The Eye: HD2? ‘Big box’ hardware chain considers second Fort Collins store

Home Depot, the sequel.

Representatives of the home-improvement-category killer have recently visited the Fort Collins planning department to discuss building a second store in the city.

The Atlanta-based company, known as “Agent Orange” in the retail world, is apparently interested in joining Super Wal-Mart at the Mulberry and Lemay Crossings shopping center in northeast Fort Collins.

The master plan for the shopping center calls for a 100,000-square-foot co-anchor next to the 200,000-square-foot Wal-Mart. So, it’s no surprise that a national “big box” mass merchandiser would fill the space.

If Home Depot follows through with a second store in Fort Collins, that would mean four stores within the Fort Collins-Greeley-Loveland triangle. Home Depot also has stores in Loveland and Greeley.

What gives?

After all, sales in the building and construction retail category declined in 2001 in Fort Collins. Through September, the category is down 4.7 percent from the same point last year.

One can speculate that Home Depot wants to lock up the market before rival Lowe’s Home Improvement Centers can get started.

Lowe’s launched a 1.2 million-square-foot regional distribution center in Cheyenne a few weeks ago and seems primed to develop a wave of new stores along the Front Range.

But it would take a hardheaded hardware chain to pry into a market already saturated by one competitor.

On the other hand, there’s nothing like a retail battle royal to give consumers a regal break on prices.

If Lowe’s remains undeterred by Home Depot’s tactics, the next question is: Where does it go?

Best bet is somewhere along the Interstate 25 corridor.

Meanwhile, the potential marriage of Wal-Mart and Home Depot at one shopping center must look to main-street merchants like “Frankenstein meets Wolfman.”

Scary stuff.

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