Every one of the new stores is in a high-traffic location in or near a major shopping mall. All moved into existing retail space. The first dekor, a two-story outlet that took the space of a former Upton's flagship location, opened in Buckhead, seven miles from the closest Expo store and about the same distance from the nearest Home Depot store.
The other three sites are in Gwinnett County across from the Mall of Georgia in the northeast metro area; at Arbor Place Mall in Douglasville west of Downtown; and in Fayetteville Pavilion on the southside. The two Home Depot alums are also building a 93,000-sf store in Nashville, their first ground-up development. Dekor intends to open three stores in the Nashville area.
The Atlanta stores average 80,000 sf. While cost-competitive with the Expo stores, dekor does not follow the Home Depot/Expo do-it-yourself tack. The dekor stores target baby-boomers and, specifically women, according to a CB Richard Ellis Inc. retail report.
The concept is a shift from the Home Depot do-it-yourself store to a do-it-for-you approach. For redecorating, remodeling or renovation projects, customers pick and choose product, perhaps with the help of dekor's Designer Guild, and the work is done by dekor's Gold Circle Craftsmen.
Dekor has launched its stores with a blizzard of advertising, particularly in metro newspapers, a favorite medium of Expo and Home Depot, and on billboards.
Inglis and Biggers, with Steve Lebow, CEO of Global Retail Partners, founded dekor in 1998. Inglis had been a key figure in Home Depot's Expo Design Center operations before he left in 1996. Two other Home Depot employees joined dekor. The Atlanta-based home-fix-it retailer sued its former employees, citing stolen trade secrets. The suit was settled relatively quickly and all parties are mute on the matter.
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