Fast-Growing Home Depot Will Open 2 More Stores

Home Depot, a fast-growing home improvement center chain, plans to open two more stores in San Diego County by early 1988, store officials said. The 90,000-square-foot stores, one of which will be on West Valley Parkway in Escondido, the other in the Sports Arena Boulevard area of San Diego, will increase the number of the chain’s stores in the county to seven.

Santa Ana-based developer Fredricks Development Co. has applied for a permit to build a Home Depot on an 11.3-acre site it owns at the southwest corner of West Valley Parkway and Auto Park Way, Escondido planning official Jon Brindle said. The site is just east of Escondido Auto Park.

Home Depot officials are also negotiating to buy or lease a site near the Target Store on Sports Arena Boulevard. The chain still has not settled on one site among the several available in the area, said Greg Dodge, the chain’s regional real estate director based in Fullerton.

“We’d like to be there as quickly as we can,” Dodge said.

Among the sites Home Depot is considering is a vacant parcel just south of the Target store on Midway Drive, San Diego regional manager Lyn Martineau said. The retailer is also considering taking over and expanding the former Handyman store on Sports Arena Boulevard, now called Norfox, brokerage sources said.

The new stores each will employ 120 to 150 workers. A typical Home Depot store generates annual sales of $18 million to $20 million, Martineau said.

There is no shortage of large home improvement centers on Sports Arena. Dixieline Lumber Home Center and Norfox each operate stores. Norfox owner Norman Fox bought the Sports Arena Handyman and three other locations after the Handyman chain was liquidated last year.

Dixieline Lumber President William Cowling said the prospect of increased competition from Home Depot does not bother him. Of more concern would be the increased traffic on Sports Arena Boulevard, already clogged on weekends with patrons of Target, Kobey’s Swap Meet, and other stores.

“This area can’t stand another high-traffic retailer. People can’t get out of the store on weekends as it is,” Cowling said.

In less than 14 months, Home Depot has opened five San Diego County stores: in Chula Vista, El Cajon, Oceanside and in the Clairemont Mesa and College areas of San Diego.

The chain, which recently opened its 61st store, reported revenue of $1 billion for the 1986 fiscal year, a 40% increase from the previous year. Of the 15 Home Depots slated for opening nationwide in 1987, nine will be in California, Home Depot chief financial officer Ron Brill said.

California is a preferred area for new Home Depots because of high income levels and population density, Brill said.