A new “big-box” retailer can affect local businesses, but not necessarily in a bad way.
Local business owners in Pittsburg can attest to this. Development firm DJ Christie, which wants to bring Lowe’s to Emporia, built a similar development in Pittsburg almost three years ago that included Home Depot as an anchor. According to Pittsburg lumber and hardware business owners, the effects have been mixed.
“When it first opened up, our business was down,” said Brian Cronister, manager of Ace Hardware in Pittsburg. “People were checking out the new Home Depot. But after the first six months, our business started coming back.”
Cronister attributes this to his emphasis on customer service, and warns that when a large retailer comes to town, it’s important to react.
“I don’t know that it’s going to put anybody out of business unless they don’t react to it,” he said. “Competition is sometimes good because you clean up your act. We give customer service, and that’s our main item that we promote. You go into Home Depot and they don’t have customer service, you can’t find anybody to wait on you. We have people come in and right away we ask them, ‘Can we help you find anything?’ And we get comments, people say ‘That’s why we like coming in here.’ And that’s what I tell my employees. They can buy these goods anywhere, but they come in here for the customer service. And actually, we get lot of people who come in and say, ‘Home Depot sent us over here because they don’t have it.’ So we’re back and we’re better than we were before.”
Another way Pittsburg businesses have stayed competitive is to exploit other parts of the market.
“In actuality, our sales now are higher than they’ve ever been,” said Bill Atkinson, manager of TH Rogers Lumber Company. “That’s because we’ve refocused our direction. We’ve concentrated more on professional builders, contractors, remodels and that type of thing, and we’ve carved a niche.”
Atkinson admits that Home Depot has affected his business in some ways. “They are very good at retail sales,” he said. “They’re Walmart with wood, basically. So for people who like to shop at Walmart, they like to shop at Home Depot or Lowe’s. If you are strictly retail and don’t offer anything else, then yeah, they could probably hit you pretty hard.”
For some people business is down, but the owners don’t know if it’s because of Home Depot.
“We’ve been here 45 years and our business is down 20 percent,” said Mel Cobb of Cobb Brothers Lumber. “I can’t say why, exactly, because the economy’s in such a mess. Two years ago, we were moving lots of lumber and people and contractors were able to get money. Right now there’s not much building going on, to be truthful with you.”
For those business owners in Pittsburg who have adapted to the competition, business has largely remained steady.
“Would my business be better without Home Depot?” Cronister said. “It probably would. But we’re still here, and we’re still going.”
barefootin (anonymous) says...
I think I will still be shopping at a local store instead of a big box.
October 14, 2008 at 9:13 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
Me too. No Lowe's for me.
My favorite place to shop hardware and paint and garden stuff is Water's because as soon as I walk in the door, someone is asking me if I need help. I am no handy woman, so I have gone there with problems to solve and have never left that store without a solution. Last year, with their help, I installed a drip irrigation system in my garden all by myself. That may sound easy to some, but it was a huge triumph for me. Paint? They are absolute experts, and True Value paint is excellent. I can't say enough positive things about Water's. Notice how busy they seem to be with the parking lot pretty full during the day? There's a reason for that. Way to go, Mark. Thanks for the good service!
October 14, 2008 at 9:29 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )