Area discounters weather Hugo's wrath - North Carolina, South Carolina area, Hurricane Hugo

Discount Store News, Oct 16, 1989 by Richard C. Halverson

Area Discounters Weather Hugo's Wrath

Considering the havoc that the 135 mile per hour winds of Hurricane Hugo wreaked on the Carolinas last month, the discounters that operate in the affected area came through in fairly good shape and all pitched into the massive relief operations aiding their stricken communities.

In terms of store damage, K mart was the worst hit, with two stores in Puerto Rico and two in Charleston, S.C. sustaining such severe damage that they may be closed for repairs for up to a month.

At the worst-hit K mart, in Charleston, the mostly glass store front caved in, and the store lost part of its roof, resulting in extensive water damage to apparel inventory, a spokeswoman said.

In addition, one Marshalls store and a unit of Brendle's, the catalog showroom chain based in Elkin, N.C., each lost a Charleston store for up to two months because of severe storm damage.

Rose's Stores said that three of its stores sustained extensive damage, mostly to roofs, resulting in damage to inventory, and six others sustained slight damage. The last of the damaged stores reopened four days after Hugo pounded ashore at Charleston the night of Sept. 21 and moved north to Charlotte, N.C.

Many undamaged stores for other chains were unable to reopen for several days after the storm, however, because power lines were down for as long as 10 days or more, resulting in added losses from business interruption.

The seven Wal-Mart stores and the Sam's Wholesale Club in Charleston, where Hugo first landed, sustained only minor damage and all that were still hooked up to functioning power lines got back in business in a day or two.

In Charlotte, the five stores that Target opened in the spring also were spared major damage and got back in business in short order.

No one as yet has been able totally an estimate of total discount chain losses, either to stores or inventory, when rain water cascaded through damaged roofs, and from business interruption. But indications are that the total bill will be substantial.

In addition to lengthy closings from downed power lines, a 7 p.m. curfew in Charleston following the storm meant that stores had to close at 5 p.m. for at least a week following the storm.

Rose's, for example, lost $2 million worth of inventory, mostly from water damage, said John McElroy, vice president, marketing.

Relief efforts were operating in high gear at presstime, with the relief center in Charleston inundated with "hundreds and hundreds of truckloads" of donated relief supplies pouring in from around the country.

"We're swamped with a lot of everything," said one of two Wal-Mart truck drivers from the Wal-Mart distribution centers in Laurens, S.C., who were assigned to Charleston's major relief center in the city's Gaillard Auditorium.

To help coordinate the handling of relief goods, Wal-Mart assigned Martin Novak, head of its DC in Douglas, Ga., to the Gaillard center.

Various vendors were shipping in donated supplies, the driver said, including Tru-Valu, hardware; Shop-Vac, wet vacuums to clean up mud and water from flooded homes and businesses; and Kimberly-Clark, Kleenex, paper towels and disposable diapers.

Chain saws to clear downed trees and portable generators to supply power were especially in demand. At Charlotte-based Homelite, company executives trucked chain saws from a nearby plant to corporate headquarters on the Monday following the storm, said Robert Rhodes, advertising manager. Traffic jams formed as customers snapped up 2,500 chain saws that day at 10 percent below retail.

The relief efforts of discounters included cash donations, shipment of vendor-donated goods, discounts on merchandise, donations of merchandise from inventory, including diapers and bottled water, and donation drives mounted at individual stores.

Wal-Mart and an undisclosed number of its vendors were shipping $1 million worth of goods (at Wal-Mart retail prices), a spokeswoman said. Wal-Mart shipped the goods in its own trucks.

The spokeswoman refused to name the vendors cooperating in the joint effort.

K mart contributed $70,000 to the Red Cross, said Bob Stevenson, head of corporate public relations, and shipped three truckloads of disposable diapers and two loads of bottled water. The truck trailers were parked at K mart stores, and residents could get a free box of diapers and four gallons of water.

In addition, K mart shipped a truckload of plywood and 2x4 lumber for storm victims.

"We would have sent more, if we could locate it," Stevenson said, but hard-hit Puerto Rico siphoned off most of such lumber in a five-state area.

At its nine damaged units, Rose's sold chain saws at cost and offered a 10 percent discount on all merchandise to customers, said McElroy. In addition, Rose's donated two truckloads of goods taken from its inventory samples for the relief of residents of Sumter, S.C., one of the most devastated communities, he said.

Brendle's opened its 42 stores as community collection centers for food and clothing donations, said David Brendle, advertising manager. Brendle's has shipped 26 truckloads of donated goods to the Salvation Army in Charleston, he said.