Home Depot reopens New Orleans-area store

Redesigned location specializes in rebuilding material.

ATLANTA -- A year after Hurricane Katrina, retailer Home Depot Inc. 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 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 (Charts) 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. , "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.