On Thursday, Home Depot, the newest addition to the shopping center on Washington Street, opened its doors. The Middletown Home Depot, which offers between 45-50,000 items, built its large warehouse this fall on the site previously occupied by Ames.
“The response has been terrific. I’ve heard more comments that this town needed this,” said Ken Twombly, a Home Depot associate who has been with the company for three years.
With the grand opening, Home Depot hosted a neighborhood night for the residents of Middletown to preview the store. According to Twombly, Mayor Thornton and Miss Connecticut Marla Prete were among those who attended. The company also announced that it would donate money to the Middletown Business and Industry Foundation.
“We want to be good neighbors,” Twombly said.
Although it was busy with customers on Sunday afternoon, a complete response to the store cannot yet be determined because it just recently opened. Home Depot’s large size and commercial power draw questions about how its presence in Middletown will affect smaller businesses.
“I don’t know why the town needs a Home Depot. You can go 15 minutes in any direction and run into a Home Depot,” said Scott Bishel, owner of Smith and Bishel Hardware store on Main Street.
According to Bishel, his hardware store was established partly by his great-grandfather in1898. Bishel is the fifth generation of his family to run the store. He says that while the store is smaller, especially compared to Home Depot, it has over the years established certain niches, such as making keys, which he says maintains a customer loyalty.
‘We just keep banging our heads against the wall and hope we stay in business,“ Bishel said. ” Honestly though I don’t think it will effect business a lot.“
Bishel also said that a number of customers had expressed support since the opening of Home Depot, saying that a lot of people are tired of big businesses. His store also attracts University students, although most of them are looking for materials for various art-related projects, according to Bishel.
”Students come in, and they are fun to work with,“ Bishel said.
Home Depot also carries a number of items useful for college students, including closet organizers, containers, paint, and blinds, according to Twombly.
”When I was in college there was the ever-present cinderblock and two by eight bookshelves,“ Twombly said.
According to Twombly, Home Depot is concerned about community relationships, citing one of the company’s core values of giving back to the community.
One example of this is the changes the store has made to the shopping center it is located in, including improvements to the parking lot and to store signs.
”Hopefully we’ve brightened it up and can bring vitality to the town,“ Twombly said.
Also, according to Twombly, the new Home Depot plans to start up a Middletown branch of Team Depot in the near future. Team Depot is a nation-wide program where store associates volunteer in their free time to work on projects in the store’s community, such as Habitat for Humanity or other community construction needs.
Twombly commented that people often have a misconception that a big business such as Home Depot drives out all the smaller ones in an area. Instead, he asserted that an opening of a Home Depot draws in business because Home Depot sells a number of materials that other companies need.
In addition to the variety of hardware items it sells, the Home Depot also does on-site installation and has a tool rental center.
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