Lowes knows home décor
By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, February 10, 2002
Wilkesboro, N.C. — Lowe's made a deep commitment to the furniture category in the past 18 months and, according to a couple of its suppliers, has generated some substantial results.
Although Lowe's started as a hardware store in western North Carolina and has established itself as one of two do-it-yourself warehouse chains with a national presence, the company focuses on home décor nearly as much as on lumber and nails.
While The Home Depot is targeting contractors and home improvers, Lowe's puts more effort into home fashions and decorating, and furniture — higher-end ready-to-assemble furniture and unfinished and finished solid wood — is part of that.
As part of that effort, the company devotes about 1,000 square feet of its larger warehouses — about 150,000 square feet — to furniture. This includes two aisles of furniture on shelves, with boxes underneath, and a large open area of floor space. Also, the company offers an array of flat-pack bookcases in its shelving aisle.
O'Sullivan Furniture and Whittier Wood Products appear to be the leading suppliers here, although American Moulding & Millwork, Ameriwood, Bush Furniture, Concepts in Wood, Office Star, Pulaski, Sauder Woodworking and True Seating Concepts are also represented. The company passively encourages special orders with a kiosk featuring the laminated catalog pages of its vendors organized by product category — entertainment, office, kitchen, bedroom and living room.
Other than four office chairs, no upholstery is on display or is featured in the kiosks.
On the shelving aisle, the 18 bookcases from O'Sullivan represent a fairly comprehensive selection, with prices up to $118 for a tall model with doors. In the furniture department, Lowe's shows golden oak and dark Mission oak bookcases.
Although the company has a couple of small computer carts, a TV stand and some other small items from Ameriwood and others for less than $128, most of the product from the RTA majors hits step-up or premium price points.
For instance, in several stores, four O'Sullivan corner workstations are displayed together, with three at $188 and $199 and the fourth, an Intelligent Designs model, at $399. The company has several large computer armoires, including one from Sauder at $398.
Solid wood is an important aspect of this presentation, starting with some of O'Sullivan's imported European case goods, such as a computer armoire at $347 and an entertainment cabinet at $398.
The prices for Whittier's unfinished pieces, which are larger and constructed with thicker boards, are comparable. All told, Lowe's typically shows about four dozen SKUs of unfinished furniture from American Moulding and Whittier. A hanging display of stains and application equipment is nearby.
Concepts In Wood's golden oak and dark mission collections represent the high end of Lowe's furniture program. A comprehensive office configuration can be put together from these pieces for $800 to $1,200. Lowe's promotes its furniture with at least a page and sometimes more in its circulars, allowing the company to show examples of the breadth of its selection.
The competition between Lowe's and The Home Depot is keen, and the best evidence of Lowe's success in the furniture category might be found at some of the Depot stores. The competitor has been experimenting with furniture supplied by Bush, O'Sullivan and Sauder.
| O'Sullivan Furniture runs the four-corner offense for Lowe's with these workstations. The chairs are supplied by Simmons@Work and True Seating Concepts. |
| Lowe's spans hardware to home fashion in its 640 stores. |
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