The answer is in: it
’s a full-service Home Depot that will be coming to Morgan Hill,
not a garden or design store. Construction remodeling is scheduled
to begin after the first of the year.
The answer is in: it’s a full-service Home Depot that will be coming to Morgan Hill, not a garden or design store. Construction remodeling is scheduled to begin after the first of the year.
For several weeks the question was whether the store would be the regular variety or one of the company’s more specific types, notably one devoted to home design.
“It will be a regular Home Depot,” said Kathryn Gallagher, public relations officer for the company. “It will have all the newest merchandise and serving sets.”
Serving sets, Gallagher explained, include tool rentals, a “state of the art” appliance showroom, a Design Place – where certified designers help a homeowner “conceptualize any room” – and At Home – where the store provides workers to install anything from counter tops to driveways.
“Not all stores have all of these serving sets,” she said.
Gallagher said it normally takes about seven months to get a store up and running and estimates the opening would happen in fall 2004.
The Home Depot in Gilroy, just 12 miles away, includes most but not all of these services.
“We do not have tool rentals,” said Trino Fuentes, the Gilroy store manager. He said that his store does have At Home Services, the appliance showroom and a Design Place where professionals help design kitchens and bathrooms.
A typical Home Depot employs about 150 people. Gallagher said the company tries to hire local people, possibly good news for the 90 full time workers who lost their jobs when Kmart vacated the future Home Depot store earlier in the year.
Kmart closed its store in the Lawrence Oaks Center, near Safeway and Longs Drug Store, on East Dunne Avenue near Hwy. 101, in a successful effort to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Gallagher said she would provide information on job applications when the time is more appropriate. About six weeks before the store opens, prospective employees can apply at a trailer that will appear in front of the store.
“We’ll be looking for all levels of experience,” Gallagher said, “from new to tradespeople: carpenters, plumbers, designers, gardeners. This is where we get our experienced associates.”
Gallagher also said anyone can apply for a Home Depot job at the job kiosks located in the front of every store.
“The application is good for one year and for any store,” she said.
Company representatives, including company architect Francis Chu, went before the Architectural Review Board in early August requesting permission to remodel the building to suit their purposes.
“The plans are to expand the building from 115,817 to 122,617 square-feet, primarily to increase the garden center,” said Jim Rowe, city planning manager. “A new entrance will be added east of the present Kmart entrance and the old entrance will be dedicated to commercial contractors,” he said. Also planned is a 17-foot awning to protect the entrance.
“The plans were approved for remodel,” said Rowe. “The few alterations the board asked for concerned landscaping and keeping the walkway clear for pedestrians.” He also said Home Depot would be required to replace the existing landscape that went untended and unwatered after Kmart left.
While local businesses are keeping a wary eye on the new store, over at City Hall it is a different story. City Council members and Jack Dilles, the finance director, all said they look forward to a lush infusion of sales taxes that will now stay in town to be used for police and fire protection, recreational services and to run the city government.
