Home Depot and Lowes Go For the Small Time DIY Projects

According to this article from the New York Times, Home Depot and Lowes are adjusting their focus and getting in tune with the consumers reluctance to take on larger remodeling projects and instead focus on smaller diy projects around the home.

While the recession has caused consumers to pull the plug on exorbitant renovations, it has ignited a resurgence of small, do-it-yourself repair and maintenance projects. The trend has been so noticeable at Lowe's and Home Depot that those home-improvement chains are taking steps to adjust.

Lowe's has added more staff to popular do-it-yourself departments, like paint and hardware. Home Depot also beefed up its paint department, adding new products like an all-in-one paint and primer, and a Rust-Oleum paint variety that promises to cover more surface area for the money.

How will this effect the mom and pop hardware stores and smaller chains who always served homeowners much better in this area? Will Home Depot and Lowes be able to effectively pull off this shift in strategy as we imagine this will require more knowledgeable sales people which both of these stores are lacking.

Charles & Hudson | Comments () |

1916homenet

I hope that means these stores will not stop carrying big lumber supplies. I'm working on a substation house renovation right now (half the house) and just bought a bunch of beams for headers, bunch of 2x4, etc, etc. HD and Lowes has always had the basic DIY stuff too for fixing things. I dont get the point of the article other than saying people arent doing major renovations anymore becuase of the economy. I would think it would be the opposite. A construction friend quoted me $25k for what Im doing and my estimations of doing it myself are about $7k. Thats a huge difference and the reason why Im doing it all myself!

Charles & Hudson

Home Depots margin on lumber is where the big money is so they aren't going to stop with the lumber supplies, but its seems like they will focus more on helping consumers who have smaller diy projects. The inventory might not change but I bet they start merchandising and promoting their store content differently.