About 1,100 applicants showed up to claim 100 jobs at the new store, according to Joe Newman, executive director of the Bastrop Economic Development Corp. Most were well-qualified, a Home Depot manager told Newman. The manager said he was amazed at the quality of the Bastrop work force.

That's not the only Home Depot opening coming for the Austin area in the upcoming months. In September, Home Depot is to open a new store in Sunset Valley and convert its existing store there to a Expo Design Center store.

The Home Depot in Bastrop joins a Wal-Mart Supercenter and an H-E-B grocery store as an anchor retailer. San Antonio-based H-E-B has a 90,000-sf store in the works for the intersection.

Bastrop, about 27 miles east of Austin, is the county seat of Bastrop County. More development is on the way. San Antonio's NAI/Rohde, Ottmers and Siegel plan a 400,000-sf retail center that's part of a planned 148-acre, mixed-use project near the Home Depot center.