[StBernard] Home Depot gives La. store a hurricane makeover

[Westley Annis]

Home Depot gives La. store a hurricane makeover

By Karen Jacobs
Reuters
Thursday, August 24, 2006; 6:06 PM

ATLANTA (Reuters) - A year after Hurricane Katrina, retailer Home Depot Inc.
<HD.N> is hoping to strengthen construction efforts in the U.S. Gulf by
reopening a store in one of Louisiana's hardest-hit areas.

The home improvement industry leader on Friday will unveil a rebuilt store
in Chalmette, Louisiana, seat of St. Bernard parish in the New Orleans
metropolitan area.

The Chalmette store, originally opened in 2001, was under standing water for
three weeks after Katrina hit. Home Depot has been selling goods out of the
garden center as the store was gutted and reconstructed.

"We think it's a symbol of a resurging Gulf Coast," said Paul Raines,
president of Home Depot's Southern division, which includes 750 stores in 18
states.

The store was redesigned with hurricanes in mind. It has fewer showrooms and
decor items than the typical Home Depot, and more bulk quantities of doors,
windows and other products that customers typically buy for rebuilding.

For example, the store has sections that can accommodate large supplies of
flooring, drywall or other big items, and features basic appliances and
groups of lights.

"We've come up with a pretty good blueprint for what's going to happen over
the next couple of years as people rebuild, and we designed a store to fit
those needs," Raines said.

SLOWLY BOUNCING BACK

A year after Katrina, some businesses are slowly reopening in hard-hit areas
of New Orleans, despite challenges in securing funding and stiff competition
for good workers.

Joseph DiFatta, vice chairman of the St. Bernard parish council, says most
of the businesses coming back to life in his area are mom and pop
operations. Home Depot is the only major chain that is reopening to date, he
said.

Small Business Administration "loans are very difficult for folks to get,"
DiFatta said. "Most people are grossly underinsured with flood insurance and
since the storm, the cost to rebuild has escalated 30 to 40 percent."

Retail stores that are up and running see merchandise sell out fast as
consumers buy everything from clothing to washing machines.

At Walgreen Co. <WAG.N>, "business is very strong for those Gulf stores that
have reopened," spokeswoman Tiffani Bruce said.

Of 74 stores at the drugstore chain that were closed in the wake of Katrina,
five are still on track to reopen, while seven are expected to be closed
indefinitely, Bruce added.

Home Depot is spending more than $81 million to build or reopen stores and
make other investments in Gulf Coast rebuilding. Next week, store workers
will build 10 playgrounds in Mississippi and Louisiana.

"Parks have become the gathering spaces for people and playgrounds literally
have been one of the first things to rebuild," said Kevin Martinez, Home
Depot director of community affairs.

The 2005 storms damaged close to 80 of Home Depot's 173 stores in
hurricane-prone areas. Including Chalmette, Home Depot has rebuilt two New
Orleans-area stores and plans to build two new ones, including one that will
open near the Superdome next year.

"We think that those communities are really coming back with a vengeance
this fall," Raines said.