BRENTWOOD, Tenn. -- Two months since home improvement giant Home Depot opened its first convenience store the upscale community of Brentwood, Tenn., reaction among c-store brethren is mixed, CSP Daily News has learned.
The response echoes a Kraft/CSP Daily News Poll launched in February to gauge industry reaction. At the time, 45% viewed Home Depot as a credible threat because of its density and retail best practices. The remaining response was uncertain or doubtful.
They're trying to capture a different market sector with the 20[image-nocss] -ounce soft drink, 2-liter Coke or cigarettes, Michael Corum, human resources director at c-store chain Weigel's Inc. in neighboring Powell, told CSP Daily News. But you have to think that a person who would have spent $35 on a hammer or tools will instead spend that $35 on cigarettes. It's interesting stuff to think about.
Viewing the c-store foray as a migration from Home Depot's core philosophies, Corum added, When you have a core brand and a core image, you can hit a nerve with consumers. When you deviate from that, it waters down the brand.
Fellow Tennessee c-store operator Ron Motley, who helps run the 63-store Daily's chain, considers Home Depot a potentially viable player.
They've got a great-looking facility and they're serious about it, but it's no different than Kroger, Wal-Mart or anybody else, he said. It's a neat dynamic because you're essentially bringing a hardware store into the fuel marketplace. You have to treat them knowing they're in business to stay.
For its part, Home Depot is relishing excitement about its new channel of trade. With plans to pilot four stores in the Greater Nashville market, the retail behemoth envisions a landscape populated with big orange Home Depot Fuel sites.
We're assessing the results from Nashville, Home Depot spokesman Jerry Shields said. If successful, which we think it will be, we think we'll have 300 stores in the system, with average estimated annual revenues of $5 million to $7 million per site. So the annual opportunity is over $1.5 billion.[Learn more about Home Depot's c-store venture in the upcoming issue of CSP Magazine]
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