Shopping Centers Today is the news magazine of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)
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RET AILING TODA Y DIY trend favors Lumber Liquidators By Dees Stribling THE MORTGAGE CRISIS HAS hardly been kind to home-improvement retailers, so how has Lumber Liquidators managed to grow so steadily in less than five years? At the end of last year, the chain had nearly 270 stores throughout the U.S. and Canada, more than double from the 116 it was operating in 2007. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that at a major DIY warehouse store, the customer may have to tread huge, long aisles to locate a given item, and finding a salesperson may be harder still. At a Lumber Liquidator store, by con- trast, the product displays start right at the entrance — and that is also where the shopper will find a sales associate. "Lumber Liquidators has done re- markably well in the last few years, all things considered, because the last few years have been an extremely difficult time for the residential flooring business, especially at the lower price points," said D. Christopher Davis, CEO of the World Floor Covering Association. The recession has not squelched demand for flooring entirely, however, and Lumber Liquidators' large selection has helped the chain tap into whatever demand is still there, even as some independents shrank or went out of business. Though the company's comparable-store sales last year dropped 2 percent from 2010, comps for the fourth quarter managed a nearly equal gain, 1.9 percent, from fourth-quarter 2010. Toano, Va.–based Lumber Liquida- tors, which operates only about a tenth as many stores as Home Depot, knows it cannot compete toe-to-toe with the giants on product range and assortment, so it does not try to. Its stores concentrate on selling one thing only: flooring, largely hardwoods. And sourcing the product as inexpensively as possible enables the chain to compete on price, at least. Fur- thermore, Lumber Liquidators can com- pete against smaller chains and indepen- dents because it opens many of its stores in relatively inexpensive locations. In short, Lumber Liquidators has established itself somewhere between the DIY giants and the independents. Tom Sullivan, chairman of the pub- licly traded company, started Lumber Liquidators in 1994 to sell surplus building materials. A few years later, he BEST PART OF THE PRESENTATION? THE RETURN ON INVESTMENT PART THAT'S WHAT IPSO makes it easy to invest in the $5 billion-a-year coin laundry industry. No wonder investors enjoy an incredible ROI. In addition to being a recession-proof business for owners, developers also benefi t with long-term leases. If you have space in a high traffi c area, IPSO has the investment opportunity for you. Plus we offer expert site analysis, turn-key options, and specialists to help with permitting, municipal codes and contracting. Contact us today. 1.800.USA.IPSO | IPSO.sales@allianceLS.com | www.IPSO.com/shoppingcenter 58 SCT / MAY 2012 Come see us at RECon Booth #S469Q