Halpin Leaves After 2 Years as Head of HomeBase

Jim Halpin, the HomeBase Inc. president who guided the home-improvement chain through a name change and the dropping of its membership policy, is leaving to take on new duties at the parent company’s headquarters in Massachusetts.

Succeeding him will be William Patterson, 46, a career Sears, Roebuck & Co. executive who most recently was in charge of Sears’ home-improvement business.

Halpin’s new duties at parent Waban Inc. in Natick, Mass., were not specified. He will keep his corporate title of executive vice president. A company statement said he is leaving this week because he and his family wanted to live on the East Coast.

Halpin took over at Fullerton-based HomeBase two years ago. At the time, the chain had seen four presidents in five years and was being buffeted by intense competition from Home Depot.

Halpin brought a colorful style to the chain. At one meeting early in his tenure, he challenged his executives to swallow fiery jalapeno peppers to underscore his resolve.

He jettisoned the chain’s former name, HomeClub, and replaced it with HomeBase. The change was made to reflect his decision to drop the store’s longtime membership policy, under which shoppers paid $10 to $15 annually in return for a 5% break on prices. After the change, the store lowered all its prices by 5%.

Slow-moving products that didn’t fit in a home-improvement format were removed, and the company began advertising with glossy color newspaper inserts. Customer service was given a top priority.

Under Halpin, the chain expanded rapidly and now has 86 stores in the West and Midwest. For its latest fiscal year, HomeBase reported revenue of $1.4 billion.

Patterson had been a group vice president for Sears, where he worked 25 years. In 1987 and 1988, as chairman of Sears Mexico, he was responsible for 34 retail stores, four shopping centers and the largest credit-card operation in Mexico.