EDITORIAL

Turn tin cans into gold

EOR DECADES the products of the mobile Fand manufactured home industry have suffered an image problem. They've been called tin cans and worse. Surveys showed that most people who couldn't afford a site-built home preferred to rent, rather than live in a mobile home.

But all that is slowly changing. The industry has worked with the federal government to improve quality and safety standards, inducing banks to provide more attractive financing plans for purchasers. Better mobile home parks now feature landscaping, community pools and tennis courts. The stereotlpe of the aluminum ghetto is beginning to fade. Relaxed zoning laws in some states now allow mobile homes to be placed on any lot in a community.

Some mobile home sellers have displayed the units outside super markets and department stores to show the public the progress in product and placement possibilities that has occurred.

We think lumber dealers and home centers should consider displaying model units at their stores. As the mobile home industry has grown so have the opportunities for the alert retailer to position himself as his area's supplier to those who live in mobile homes.

While the home improvement aspect of this market is obviously limited in scope, it is not without possibilities. Mobile home owners and renters often add skirts, patios, decks and steps to their units. Inside the home, a wide variety of housewares and decorative items are needed. For those intending later to buy a conventional home, take-along home improvement items such as bookshelves, cabinets and the like are naturals.

A well planned and vigorously pursued campaign to serve the mobile home market could well pay handsome dividends to the store that recognizes these opportunities and goes after them.

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