MONTROSE - It's been a little over a year since area residents mobbed the new Home Depot store opening like ants on a pile of sugar, and from that time South Townsend Avenue has seen an influx of other corporate businesses.
Home Depot's 95,000-square foot store opened March 27 at the corner of Ogden Road and Townsend Avenue. Since then Chili's Grill and Bar has opened on Home Depot's parking lot, while Quizno's Classic Subs and Papa Murphy's Take 'N' Bake Pizzas opened in the same building on south Townsend. Next up will be a Starbucks coffee shop and Blockbuster video store on South Townsend near Denny's.
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"We do a detailed study before we open, and then other retailers follow us in," said Travis Ackley, Home Depot's store manager. "I see that happening quite a bit. With new neighbors like Papa Murphy's and Quizno's we're finding that we're becoming more of a destination shop. People will come in here and get a roll of tape instead of going across the street."
Chili's leases its space from Home Depot, and Ackley said the company has decided to put two other lots, which it was holding back in case it needed them for parking, onto the market.
Denver-based Drake Real Estate will lease the building on South Townsend to Starbucks and Blockbuster, and John Hauser, one of the owners of Drake Real Estate, said he didn't specifically plan on following Home Depot into Montrose, but the two stores in his building would benefit from being close by.
Steve Hill, the owner of Quizno's, had no qualms about following in Home Depot's footsteps.
"It definitely had a bearing on where I located," Hill said. "Being in the triangle of Home Depot, Wal-Mart and City Market is ideal for me. I wouldn't have paid what I did for my land out there without those big anchors near me. Not to slight downtown, but the new business district is heading south."
Ackley said the Montrose store exceeded corporate expectations for sales last year, and is on track to do the same this year.
"Our biggest months of the year, which are May and June, are coming up," he said. "That's when people start remodeling or landscaping, or come in to get plants."
Ackley said there have been no major changes since the store opened. The store's kids' clinics on weekends-where kids come in for projects like making birdfeeders-remain popular and the store will start offering "Do it herself" remodeling clinics for women.
Area businesses have a reason to be concerned when a corporate giant like Home Depot or Wal-Mart come to town. Chris Adams, who owns the Park Avenue True Value Hardware Store with husband Wayne, said Home Depot's opening last year coincided with the slumping national economy finally catching up to the Montrose area.
"Last year wasn't a fabulous year economically for Montrose," Adams said. "When you combine that with the war in Iraq and Home Depot opening it wasn't a great year for anyone in town, no matter what they were selling. I've talked to a lot of businesses around town and they're feeling way more optimistic this year.
"The good news is that other than a paneling store, which was probably close to closing anyway, all of the stores that compete with Home Depot have survived. There were no disastrous closings because of Home Depot last year. Customers have learned what Home Depot is good at and what it's not good at, and that's provided the rest of us with a fair portion of the pie. Downtown has also stayed vital, which is important once the big boxes come to town."
When Home Depot opened last year, Pam Lay, the owner of Carpet Country, said the biggest challenge would be "overcoming people's perception that chain stores are cheaper, which isn't necessarily true."
"I think that's still somewhat of an issue, getting over the big box is cheaper mentality," Lay said. "As a whole, I can't say they (Home Depot) have hurt my business any. If anything, they've helped it some. I think people who shop around realize that a local dealer can give them much better service and has more expertise."
Lay said Home Depot has made the pieces of the retail pie smaller for local businesses, but on the other hand it may have made Montrose more of a destination stop for shoppers from outlying areas.
"I think it brings more people into town to shop, and once they're here they look around," Lay said. "I get people in my store all of the time who say they've just been to Home Depot. We have smarter consumers who do shop around. The No. 1 thing we offer-over price and everything else, although our prices are competitive or even better-is the service we give."
The city of Montrose doesn't provide sales tax revenues from individual businesses. Leona James, the city's finance director, said when April's sales tax revenues are finished in about a week it will give a rough idea of Home Depot's contributions to the city's coffers.
Contact Mike Robuck via e-mail
at miker@montrosepress.com.
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