I’m kind of annoyed about the news that Home Depot is opening new stores aimed at women, but not nearly as annoyed as I am that they’re calling them “Her Depot.” I mean, seriously, wtf?
I worked at Home Depot some 12 years ago. I was a head cashier and worked at the special services desk, which was where large accounts and projects were tracked and managed. It was a pretty cool gig, mostly, despite the fact that I was only working there because I was making so little money as the head of the Language Laboratory at UIC. (Seriously, I was making, like $19K in a role that could be described as “head of a department at a fairly large state university”. It was ridiculous.) Even as draining as it was working a nearly full-time job on top of another full-time job, I enjoyed most of my time in the orange apron.
Also, if I may remind you, I own a house with my handyman husband, and said house has needed detailed attention from what amounts to nearly every aisle of the hardware store.
I mention those two things to let you know that I’ve spent more than my fair share of time within Home Depot stores.
And in all those hours upon hours of walking over hard concrete warehouse floors, I really haven’t noticed Home Depot having a problem pulling in female customers. They’re all over the store, though clearly there is a heavier concentration of women in the lighting, appliance, and garden areas. But even so, they’re there. And they’re buying.
So I’m just not seeing where there was this great need to spin off a store just for her. Which again reminds me of my other point: “Her Depot”? For serious? What kind of condescending shit is that?
I mean, not only is it condescending but it’s also short-sighted. It sounds like they’re looking to compete with the retail powerhouse that is Target, but they’re idiots if they 1) think men don’t shop at Target a lot; and/or 2) think men are going to be very eager to shop at “Her Depot.” Except maybe in gay irony or when coerced by the wife.
It’s just such bad decision-making all the way around. Kind of makes me want to go buy screws and power tools at Target, just out of spite.
HT: Consumerist
A comment left in someone’s LJ regarding this very thing. (Please note, this is a reflection of my Home Depot experience.)
I’d like to take Home Depot’s marketing people and hit them on their collective heads with a cricket bat and then sit them down and say, “Listen here, fellas! (And, call me sexist, but I’m betting most of them *are* fellas!) You want customers? Give them some f*cking customer service!!! You know that OSH commercial where the woman is in there, trying to get some help, driving the forklift herself, dragging her cart around in an empty ‘warehouse store’ (which looks like every Home Depot I’ve ever been in), hopping over the counter and checking herself out? Wanna know why that commercial is so effective it has weekend DIYers nodding their heads so hard their teeth are clacking? Learn from that!! That’s your problem!! YOU HAVE NO F*CKING CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!!!. Ahem. We don’t need any twee, ‘Home Depot for Women’, let’s make it all soft and clean and shiny for the girls. Just have a few people in the store who are trained to ask people if they need help, and can actually answer a question, and who have a modicum of knowledge of what they are selling. Oh, and it wouldn’t hurt if, say, when you sell something like Pergo flooring, you actually carry the matching baseboard. I know, *gasp*, what a concept, but, hey, maybe if the company got rid of all you college-miseducated suits and hired a couple of actual customers to tell them how to cater to customers, Lowe’s (which, by the way, has really good customer service) wouldn’t be kicking your ass back and forth across the street.”
I know this isn’t the focus of your post, but I wish they would abandon the orange color scheme. It’s really ugly. I would prefer that it *not* be pink, but I guess I’m being picky here. 🙂
Adding an accent color, such as navy blue, alongside the orange might help, too. Oh, wow, maybe I am evolving right into the “Her Depot” secondary demographic. LOL
That’s jacked up, yo. I will continue to shop at HOME Depot just to spite them. Maybe I should make a shirt that reads “Flagrant Vagina!”
Then again, someone might think that it said “Fragrant Vagina,” and that would just be weird. Maybe I should just go to Lowe’s.
“Separate but equal” STILL doesn’t fly.
I was googling for OSH Commercial Services and found this blog. OMG it is so funny and painfully true.