayne, Ind.

The store, the first of 10 laboratory stores Do it Best hopes to open by the end of the year, will be operated by existing Do it Best member Mike McCord. McCord currently owns two other Do it Best-affiliated hardware stores in the Fort Wayne, Ind., area.

Do it Best officials disclosed the location of the test store during their annual winter lumber and building material buying convention here in early January. The other nine sites have yet to be publicly identified, they added.

The store is currently under construction and could open as early as May 1, according to Maureen Galligan, Do it Best's retail marketing manager. Once open it will be used to test new retail concepts, including a new store design, e-commerce kiosks, new rental plannograms and tool sets for professional customers, Galligan said. The store will also feature elements of the co-op's new Opportunity Program, a three-tiered merchandising program unvieled at its fall buying show in October, and a new installed sales program for subscribers to Do it Best's Incom Distributor Supply division. That program, which is currently in the developmental stage, will be launched at Do it Best's spring show in May, according to Don Peet, Incom's general manager.