The Quality in Treated wood Producfs

Home Depot To Test Smaller Hardware Stores

Home Depot will test a "hardware convenience-store format" catering to small project d-i-yers and others looking for a nearby location and smaller shopping environment.

The chain expects to open its first neighborhood hardware shops early next year in the Northeast, and will add three more in the region later in 1999.

Leading the experiment is Bob Wittman, senior v.p. of business development, who joined the chain last summer after serving as c.o.o. of Orchard Supply Hardware.

At about 35,000 sq. ft., the as-yetunnamed smaller stores will be about a third of the size of Depot's typical big box and offer 20-25Vo of the selection, but likewise be located in "densely populated areas," says Wittman.

Paul Pentz, president of TruServ, believes his 10,500 hardware store members are up to the challenge, contending that Home Depot is "not going to get the same efficiencies out of a small store as they would a large one. I think our stores can compete very effectively with them."

TruServ Market Biggest Ever

With total attendance topping 18,000, TruServ proclaimed its first spring market since the True Value/Servistar/Coast to Coast merger to be "the largest gathering of independent hardware retailers and vendors in history."

More than 11.000 individual store owners and employees attended the April24-28 spring market in Dallas, Tx., which featured 1,400 vendors and 525,000 sq. ft. of new products and programs.

At the show. TruServ unveiled its new Variable Pricing Program, redesigned Web site, plans for an 800,000-sq. ft. deployment center in Hagerstown, Md., for seasonal and promotional items, and updates on completion of the merger. Fully integrating the buying groups, originally slated to take more than three years, has been condensed into l8 months

UP Plans RR Spending

Union Pacific Corp. plans to spend more than $1.4 billion over the next five years, including up to $160 million this year on infrastructure in Texas and Louisiana.

To help fund improvement, UP is considering selling its $1 billion-ayear trucking business, Overnite Transportation Co., in a public offering. To return to its core railroad business, UP has been divesting real estate, oil, natural gas and hazardous waste subsidiaries, and is negotiating to sell its small contract logistics business, Skyway Freight Systems Inc.

Improvements will stretch along a 530-mile corridor from San Antonio to New Orleans, especiallY at the and is on track to be completed by spring 1999.

The co-op restructured its regional support network into three groups: retail sales, regional merchandising and regional advertising. Ed Giunco Sr. was promoted to mgr. of special assignments, and Tim Babington, group merchandise mgr. Regional advertising mgrs. are Jim Schmidtke in the West, Jim Hughes, Central, and Ken Hutchins. East.

The co-op also rescheduled its fall market to Oct. 30-Nov. 3 at the Astrodome in Houston, Tx., to allow all members to attend the same show, to accommodate more vendors and activities, and not to conflict with the fall selling season. The show had been booked for late September in St. Louis. Mo.. with members to attend in two waves due to limited space at the convention center.

Houston rail complex, north-south connecting routes and Mexican gateways.

Up to $63 million will be spent on major terminals in Houston; $161 million on regional terminals, such as Drayton and Strang, Tx., and Lake Charles. La.. and $285 million on a line capacity expansion through Houston.

Major projects this year will extend as far as San Antonio, Laredo and Brownsville, Tx., and Avondale, La.