Speaking of the death of mom-and-pop hardware stores, today's NYT investigates one of our lingering interests, the new Home Depot store opening Friday on West 23rd. With a soaring three-story atrium, and enough plywood to make Florida jealous, the place sounds suitably over the top:
The floor-covering universe to the right of the entranceway will, as in some of the company's other stores, offer 2,000 kinds of carpets, hardwoods, laminates and ceramic tile, but the selection of area rugs costing from $200 to $8,000, many of them one of a kind, takes Home Depot into new retail terrain. The illumination department will offer track lighting and 1,000 different fixtures, 500 of them in stock. There is also an urban battalion of stackable washer-dryers, compact galleys and countertops.Notes a sage Home Depot executive, "Although we have more higher-end things, and more different things, it is still a Home Depot."
· Decks and the City [NYTimes]