WAVELAND, Miss. -- At nearly midnight on a steamy July evening, floodlights illuminate a newly paved lot off of Highway 603, where workers are feverishly painting yellow parking space lines. They are putting the final touches on a new Lowe’s home improvement store that has been built in near record time. Home Depot is throwing open its doors to customers, right next door.
It’s not politically correct to say, but it’s hard to imagine a more fertile market for the two massive do-it-yourself chains. With thousands of homes and businesses destroyed or badly damaged, there is no end in sight for demand. With the gutting and cleanup largely completed, builders and homeowners who have been getting their supplies from Gulfport or Picayune will be relieved to have a ready supply on hand.
The mega chains are approaching the start-up a little differently in the wake of the disaster. Lowe’s had made plans to build here before Hurricane Katrina. The storm put the building site under 20 feet of water, delaying the start of construction, but when it did get under way, Lowe’s went full throttle, finishing the 94,000 square foot building in just under 90 days.
“That’s pretty much as fast as you can build it,” says Jason Cooper, construction superintendent.
Stocking the store will take about five weeks, he says, putting opening day just before the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
“It’s not a big (Lowe’s)” says Cooper, who says some of the new stores are 130,000 square feet, “not that they don’t need a bigger one.” But he adds that the project is not “opportunistic.”
Next door, Home Depot is taking a shotgun approach to the demand and the opportunity. The chain had been looking at the region prior to Katrina, but hadn’t settled on a location.
For weeks, they have been operating an outdoor site in the parking lot of the now defunct Kmart, selling supplies to contractors — staples like 2-by-4s and sheetrock.
Home Depot still hasn’t pinned down a “premium location” — of the sort that they would normally need to put up a standard 100,000- to 120,000-square-foot store. But on Thursday they will hold a “grand opening” of a 35,000-square-foot temporary facility adjacent to Kmart aimed at meeting the primary needs of tattered Waveland and Bay St. Louis.
“We’re in an environment where we can move with the rebuilding process, stage by stage,” says store manager Scott Corry. That means they have many of the goods and services they would normally provide, minus some of the home décor trimmings and consulting services.
“We have pretty much everything else, but it’s crammed it into a small store,” he says. This approach imitates Home Depot’s post-Katrina efforts in the New Orleans area, focusing on smaller stores that try to keep ahead of huge demand for basic supplies, until the rebuilding of the area progresses.
Although Katrina forced Home Depot and Lowe's to shut down at least 10 stores apiece, it didn't set the business rivals back for long. All but a few reopened within days, and the two corporations began pouring shipments of supplies into the area, as well as millions of dollars in relief and recovery donations. In the first quarter of this year, Home Depot, which has more than 2,000 stores all told, saw record sales and a 22.8 percent increase over the same period in 2005. First-quarter profits for Lowe’s, which has more than 1,200 stores and is quickly expanding, increased 44 percent.
Housing's halting recovery
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One day when the past of American policies concerning other countries comes back to the shores of this place
called the United States; we as a Nation of Citizens
will finally wish that we would've spent all of that
foriegn money on problems on these Shores! The U.S. had to go back and undo everything of the past 70 or
so years; including Cuba, Phillipines, S. America, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and other countries not
mentioned as well as the puppets like Sadam Hussein
and a host of characters like him, only later...then
having to go back and waste the lives of other people
children and the oceans of tax money to undo it.
Rebuild all of the Katrina affected areas.
Allen Harris Sr. Portsmouth, Va. (Sent Jul 27, 2006 6:21:09 PM)
Let me clarify, if I may. Seeing as I've stirred up a "hornets" nest. Mainly speaking of the New Orleans area, which is below sea level. Move to higher ground. And get insurance, quit depending on my tax dollars to rebuild, unless of course you do need my services and opinions. I've been through the Murray Bombing, May 3rd F-6 tornado, and numerous others, wildfires every day, right across the street from our church just yesterday, as a matter of fact. But you know what, we were the ones that were watering our yards to keep them from burning, not waiting on the government to come out and water them, sifting through the debris and dead bodies from bombings and tornados. I wanted my employer to donate a crane to help with the removal of debris. Yea, I know what to loose someone or something means. But if you want others to help, you gotta help yourself first. Like when you hear there's a storm brewing a week in advance, you really ought to think about "getting the hell out". Maybe all employers need to get together, decide on a storm evacuation pay program or something like that. Seeing as how employers are in the same boat. Hasn't history taught people anything. What happened in Galveston in 1900, Mt. Saint Helens 1980. I understand natural disasters can happen. But it's not the governments fault. Quit depending on the government. Stand on your own two feet. Be prepared for a disaster, in New Orleans a hurricane, in Oklahoma a tornado (we go to the storm shelter and wait for it to pass), volcanic eruption, whatever.
Dennis, OKC, OK (Sent Jul 27, 2006 11:03:12 PM)
To Dennis,
I have lived in OK and in the New Orleans area. I was in Tulsa at the time of the bombing. Although, I had minimal damage compared to others, what you need to do is to come down here and experience the disaster that we are still experiencing everyday.
No one is looking for a hand out, just a hand up. The insurance companies are changing the rules daily, as to what they will and won't pay for. Yes, many more people probably should have had flood insurance, but probably like yourself, if you are told you don't need it you wouldn't buy it.
This disaster was unlike anything the US has ever seen, I remember when I went to bed the Saturday before the storm it was just barely a cat 3, then Sunday at 6 AM I found it to be a cat 5. My family and I had the means to get out. Although what you may not understand is that the New Orleans area, was a that time, with many people that did not have the means to evac.
As to standing on our own two feet, we are trying, we just need that hand to steady us. If a tornado explodes your home, what will you do if the insurance company says, I wasn't the tornado that destroyed your home it was the flying objects and the tractor trailer that landed on your home that destroyed it so we are only going to pay you for 20% of the damange because the tractor trailer destroyed 80% of your home.
Tom Bell, Slidell (Sent Jul 28, 2006 7:34:00 AM)
my future wife is from long beach and has lots of friends still there. we have been there to see all the damage and it is a heart breaker but the people there are very strong and have big hearts and will recover just fine. to live in a beautiful place like the emerald coast of southern miss. is what it is all about
dennis harrison lewisville,tx. (Sent Jul 28, 2006 11:13:28 AM)
The leading reply to home design is not realistic.
We want and can design homes that are both attractive and energy conserving.
What you described mostly was a house not a home.
Just another tract house to soon all to soon,become a getto or at least a stagnet mental steel trap.
If we are free Americans then we owe it to ourselfs and those who come after us to enjoy the free expression of our lives.
Never give in to the plain and simple mind.
Because at that point only robots need apply.
logan (Sent Jul 28, 2006 12:27:30 PM)
Many of these comments have gotten so far off subject it's sickening. What it comes down to is there was a terrible disaster and many people were in it's path, simple as that. It happened. Since everyone can't realistically just leave their land, the only other option is either rebuild or live in mud huts, and personally that option doesn't sound appealing to me, and I'm sure most would agree. There's a massive number of people that need help, and both of these stores have moved in to offer what help they can, and that's quite admirable. Kudos to Lowe's and Home Depot!
Roderick, Seattle, WA (Sent Jul 28, 2006 4:16:59 PM)
Everyone seems so willing to blame someone or some entity for their woes instead of using their time constructivley. Please people, quit the blame game and continue to do what American's do; forge forward on our own and make this great land the UNITED States of America.
K (Sent Jul 28, 2006 5:34:14 PM)
Dennis, we've lost too. We put up plywood over windows, bought food and water, made sure we had batteries, gassed up the car and left. We headed north. We came back to nothing. Thousands and thousands and thousands of homes gone. Whole towns gone.
And I was and born and raised in Arizona where there were wildfires every year. My big brother worked for the highway department after high school and before he joined the navy. He helped put out fires in the mountains from lightening strikes. He was one of a lot of people helping do this. It would have been too hard for the average everyday people to put out the fires all by themselves, even if they all had really long water hoses. Your area did have help, right?
Jane, Southern Mississippi (Sent Jul 30, 2006 9:02:13 AM)
To Dennis, Debbie, et al,
This story is about Home Depot and Lowes opening in Mississippi. It's not about tax dollars being used to open these stores in New Orleans! It's not about government hand-outs.
It's about the coast making one more small step towards normalcy. Please try to keep to the subject.
Erica (Sent Jul 30, 2006 4:08:32 PM)
To Dennis of OKC -
You know, in life you don't get do-overs. The
difference between your first and second posts are
a mile wide. In the first you state probably what is
in your heart - that you nigh well mean us ill will,
or at least do not will us good fortune. In the
second you spout the usual "Oh my, what I really
meant was..." that we hear from politicians and
celebrities who had no idea the mic was on.
Sorry. That dog won't hunt.
Here's a request. Leave us alone. If you won't help
us the way many on the Gulf Coast helped during
the Midwest's natural disasters or after the OKC
bombing, then go over there. Look, there's someone
stealing your tax dollars. Go get 'im! Let the
adults discuss the important stuff.
j., bsl (Sent Jul 31, 2006 11:29:15 PM)
To my friends on the Gulf Coast, Keep hope in your hearts and courage in your vision. We've all endured disasters before and undoubtedly will experience them again. May God continue to bless and keep every one of you.
Bro. Joshua (Sent Aug 2, 2006 10:51:03 PM)
Dang skippy thats good news. I mostly use Lowes myself and I know they are a good organization. Happy news. If you could get a Waffle House across the street you'd bee in the high cotton. For all the negative bums, as Ron White says " you can"t fix stupid". For all the folks on the coast I'll second what Brother Joshua just said.
Ned, Cincinnati (Sent Aug 3, 2006 11:59:14 AM)
Ned - we ARE in high cotton - there is actually already a waffle house in the shopping center across the street from the Lowes in Waveland!!! Not only that - we have yet another Waffle House in the Bay also (and they are both open)!! Life is Great!
T.R. (Bay St. Louis) (Sent Aug 3, 2006 8:34:34 PM)
To Dennis from OK and our friends in arizona
How about this - there is a LOCAL seawall tax on gasoline that has been in place for over 30 years that sustains the upkeep of man-made beaches that serve to protect against normal storms. The barrier islands have been left in govmnt control (undeveloped) to protect against normal storms. Unfortunately though, no reasonable human solutions are available for stopping a freak 9m storm surge (not to mention the waves). Now, how are we to avoid sounding testy and avoid talking about the heavy federal subsidization of the western water supplies in az and FEMA support for rebuilding after tornados in ok?? Nasty hypocrites, please understand that we would still be the first to offer our help when it is your turn for surviving the misery of a disaster.
My family have used our own reources to move the parents from elev 18 to higher ground 10 miles inland. My loss of four rentals (at elev 25) due to the port containers surfing the surge I accept as a part of life. We had insurance, but had minimalpayout due to surge. We will rebuild on these properties with our own monies after zoning changes are clarified staisfactorly to allow educated reinvestement. As with the time period after every 30 yr storm cycle, the coastal regions of the US will survive and rebuild the same as we all did before there was a corrput FEMA political grab bag to turn too.
Three cheers for the brave in bay-waveland who stay because they love their homes. Bravos for using private enterprise to develop what you need without begging.
rw - ankara (Sent Aug 16, 2006 8:41:28 AM)
People can push the blame game all they want but when it comes down to it this could have been far far worse than it could have been. When people speak about being angry over this what is it that is making them angry? We couldn't prevent the hurricane and if you slap a cat 5 towards anyplace it will have serious damage. Are we angered over the destruction or towards a death count? In south east asia nearly a quarter of a million people died in a tsunami and prior to that thirty thousand died in a earthquake in Iran.
Were people stranded and hungry...sure but at least they were alive. Much of what was alleged did not happen there was no cannibalism, armed gangs or urban warfare on the streets (which probably could have happened if this hit any other country)
Matt (Sent Aug 19, 2006 10:18:26 AM)
Re-addressing the building supply theme of the original article -
When we repaired our home, we took out the old wood flooring and put in a laminate. Looked nice. Unfortunately, some water spilled on it (no more water than you would spill with a mop) and the finish started coming off. I wonder to what degree this flooring (which has a 50 year guarantee) was rushed through production to keep up with the increased demand.
J, BSL (Sent Sep 12, 2006 5:51:35 AM)
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