HomeBase Retools With New Concept

HomeBase Inc., Irvine, Ca., feeling the heat from the westward expansion of Home Depot and Lowe's Cos., will launch a new merchandising concept next year, as well as scale back its own expansion plans.

The 88-unit chain has hired an outside consultant to help develop the asyet-unnamed merchandising concept. The initial test sites will debut in the second half of next year at a cost between $3 million to $5 million.

HomeBase would not elaborate on specifics of the new retail chain, only revealing that it would be unique within the broad home furnishing sector.

To help fund the project, the firm has replaced its $105 million credit facility with a new $250 million line of credit from BankBoston Retail Financial Corp. In addition, directors have authorized an approximate $20 million stock and note buyback.

The cost of the new concept will curtail the company's growth plan, tiom an expected five to six stores next year to one to three.

Home Depot and Lowe's, on the other hand, plan to open over 150 new stores in the Western U.S. during the next few years, mostly in California, HomeBase's largest market.

Amid all the store opening-related news, the company was sued for $ I 10,000 in back rent by former landlord Orangefair Co. LLC, Beverly Hills, Ca., stemming from its July closing ofa l5-year-old store in Fullerton, Ca.

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Depot Testing Quiet Design Format

Home Depot is testing a new format that provides customers with quiet areas to ponder home decor decisions, even amid the chain's customary bustling environment.

The new fbrmat is being tested in four recently opened stores: Whittier, Ca., Tampa, Fl., Alpharetta, Ga., and Toronto, Canada, according to spokesperson Don Harrison. He said the test illustrates the growing emphasis the firm is placing on decorative merchandise, and that while the layout is difTerent, the merchandise is basically the same as in the chain's other stores. "All the same, employees will continue to wear orange aprons and the floors will remain concrete," he added.

The new stores allow customers to enter from a front corner of the building, which is square, rather than rectangular. Included in the layout changes are a more spacious entrance area and a 2O-ft.-wide aisle leading liom the entrance to the tool section in the store's f'ar corner.

"You're not confronted immediately with two-story aisles and products stacked up to the ceiling," Harrison said. "You don't want to be dodging forklifts and people pushing big carts. The stores have more openness, perhaps a little elegance."

While he said the diff'erent layout is only a test, Harrison dismissed the notion that the chain is imitating rival Lowe's Cos., which claims their stores are brighter and cleaner. He maintained that the test, along with the firm's upscale Expo Design Centers and smaller Villagers Hardware sites, are examples of Depot's dedication to experimenting even while enjoying booming sales and profits.

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