-t-- Western rlf Turninss T & Stair I Home Center Merchant

BILL FISHMAN

Bill

Fishman

& Affiliates

11650 lberia Place

San Diego, Ca.92128

HEN PEARL Harbor was attacked I was in junior high school. I was also working in Meltzer's Drug Store in the Bronx, after school and on Saturdays. That was my first job. I made two bucks a week plus tips. It's been years since I thought about that drug store. It c.rme to my mind today while I was shopping at a home center.

Meltzer's was the classic pre-war pharmacy. No soda fountain. lt smelled hospital clean. It was my job to keep it that way. We used CN in the wash water as a disinfectant and each week I washed glass cases that covered all the perimeter walls within the store. The upper cases were hung from the ceiling. To reach them required a rolling ladder that hung from a railjust like at the library.

I'll bet there weren't 300 SKUs in that drug store. Mostly the cases contained the patent medicines of the day. Cod liver oil, Lydia Pinkham, Doane's Pills, Dr. Lyons Tooth Powder, Ipana, Pepsodent, Carter's Little Liver Pills, Ex-Lax, mustard plasters, Lifebuoy and Palmolive soaps, Vicks and hot water bottles. Mr. Meltzer and his assistant Joe mixed their prescriptions with a pestle and mortar. They also sold a lot of postage stamps, removed splinters from customer's eyes, and prescribed patent medicines for colds, coughs and backaches.

The newest store in my neighborhood today is a Sav-on. The sign above the door on the outside of this new building reads Sav-on drug store and home center. To the left and right of the entrance are other bold signs that read "Liquor," "Pharmacy," and "Garden Center." The store is beautiful. lt's bright, clean, open and has nice wide aisles that make it easy to shop. The signing is simple, bold, easy to see and makes it easy to shop if you're in a rush.

Sav-on Drugs is a chain of 165 stores. Most are large, full line drug stores carrying the typical health and beauty aids and the more common nondrug hard lines and soft lines that you find in the 1980s California supermarket and super drug store. This new store in my neighborhood, however, is one of the l7 Sav-ons that are also home centers.

About 15,ffi square feet are devoted to the product lines you'd expect in a home center/building materids store. Of course, they're not totally complete. Don't expect to find enough materid to build a giuage or even a fence. Their paneling display is limited too. For a major project I would still have to drive the 8 to l0 minutes to my nearest Handyman, Builder's Emporium, Dixieline or Boise Cascade.

But for the typical, everyday fix-upand maintenance needs this new Sav-on fills the bill. They stock dimension lumber, moldings, doors, plywoods, a complcte paint department, plumbing, elcctrical, tools, hardware, gardening supplies, outdoor furniture, wet nursery, automotivc, pool and spa needs and the fas moving sporting goods and house,vares. ln most product categories they're more complcte than the local Ace store that used to be theonly game in town. Sav-on peoplc are a little younger and greener than rhe Ace store personnelbut they're also not as rude and patronizing.

The purist will frown at the Sav-on Home Center concept. "After all they're just creaming the traffic items. They have no depth of inventory in their stores. Their selection is limited to only thc fast turn items. They stock 2 x 4s only in eight foot lengths. They charge 59.79 for t/2" CDX while everyone else's advertird price is around $7.49." All true.

So areall the othercliches you use when you talk about "outsiders" selling your product lines. Yes, you can vnell popcorn in the store. They even have an ice cream counter. And they may never win anybody's Home Center of The Year award. But, they have found a niche in the marketplace. They are drawing customers. And they are selling product categories that five years a8o wcre found only in lumberyards.

What does this mean to you as a retailer? It means you've got to do things better than you've done them before. You've got to buy bctter, promotc bctter, display better and be "more avaihble" when and where the customer wants to shop. Most of all, you've got to continuously keep an eye on your compctition. All your competition. There may be some things we can all learn from these dabblers.