Do it for me

Do it for me
The Home Depot Design Center concept changes the retailer's DIY customer focus

By Erin M. Loewe, Contributor
March 01, 2008

Cameron Triggs, Charlotte, N.C.

For nearly 30 years, Atlanta-based The Home Depot Inc. has been a destination for homeowners, contractors and others with a gung ho, do-it-yourself mentality. But with its stacked, ceiling-high shelves and ample lumber supply, the standard big-box Home Depot lacks a certain appeal for those who are drawn to home design but who don't want to do the dirty work themselves.

Enter the hardware giant's newest concept store, The Home Depot Design Center. For the project, Home Depot teamed up with Charlotte, N.C.-based Little Diversified Architectural Consulting Inc. to build two locations: a 150,000-sq.-ft. store in Charlotte and a 95,000-sq.-ft.-store in Concord, Calif. Both stores opened in October 2007.

Daniel Montaño, studio principal of Little's retail area, says the store appeals to people who enjoy expressing themselves by decorating their homes but who are not necessarily "do-it-yourselfers." The Home Depot Design Center can inspire these customers and help them get a better vision for what they want to create.

"The name for this concept was a response to research indicating the customer's desire to maintain association with well-priced products and the reputation behind an established retailer, as well as the need to clearly differentiate the concept and project a new type of The Home Depot experience," Montaño says. "The new identity does just that, with a 'Design Center' moniker to distinguish the concept from traditional Home Depot stores."

The Design Center was featured in the "Creating the Next Generation Shopping Experience" presentation at the 2008 National Retail Federation conference in January. During the presentation, Jason Feldman, Home Depot's senior director of new concept development, said the Design Center seeks to appeal to areas with "up-market urban demographics" that include both empty nesters and young professionals. "The Home Depot Design Center offered an opportunity to leverage the Home Depot brand that would speak to a savvy and educated consumer by presenting an edited product assortment to appeal to this market," Feldman explained.

From the exterior signage to the check-out area, it doesn't take long to see that the Design Center is not your typical Home Depot. As customers enter the store, there is a vestibule that displays seasonal offerings or the latest home decorating trends, setting up an expectation of a high-end experience.

"There is a certain language of sophistication to the store, marked by the new wayfinding and graphics system—including iconography development for all departments—created to further clarify the customer journey," Montaño says. "A palette of dark orange, chocolate and brown adds class and refinement to the traditional Home Depot orange, but the prevalent color inside the store is a muted beige to allow the product to become the primary focus for customers."

Standard fluorescent lighting still provides much of the store's illumination, but more focused accent lighting draws attention to the separate store areas. The lighting level is noticeably higher than a regular Home Depot store, and it is reflected in the polished concrete floor.

With lower-profile fixtures, a showroom layout and the conspicuous absence of a lumber section, the Home Depot Design Center created a new niche from the traditional big-box namesake. Most notably, the store provides an interactive, hands-on experience for customers and seasoned professionals alike. "People like to touch and feel the things they bring into their homes, so the store is set up for that," Montaño says. "You can move the knobs on a faucet, see how tall you are compared to your top three cabinet choices and check to see if your bathroom organizer will fit on the vanity."

According to Home Depot spokesperson Sarah Molinari, functioning appliances are integrated into the kitchen displays to allow customers to try them out or to watch kitchen demonstrations. And in the doors and windows showroom, shoppers can walk through doorways to get a feel for how the door and framing would look on the front of their homes.

The lighting and fans showroom carries a multitude of styles and brands, but the layout is not overwhelming. Floor and table lamps are tucked into an attractive divided shelf fixture, harkening back to the entry vestibule.

Besides the showrooms, there is the Home Decorators Collection, a store-within-a-store that features furniture, rugs, mirrors, storage options and other design accents. Molinari says that when Home Depot acquired the collection in 2006, it was one of the country's largest direct marketers of merchandise for the home through its catalogs and online.

Although standard Home Depot stores offer a vast array of paint brands and colors, the Design Center ups the ante by offering customers 8-ounce paint samples as opposed to standard paint chips so they can really know how a color will fit into a room. Aside from supporting standard home decorating and renovation projects, Home Depot Design Center also has an extensive home organization area, offering the latest and most attractive storage products to keep clutter at bay.

The Design Center's outdoor living showroom features state-of-the-art grills and high-end patio furniture for entertaining outside of the home in style. The garden area is also located indoors, offering upscale arrangements that appeal to homeowners who may not necessarily be landscaping aficionados.

When all of the shopping is done, the bright and modern check-out area welcomes customers with large, orange lane numbers looming over decorative trellises that hang suspended from the ceiling.

Despite a positive reaction from customers in Charlotte and Concord, Molinari says that there are currently no plans for more Design Centers, but that certain successful aspects will be integrated into new and existing Home Depot stores. "Males and females alike are really wowed by what they find when they first enter the Design Center," Molinari says. "The entire look and feel of the store is very different from what our customers are used to, with the lower product displays, showroom layout and earth-toned color palette. Then the wow factor continues as customers make their way through the various showrooms and see the breadth of product selection available in this one location."