Depot Opens Yardbirds HYbrids

Home Depot has redesigned five former Yardbirds stores to keeP a friendly neighborhood feel while offering more upscale merchandise and services.

The new hybrid stores in Concord and Petaluma opened April 19. Stores in Alamo and San Rafael are scheduled to open May 3, while the San Rafael store is slated for May 24.

"This is a hybrid of what a Home Depot does well and what an ExPo does well," said Jason Feldman, Depot's senior director of merchandising. "We want to sell you the project, something we haven't been able to do as well in Home Depot. This provides another environment that is more intimate, more comfortable."

Only the San Pablo store, which is aimed primarily at contractors, will stock lumber. The others will let customers see higher-end appliances and fixtures, create plans for a new bathroom or kitchen, and take the merchandise home the same day.

"We used to get a lot of requests for appliances and lawn mowers," said Michele Pryor, who worked at the Concord store for l2 years and was rehired to lead human resources. "What they've given us and what we're able to carry now -wow! It's like, why didn't we have that before?"

Outside, the signage reads "Yardbirds," although Depot's name is alongside. Inside, employees wear tan-colored aprons instead of Depot's orange. "We're going to answer the phone 'Yardbirds'," said Ed Gaylord, human resources manager for the San Rafael store. "We're forging ahead with a separate identification from Home Depot."

The redesigned stores have lower shelving and ceilings than a typical Depot, said Feldman, who added that the stores' smaller size make it easier for customers to get in and out for quick purchases. The stores will also offer financing and installation services not available at the old Yardbirds.

Huber Settles OSB Suit

While denying any wrongdoing, J.M. Huber has tentatively agreed to a $2 million settlement of a price-fixing lawsuit filed last year against OSB manufacturers.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs-LBM dealers and wholesalers-view the settlement as a major development. "It's the first one, the ice breaker," said one attorney. "We're hoping it leads to others."

The antitrust lawsuit alleges that North Amcrican OSB producersincluding Louisiana-Pacific, GeorgiaPacific, Potlatch, Weyerhaeuser, Ainsworth. Norbord, and Tolkoconspired to fix prices and restrict supply from June 1,2002, to present. Alleged tactics were shutting down mills, reducing mill production, delaying or canceling construction of new mills, and buying needed OSB from competitors instead of manufacturing it themselves.

As part of the settlement, Huber has transferred $2 million into an escrow account and agreed to cooperate in litigation against the remaining defendants.

In a motion filed April 10, the other defendants called the settlement premature and asked the court to defer action on it. The discovery phase of the lawsuit was scheduled to end in June, with a trial scheduled for March 25.2008.

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