Home Depot and Lowe's go head to head

WASILLA -- With the population of Wasilla increasing rapidly, it's no surprise that national chain stores are moving in to claim their share of the consumer market.

First there was Wal-Mart, then Fred Meyer, then Sears in the old Wal-Mart building; the box-store giants came in and laid their claim.

But now population growth has given rise to massive home-building projects and an explosion of residential construction across the Valley, and the home improvement box-store giants have taken notice.

This summer, construction began on a Lowe's Home Improvement Center along the Parks Highway next to Nye Frontier Ford, and about a mile down the road, just off the new Knik-Goose Bay exit ramp by the Parks, a Home Depot broke ground.

Both stores plan to open this winter -- Home Depot at the end of the year and Lowes in early 2005. Both stores will be full size, feature a garden center and offer home-improvement classes and other services.

Home Depot is the world's largest home-improvement retailer, with more than 1,500 stores across North America; Lowe's is the second largest.

Jennifer Smith, a spokesperson for Lowe's, said it is not uncommon for Lowes to go head to head with Home Depot in a community.

"Many of our stores are within a 10-mile radius of our largest competitor," Smith said.

Lowe's and Home Depot both have research divisions that evaluate hundreds of factors in a community before recommending plans for a new store. These factors include population growth, average income, property sales and birth rate, to name a few.

Lowe's, which now boasts 975 stores in 45 states, is currently in the middle of its largest corporate expansion project ever, with 130 new stores last year, 140 this year and 150 planned for 2005. Since Aug. 6, Lowe's has announced plans for 10 new stores, from Alabama to New Hampshire.

Home Depot, although not undergoing a major nationwide expansion project, nevertheless opened 200 new stores in 2003, and will have opened 175 new stores by the end of this year, with as many planned for next year.

Katheryn Gallagher, spokesperson for Home Depot, said the presence of a Lowe's nearby is not a factor in deciding to put up a new store.

"We have confidence that in a growing community such as Wasilla, there is enough business to go around," Gallagher said.

While Lowe's and Home Depot may have good reason to gear up for competition against one another, Spenard Builders Supply in Wasilla is not worried about being squashed by the box-store giants.

"It will be a complementary relationship," said Curt Lindner, branch manager of the Wasilla store. "[Lowe's and Home Depot] deal primarily with consumers in retail, whereas 80 percent of our business is pro-dealership sales with contractors. There will be some adjustments toward more pro-dealership sales, but the market is phenomenal right now, and we're just trying to keep up."

Spenard Builders Supply opened a store in Palmer this spring, and the Wasilla store just completed a 16,000 square-foot millworks production facility. A grand opening is scheduled for Aug. 25.