The National Home Center Show

THE National Home Center

I Show was big, bright and brassy, 1277 exhibitors spread across 440,000 square feet in Chicago's enormous McCormick Place convention hall. Miles of aisles separated the exhibits, which ranged from the Basic Boring Booth to large and outstanding examples of the species such as presented by GeorgiaPacific and The Weyerhaeuser Co. A number featured second floor exhibit and conference areas, while others used the high ceilings to proclaim their wares with 30 foot high displays.

The show climate was positive, with attendees and vendors generally in concert that 1989 would be at least as good as last year. Attendance at the March l2-15 show was said to be in excess of 35,000.

Keynote speaker Tom Peters, coauthor of In Search of Excellence, told a standing room only audience that rapid change means there are no longer tried and true management principles. He called market share an invalid measure and said a value based advantage was more enduring than a cost based advantage. "Perception is all there is, " Peters stressed, adding, "service is still decisive. Service in America is so lousy, you don't even have to be great to be considered great."

The outspoken Peters challenged retailers to pay their front line people well, "even the part timers, whom many of you treat as if they were pond scum. These people are heroes in your business, they're critical to your success." All business is people, he concluded.

A home center all star panel of

Bernie Marcus, Home Depot; Frank Denny, Builders Square; Hal Smith, Ernst Home & Nursery Centers, and Robert Strickland, Lowe'so told a jammed breakfast meeting that the industry was still growing and had more growth in it.

Denny floated an interesting trial balloon when he related his company had considered a 30,000-50,000 square foot store with no service at all. Strickland criticized specification sheets for products as being cast too much for store buyers and too little for customers.

Story at a Glance

Industry attitudes upbeat, posF tive .1277 exhibitors, many new and revamped products, services. speakers' consensus: change in the industry will continue to accelerate.

Marcus forecast the home center industry to be a $200 billion industry in l0 years. He said the industry will change vastly, especially among the players, but that stores should change gradually, not abruptly. Smith said change must be the result of good research, reflecting customer needs and wants. His firm continues, he said, to look for better products and better information for his customers.

Among a large number of new product and service introductions was the Weyerhaeuser Design Center, now being installed in selected cities around the country. It allows a salesperson, using their computerbased design system to literally design a deck before a customer's eyes. It uses software that can produce a complete materials list and price list. The system conforms to most building codes.

The Osmose Company unveiled a new product label incorporating a red, white and blue flag theme that ties in with their program to present their products as America's Wood. The firm is the only American/employee owned CCA chemical manufacturer. A video with the America theme will be shown to more than 100 treating plants in coming months.

Two industry veterans were inducted into the Home Center Hall of Fame at a special ceremony. Honored were Leonard "Lanny" Gertler, president of the All American Home Center, Downey, Ca., and Philip Mansfield, retired executive vice president of Maryland-based Hechinger Co. Winner of the 1989 Pioneer Award was Stanley Cohen, former chairman and president, Central Hardware, St. Louis, Mo.

A major innovation at next year's show will be the grouping of exhibits by product category. For example, all lumber and building materials/products will be in one area. The 1990 show will be held March 11-14 in McCormick Place East and the upper level of McCormick Place North in Chicago.

EXGEII.EilCE GURU lll Tom Peters lays it on the troops. l2l John Schick, Brenda Elliott. l3l Paul Hylbert, Hal Huff. lll Rick Bates, Janet Folk, Lorrie Elson (front), Joe Taylor, Roger Freeman. l5l Jerry Kohnke. 16l Ken Dahlgren, Bill Bird. l7l Ed List, Pat Simpson, Jim Basler. l8l Steve Snavely, John Reed, Glenn Miller. l9l John Snead, Hank Feenstra. ll0l Dan Gauthier, Eobby Hill. llll Dick Passaglia, Peter Dale. ll2l Brad Fee. llSl Jim Taft, John Cavers, Mark Gantt. llll Eill Zagone, John Zagone, Jack McGee. llSl Richard Wallace, Don Jaenicke. {l6l Brian Burke, Paul McKay. llTl John Reed, Charles Berolzheimer. llEl Dave Bunz. Laura Schulze. Rich Viola. ll9l Dick Tuchbreiter, Herb Zielke, Randy Byrne. l20l Pat Smith. Jell Massnick. 12ll Bob Howard, Bob Riggs. l22l Mark Dorn, Dennis Ballam. l23l John Mele, Audrey Riordan, Joel Strauss. 121l John Bates. Steve Davis.

Lowe's Opens A Biggie In N.G.

Lowe's has opened its first 40,000 sq. ft. store in Boone, N.C. The store, which was relocated, now has incremental retail sales space exceeding 30,000. It is a prototype for future stores and relocations of this size, according to manager Ronnie Woodie.

"This Old House" Host Fired

Loss of funding from Home Depot Inc. and Weyerhaeuser Co. has prompted the producers of "This Old House" public television d-i-y show to drop Bob Vila as host.

A Home Depot Inc. spokesman said that his company canceled its funding because they objected to Vila representing Rickel Home Centers which competes with them in the Northeast. Weyerhaeuser, one of Home Depot's biggest customers, which had contributed more than $l million a year to "This Old House," has dropped its sponsorship for next season.

Vila's commercial endorsement of numerous home improvement products and Rickel Home Centers apparently caused the riff He reportedly made as much as $500,000 a year from this, more than five times his show salary.

Strirgfelbw Buys Leader

Stringfellow Lumber Co., Birmingham, Al., has acquired Leader Lumber, Inc., Dallas, Tx.

Charles Snyder, owner ofLeader, will continue as president of Leader Lumber Co., a division of Stringfellow Lumber Co., Inc., according to Don Fisher, president of the Alabama company. Stringfellow will keep Leader sales offices in Dallas,

Lake Charles, La., and Tampa, Fl., open.

In 1988, Stringfellow and Leader had combined sales of $100.000.000.

Established in 1913, Stringfellow operates a brokerage division in Birmingham; distribution yards in Atlanta, Ga.; Nashville, Tn.; Hodges, Al. and Birmingham; a remanufacturing plant in Hodges; a roof and floor truss plant in Nashville, and an export division

Wood Siding Use To Drop

Wood siding consumption in new residential construction will decline in the next decade with the exception of over laid waferboard which is expected to increase its market share from about lolo to over l5% by 2000, reports a recent residential siding market survey by George Carter & Afl'iliates.