HOME DEPOT GETS OWN REDO NEW FALLBROOK STORE SHOWS PRODUCTS IN STYLISH SETTINGS.

Byline: Brent Hopkins Staff Writer

WEST HILLS - After playing a role in many a makeover, Home Depot has updated its own look.

Today the construction-supplies retailer will open a new-concept store in the Fallbrook Center, highlighting design and home decor, specifically tailored to the West Hills market. With 10,000 of its 115,000 square feet devoted to pricey toilets, ranges and refrigerators, the brightly lighted store targets an affluent female consumer, one who's less interested in doing her own home improvement. With two traditional stores in neighboring communities, store planners think the market needs a third to appeal to well-off patrons with aging homes.

``People aren't just coming in to buy a 25-cent bolt,'' said Kenny Ahn, the store's human resources manager. ``Some of them are going to spend $30,000, so we want them to be as comfortable of possible.''

Unlike older ones, the new store boasts more lighting, a wider main aisle and 12-foot shelves, rather than the traditional 18-foot racks. While most shops have 3,000 to 4,000 square feet of floor space in the back aisles, the new store features stylish offerings set up right in front of the entrance. To lure customers into laying down their credit cards, the design floor shows $2,265 Thomasville cabinets and $1,699 General Electric Arctica fridges set up in open space, rather than in sterile aisles.

``The people who are going to spend a whole lot of money don't want to go through all the plumbing, sniffing sawdust all the way,'' Ahn said. ``They want it all upfront.''

Home Depot has experimented with the all-interior Expo Design Center concept, operating locally in Westwood, but never blended its two store plans in this fashion. Its two closest traditional stores in Canoga Park and Woodland Hills will continue to serve contractors and enthusiast builders.

The shift aims to capture shoppers who have been leaving Home Depot for its upstart competitor Lowe's, which has opened several stores in the region in the past two years. Analysts praise Lowe's for capturing upscale shoppers, luring them in with less-cluttered stores and more expensive appliances.

``Twenty years ago, the baby boom generation didn't have much money, and the do-it-yourself business was a big deal,'' said Barbara Allen, a senior analyst with New York-based brokerage Natexis Bleichroeder. ``Now, baby boomers are 40 to 58, and we're earning good money, owning several houses. At the very least, we don't want to do it ourselves anymore. We only did it because we didn't have the money to pay someone else before.''

Allen, who follows both companies and owns shares of Lowe's, said Home Depot has been slow to react to the shift. She said the chain has taken steps toward winning women shoppers, but its past efforts have not yet paid off.

``They haven't done very well with it,'' she said. ``It may be the heritage of Home Depot as being kind of a guy's place. Their bread and butter for many years has been the motivated do-it-yourselfer.''

The opening marks a significant milestone for the Fallbrook Center, as well. After razing its enclosed, traditional mall in 2002, owner General Growth Properties has reinvented the aging site as a discount-oriented, open-air center. A new Kohl's was installed in the vacant former J.C. Penney outlet, and there are new Petco, Linens 'n Things and Michaels stores. Though crews still have to finish working on Trader Joe's, tentatively slated for a Nov. 21 opening, and remodeling the old Kmart into a Wal-Mart, which should open in early 2004, major construction is now complete.

Though construction has been marked with delays - Home Depot was originally supposed to open mid-July - GGP executives remain upbeat.

``Anytime you demolish a mall and build it into something new, there's challenges, but it's gone fairly well,'' said Joey Char, the mall's assistant general manager. ``It's good to see it open, and nearly complete. With the opening of Home Depot, it's come full circle.''

Brent Hopkins, [phone]

brent.hopkins(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, map

Photo:

(1 -- color) Displays in the new Home Depot at Fallbrook Center are aimed at affluent shoppers likely to hire installation workers.

(2 -- color) Trainer Donna Ried Moriarty finishes paperwork in a display at the new Home Depot opening today at Fallbrook Center.

John Lazar/Staff Photographer

Map:

Home Depot

FALLBROOK CENTER

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