News From Our Region
Mixed feelings greet HomeDepot's investment plans for U. S. Virgin Islands
ST. THOMAS - It would be the biggest storein the history of the Virgin Islands, and local retailers areshaken by the prospect of the arrival of Big Orange, accordingto an article in the Virgin Islands Daily News.
Atlanta-based Home Depot last month filedfor a permit to build a 111,025-square-foot home im-provementcenter in Estate Donoe on a site adjacent to Market Square Eastshopping center off Weymouth Rhymer Highway.
Brent Blyden, territorial director of permitswith the V.I. Department of Planning and Natural Resources, saidHome Depot's application is under review.
It is the last regula- tory hurdle standingbetween Home Depot - known for its orange-smocked employees andbig open warehouse stores - and a green light from the V.I. government.
A Home Depot spokesman said the company- which sells lumber, kitchen and bathroom accessories, gardensupplies, tools, paint and various other do-it-yourself home improvementsupplies - hopes to close the deal within the next two months,but he declined to discuss details about the project until thedeal is done.
"If we are able to secure the approvals,if we are able to secure the property, we hope to close withinthe next 60 days," said Home Depot spokesman Don Harrison.
But even before the first shovel breaksbedrock to lay the foundation for the supercenter, Home Depotfaces a groundswell of opposition from a group of retailers whofear a store the size that Home Depot hopes to build - nearlythree times the size of PriceSmart - would annihilate locallyowned hardware and building supply stores.
Enrique Rodriguez, whose family owns theTrue Value hardware store in Time Center, said he welcomes competitionbut fears that Home Depot has the financial wherewithal to cutprices so low that it would bury locally owned businesses.
"The gut reaction of every individualhere is 'I want cheap prices.' The long-term ramification of thosecheap prices is what we want to understand," he said.
Rodriguez is part of the newly formed IndependentRetailers Group. The group has formed to open dialogue on whetherthe Virgin Islands should welcome big box retailers such as HomeDepot a nd Wal-Mart, which also is rumored to be considering anentry to the Virgin Islands.
They say that big box retailers will causemore gridlock and that their buildings will take away from theVirgin Islands' tropical aesthetic.
"We are not trying to stop business,but these guys don't compete in the same ballpark. I am not againstHome Depot coming if they came at a size something more in linewith what is here. The Time Center True Value is 4,500 squarefeet. The entire store would probably be as big as the toiletseat section of Home Depot," Rodriguez said.
When Kmart arrived in 1993, Virgin Islanderslooked forward to the stateside prices and ample selection ofclothing and appliances. On opening day, people lined up at thedoors, waiting to glimpse the selection.
But one Virgin Islander, Leslie Milliner,the "L" in the L&C Milliner department store onSeventh-day Adventist Street, recoiled because he knew his family-owneddepartment store simply could not compete.
"We used to have in the neighborhoodof 50 employees. Now we have seven," Milliner said.
Nine years after the Troy, Mich.-based Kmartchain opened its first store here, Milliner is considering sellinghis 46-year-old St. Thomas store that he had hoped would be inhis family for generations.
He said the government needs to considerhow competition from stateside companies could impact local businessesbefore giving them the go-ahead.
"If you are thinking about buildinga community, you can't do it around giant stores," Millinersaid.
Home Depot's Harrison told The Daily Newslast week that the company has found that fairly priced localbusinesses with good customer service will survive, even in HomeDepot's shadow.
On Tuesday, he said that Fortune Magazinenamed the firm "one of the most admired retailers in thenation."
"We know how to be a good neighbor,"he said.