Home Depot spins off N.J. mini-store idea into California

Home Depot spins off N.J. mini-store idea into California    Atlanta-based The Home Depot Inc. plans to unveil a new small-store format in California, an approach that was test-marketed in New Jersey.
   The West Coast stores will measure about half the size of a typical Home Depot and try to capture the feeling of an “intimate” neighborhood hardware store setting, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
   The smaller stores, which will range from 35,000 square feet to 50,000 square feet, target small markets such as vacation areas that cannot support a full-size store. Home Depot previously tested the concept in New Jersey with Villager’s Hardware stores. The test stores carried small housewares along with home improvement supplies. The new California stores, however, will function more as scaled-down versions of the firm's more typical home improvement warehouse.
   No time frame or specific locations were given for the California stores.
   The firm is also rolling out a super-sized version of its stores, with a 225,000-square-feet outlet, in Union, N.J. It will be the largest store ever built by the firm.