Indie Copes With Warehouse Competitor

One key for independents to survive the arrival of a warehouse competitor is to identify areas where they hold the advantage.

When the operators of Pat & Mike's Builders Service, Medford, Or., heard an Eagle Hardware & Garden superstore was moving in down the street, they realized they would have to "readjust and refocus the business" to stay competitive.

The True Value store immediately lowered prices, tightened budgets, and began emphasizing the service that had been Pat & Mike's hallmark.

"We've always leaned toward service, so we just built from that," notes vice president Therese Paradis, whose father, Mike Fazio, opened the store 39 years ago. Services include free delivery, rekeying, screening, cutting and threading pipe, cutting wood to size, and providing how-to advice.

Another decision was to avoid direct competition. "We knew we couldn't go head-to-head with them," Paradis explains, pointing to Eagle's much larger advertising and promotional budget. "We watched Ernst try to battle it out by advertising the same products as Eagle at the same time. We never did that. We knew better."

' So, Pat & Mike's took the opposite approach, directing their limited advertising dollars at promoting products Eagle wasn't.

As expected, the warehouse competition initially took a sizable toll on Pat & Mike's. Sales began falling l0Vo to l1%o. T\e staff had to be trimmed.

A few months have passed, and the business, now with 26 employees, again seems stable. And, Paradis promises, "we're here to stay."

Dickenson Lumber Solos lt

Don Dickenson is winding down the retail business at Dickenson Lumber & Hardware Co., La Habra, Ca., and trying to continue the door and window operation and larger commercial sales by himself.

After April l, Dickenson Lumber will produce doors and windows and sell building materials by the unit and pallet at least through the end of the year.

He will also add another buildins on the five-acre property for his comrgated box company, Concept Packaging, which over the last three years has expanded to 21,000 of the industrial park's 88,000 sq. ft.

Dickenson, who with his brother in the 1960s took over the company his father founded in 1950, said his and his brother's children aren't interested in the lumber business. He loves it, but admits "with three Home Depots, a HomeBase and a Contractors Warehouse within a five-mile radius, it's no fun." Percustomer spending is down because, although consumers still come to him for advice on repairs or small projects, they visit his warehouse competitors for big ticket items.

Four years ago, Dickenson sold Saddleback Lumber, Lake Forest, Ca., to Barr Lumber.

RL's Big Book Directory

Packing listings of 8,541 forest products companies and 32,930 personnel into over 1,000 pages, the 1997 Random Lengths Big Book is now available.

The new l lth edition. with 8570 of its entries updated, is $185 plus shipping from Random Lengths.

Train Signals Store Opening

An eight-car, 100-ft. long "train" HPM Building Supply built itself was the main feature at the grand opening of its new Do-it Best store in Hilo, Hi.

The retailer assembled the Do-it Best Express as a parade float for the local Christmas parade two days later. HPM built 8-ft. high facades for the sides for the train's "passenger cars," which would carry waving employees, friends and children during the parade and kids at the grand opening. Each car's design centered around a cartoon animal and an HPM department, like a bear high-jumping over a stack of lumber or a dog skiing down a truss.

The company also sold advertising space on the cars to local vendors, raising $2,000 for the Hawaii Island United Way. After the parade, HPM hung some of the facades on its store roof and decorated them with Chrisr mas lights.

"We didn't want the float to be an HPM billboard going down the street, so we turned it into an opportunity to help United Wuy," said branch manager Rian Lau. "But we built a tremendous amount of name recognition for our new Do-it Best store."

"We need not sacrifice the integrity of God's creation at the altar of commercial timber production."

- Bruce Babbitt, Interior Secretary, responding to Republican plans to reduce National Forestfire Iuzards with selective logging

Eagle Prototype In ldaho?

Eagle Hardware & Garden is "very interested" in building its new prototype store in the Coeur d'Alene, Id., area.

The chain, which recently opened its 28th store in the Seattle, Wa., area, is considering several sites in Lake City that it might lease and construct a 95,000-sq. ft. building with attached 65,000-sq. ft. covered lumber yard.

Analysts speculate Eagle wants to expand into Coeur d'Alene by the end of the year to protect its North Idaho market share from HomeBase, which expects to build this year in nearby Spokane, Wa.

West Show Adds Seminars

Two days of free seminars will be presented in conjunction with the Hardware, Housewares & Home Improvement Trade Show March 26-2j at the Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim, Ca.

Stevan Fisher, Tile & Decorative Surfaces, will address "The Internet in Plain English;" Richard Lindsay, Midwest Fastener Corp., "The Business of Fasteners;" consultant Ken Gassman, "The Future of Retailing;" Nick Polus, Floor Covering Consumer Credit Association, "21st Century Challenge: Is Your Business Ready?;" Donn Ingemie, Homeowners Marketing Services, "Marketing Tips for Today's Retailers;" editor Don Longo, "10 Forces Reshaping the Retail Home Improvement Market;" Chet Chaffee, Ph.D., Scientific Certification Systems, "Making EcoLabeling Work For You," and Steve Breszczat, Triad Systems Corp., "Understanding Consumer Purchases at Retail."