Setting up a home center

By Howard Mathis Sales manager Master Merchant Store Planning Services National Retail Hardware Association

you will stock, detailing the breadth and depth of each department and line. At the same time, You should consider what stock control program will best suit your operation.

Only after deparffnents are esta' blished should you determine build' ing size and sales floor plan. As You look at your proposed sales floor, think about size of wall fixtures, gondola heights, widths, lengths and layout for best traffic flow from front door to back of the store, Plus the important cross-traffic fl ow.

If you decide to carry lumber and building materials on the sales floor, vou must also decide on the most ef' hcient means of getting this bulkY merchandise onto the sales floor and how customers will get it off the sales floor and to their cars. Will customers go through regular checkouts with large purchases as building materials or through a special bulk-item exit?

A carefully detailed floor plan tells you what is to be displayed on each gondola or wall unit.

Non-selling areas should also be given due consideration. How many offices do you need and what size? Where should they be located? How many trucks will be using your loading dock at one time? How much receiving and check-in area do you need? How much backroom stock area do you want? Have you planned sufficient (but not unnecessary) security for both employees and customers?

The importance of ample planning time cannot be overemphasized. You must carefully consider every facet of the planned operation.

Take lighting, for an example, You'll want to compare the merits of fluorescent, mercury and metal halide. You need to determine the number of foot candles of light You will need, enough to make shoPPing easy for customers and working comfortable for employees, but no more than you really need. In most cases. a l0O-foot-candle maintained level will do an efficient job. kts move on to plumbing, heating and air conditioning. In this area, you will want to consider the number of restrooms for employees and customers, drinking fountains, outside outlets for watering outside garden areas and hosing down sidewalks, and your overhead sPrinkler svstem. -

In this area, as in most others of store design, choose your lighting engineer carefully. A local lighting engineer who has worked with ware' houses, for example, knows what it ta'kes to light a warehouse properly, but may not be familiar with the needs of a retail sales floor; you need a person with proper expertise.

In an effort to save both energY and costs, total store circuitry can be designed to cut lighting in half during slow sales periods.

The source of energy for heating/ air conditioning depends on Your location. In many areas natural gas is no longer available to new outlets or is allocated to existing ones.

Whatever method you decide on, your local utility company can pro' vide expert help.

Whether modemizing or building new, decor is an important consideration. Your customers are used to shopping in modern supermarkets, clothing specialty stores and other retail outlets that use decor (from high style to low budget) to create a distinctive store image.

Decor is no longer a luxury. it is demanded by consumers.

The first question you want to answer about decor is: How much can I spend? And set a budget for the design, materials: and installation.

Then decide on a theme - conremporary, modern, traditional or geographical (such as Early American, Spanistr, etc.).

Many store planners offer decor designing, but this if a field that requires specialization; find someone who understands your personality, the store's personality and the atmosphere you want to creatc for shoppers.

A professional designer will provide preliminary artwor.k, .construction bluelines and materials (such as illustrations, letters, waltr- coverings and other gaphic elements) to complete the decor.

Nobody goes into a new or expanded building without competi- tive bids, but lowest is not alwavs best. As you evaluatg the bids, take into consideration the builder's abilitv to fulfill your special retailing needi.

As the plans are developed, insist that the builder meet with and accept recommendations of your store engineer: remember, hens building a retail store not a warehouse.

A good store plannet can sove you money by using his knowledge of building requirements and what you need to get into the consumer business to guide the contractor.

When a large chain, such as Sears, builds a new unit, company people with retailing knowledge are always on hand to assure that the buildine and its interior layout will appeal t5 the consumers.

Merchandising is one of the most important ingredients in a successful new store. Merchandising - the style and positioning of displays and merchandise - not onlv makes it easier for the consumer io make the purchase he or stre came for, but- encourages impulse buying as well.

Store planning experts at the National Retail Hardware Association and state regional asso-ciations feel strongly that irerchandising makes the store. The Master Merchant Store Planning Department has developed a "modular merchandising" sysiem based, on the concept of grouping related merchandise - within- a 'de] partment the way a consumer would use iI. (see photo)

For example, in the plumbing department, toilet, faucet and undei sink repairs merchandised on the same gondola. By so doing, the customer finds on one trip everything he or she needs for a do-it-yourseli plumbing project.

Merchandising in today's market is a science, no longer a matter of simply filling shelves with goods.

Basic departments carried by most home improvement centers are hand and power tools, electrical supplies, plumbing and heating supplies, hardware, paint and decorating products, lawn and garden, bath vanities and kitchen cabinets and lumber/building materials. Some have expanded into housewares and cleaning supplies as well.

Because these home improvement centers display so many thousands of items on sales floors, feature ends are a merchandising must. These gondola endcaps, which should finish off each gondola run, should feature new items, seasonal goods, closeouts and promotional items.

Many retailers report that they can sell four times as much from a properly-displayed gondola end than from a display of the same merchandise on a gondola run.

One of the biggest reasons for the boom in home improvement centers is their ability to function as onestop stropping centers for do-it-your- self homeowners. The addition of lumber/building materials contributes substantially to this popu(Please turn to page44 1