I thought women already are generally the ones who are choosing the appliances for their homes, whether they are married or not?

I'm confused. Isn't "Home Depot" already gender-inclusive? I mean, both women and men have homes . . . for which they buy stuff . . . If the point is to have a store with more household goods, why not just expand the current stores?

I bet the aprons have ruffles too.

Or a nice, large floral print.

I wonder if they'll decide that a concrete floor is too hard on women's feet?

Just think of all the 'improvements' they could make...

Will they have an entire aisle for rolling pins?

I'm so confused. And offended. Mostly confused. I mean, they're excluding a whole bunch of consumers who aren't female but still might like interior design and pretty garden furniture, as well as all the women who prefer original Home Depot (ie those who aren't intimidated by scaffolding and wide aisles or... "bags of potting soil"). God, I bet it's going to be pink, isn't it?

Yeah, I was actually just in Home Depot yesterday. And amazingly enough, you can already buy both a light bulb and a light fixture there! Crazy, but true.

You know, if Home Depot wants to expand into a new line of stores that focuses more on home design than home improvement, that's perfectly okay. Go for it. But don't bill it as a store for women. I used to work in a hardware store (as a cashier -- I still don't know much about hardware. I had regular female customers ranging from average women to professional plumbers who knew exactly what they wanted and needed. And I had plenty of male customers who couldn't figure out what part to buy or which paint to pick, etc. I'm all for making hardware stores less intimidating to non fixer-up types out there, but that does NOT mean women. In fact, it means me just as much as it means my husband.

Sigh. I'm guessing their way of "dealing" with the oft-reported sexist treatment of women by employees at Home Depots is this attempt at what's basically segregation. God forbid you try to change the way employees behave at the stores.

If anyone reads The Consumerist, they wrote about this as well, and even though they tend to not be very feminist-oriented, all the comments were fairly offended at the idea, both male and female. (Although one commenter was particularly insulting, stating that this is going to cue the "screeching at Feministing" (paraphrased, but I definitely remember the "screeching" part!). BTW, the store isn't named "Her Depot." A newspaper story began calling it that and everyone picked up on it. It's really called Home Depot Decorating or some such crap as that, but the idea is still just as insulting!

Someone told me that Home Depot is designed to appeal to men and Lowe's is supposed to appeal to women - some questionable concept of space layout as it applies to male/female physiology. Seems to me that one big warehouse full of tools and stuff is pretty much the same as any other, but maybe I don't spend enough time in those places.

I'm confused. Isn't "Home Depot" already gender-inclusive? I mean, both women and men have homes . . . for which they buy stuff

Ditto that.

I don't see why they can't modify their current store. Not that wide aisles intimidate me, but it's sometimes hard to be in a store that is sized for someone else. It's the same issue we've discussed with cars - many of them are made with 6'2 men in mind, not women (even tall women) or shorter men.

I also like the idea of having a separate Home Depot for decorating, but I'm not sure why it would be a woman's store.

I spent part of my weekend crawling around underneath my car. It involved a few trips to Advance Auto Parts and Lowes, where... I was treated like... a human. Go figure. Now, I did notice that a lot of tools are sized for men (I have tiny hands) - and it would be wonderful if stores and manufacturers were to offer products for those of us with smaller phalanages, but we don't have smaller brains or a lesser capacity for mechanical projects.

Someone told me that Home Depot is designed to appeal to men and Lowe's is supposed to appeal to women - some questionable concept of space layout as it applies to male/female physiology.

I heard that CVS revamped their stores to appeal to women. Some of it has to do with the height of products - eye level for the average woman is about five feet off the ground, and when things are about six feet off the ground, it's tough. Some of "appealing to women" is also "appealing to humans," with things like good lighting, good signs, and a logical floor plan.

their money would be better spent training a bunch of kick-ass female sales associates to become really astute home-improvement experts, and training their male staff in how to interact in a helpful and not condescending manner with female customers, or, for that matter, males who aren't hardware honchos.

"She can buy a light bulb as well as all of the lighting," [a spokesperson] said. "Or a major appliance plus the laundry detergent to go with it."

Um, hello? You can already do this at Home Depot. As my boyfriend and I are currently renovating a century home, we practically live at Home Depot. And score one for our awesome store in Cleveland, I have always been treated with respect and as an equal there. I like you just the way you are, ya big orange lug, now please don't go changing on me! The current layout (at least in the newer stores) is intuitive and very user-friendly.

I agree with Cara. If Home Depot wants to open a new line of stores that are more "user friendly" or "tidy" or more focused on decorating, then great! I would probably shop there.

But to target women and call it "Her Depot"?? What the hell is that? It's degrading and patronizing.

Anyone know who would be best to contact about this at Home Depot?

Ohhhhh... I thought it was really called "Her Depot" by the company. Nevermind me.

Doesn't Home Depot already have a decorating store? I think it's called Expo, and it's like a big dept. store will all their fake kitchens, living rooms, etc. set up. Maybe it isn't home depot though, so someone correct me if i'm wrong.

Ditto to the poster who said the money would be better spent on training their associates to be more helpful and friendly...both my mom and i are into home improvement, and we're always treated like aliens when we walk into that store--even though we generally only need directions to a particular aisle.

Maybe what's needed is a Home Depot for Beginners, complete with classes on really basic stuff that don't assume any prior knowledge. Then at least i'd have somewhere to send my husband when he asks something like "so how do i hold this nail when i hammer it?"

I just used the Contact Us form on Home Depot's Web site to give them a piece of my mind about this utterly stupid and patronizing idea.

So if it isn't actually called 'Her Depot' then what exactly is the problem with it? Home Depot, recognizing that its massive warehouse-styled stores are not appealing enough to women, is clearly trying a horizontal market entry with the Home Depot Design Center. Business is rarely if ever one-size-fits-all, and these pilot stores are designed to appeal to a female clientele is representative of their desired target audience, which you apparently do not consider yourself a part of. Whether or not the Home Depot Design Center model actually accomplishes this or fails miserably remains to be seen. But that's the whole point of pilot programs.

Is it really so offensive that women do laundry or other household chores? If they're doing it exclusively, that's unfair, but I disagree that was what Jason Feldman's excoriated comment above meant. Should Home Depot and other companies choose not to appeal to an existing customer base because you disapprove of how that demographic lives?

As long as "Her Depot" is a joke, I'm ok with the concept of a decorating-oriented store. Not a particularly funny joke, though.

I'd like to see more female associates working at Home Depot. At the couple stores in my locale, the only women are cashiers. The men haven't been extremely condescending to me when I've needed help, though. (My dad worked at a Home Depot once, and one of his co-workers was a real asshole to women, apparently. Never needed to buy anything there, though.) Also note that a lot of Home Depots have classes on home maintenance basics, including stuff like roofing, deck building, plumbing...

Oddly, my past experience of polite treatment from their employees doesn't keep me from feeling anxious as soon as I walk in the door, that somebody's going to suggest I should send my spouse to pick out hardware. (The last time I sent the poor guy out to get bolts, he couldn't find them, bought the wrong thing, then ended up installing them anyway and making nasty holes in the wall. We have long agreed that for the well-being of our house [and relationship] both of us should go to hardware stores...)

I honestly don't know whether that's my problem or hardware stores' (or society's). Who CAN I blame for making hardware stores a tense place to shop? I have the same "bad vibe" from Home Depot, Lowes, or any other hardware store, regardless of the layout, employees, and so on... Weird.

Gary- the name isn't/wasn't the only thing offensive about it. If Home Depot wants to have a new store that is less warehouse-like and more nice-store like, then fine. But why does it have to be for women? What does any of this have to do with women vs. men?

You've missed the point.

What's next? Cervix City?

buggle, I suppose where I have trouble understanding "the point" is that I fail to see what is wrong with a company appealing to a target market of which gender is one of the characteristics. Countless products in your home and on your person were targeted towards you based on your gender, and I don't just mean the obvious gender-specific products. Home Depot apparently doesn't have difficulty attracting male customers with its namesake stores, and they feel that by opening these new stores will work better than their previous (perhaps misguided) attempts to modify their existing stores.

Home Depot didn't frame this as "women vs. men" but you quickly did. Unless you are anti-capitalist (which is your right), then what about Home Depot Design Center makes it your inherent enemy?

Oy. Glad it's not really called "Her Depot," but WORD to whomever said they'd be better off spending their cash hiring and training better employees. Every time I go to HD to get wood cut to size, the guy (and it's ALWAYS a guy) makes a joke as he hands the wood to me about how I can use the newly cut wood to hit my boyfriend in self-defense.

I'm not joking. I've had this happen multiple times, in multiple locations, with different employees, and it's always a version of the same terrible "joke." It must be in their effing training manual or something. And seriously? Why is that even funny? Why are you assuming I have or want a boyfriend, and why on earth would you joke about me needing to physically defend myself against him? And even if I did, why the hell would I go get a two-by-four cut to size instead of using my own, fully functional arms and legs?

I confess to being fairly clueless when it comes to home improvement. I know my way around the basics, but beyond that, I'm way more likely to be decorating than building.

But.

I do occasionally need to caulk or hammer or fix. I go to stores to buy the things w/ which to do these tasks. I don't purchase supplies from stores where I am treated like an idiot b/c I am not fluent in paint types and screwdriver models.

Make a decorating-oriented store. Cool. But don't market it towards womyn. That's just insulting.

(On a related note, I read a story a few years ago about a female-oriented line of tools. The differences were that they were lightweight and pink. Maybe my hands are small, but I'm not too weak to pick up a hammer.)

The Manhattan HDs are focused more on decorating and less on lumber. I wonder if that's the concept.

But seriously -- I can already buy a washing machine plus detergent at the Brooklyn HD, which is Lumber City.

Mind you, I don't actually shop there, because we also have a Lowe's.

I was at Home Depot last week, looking for a rod to hang my clothes on in my closet. I found a rod, but I was hoping they would cut it for me, it was about 3 inches too long. So, I go up and ask an employee (male). He says "oh, you're using this for your closet? How many clothes are you going to put on it?" I kind of paused, and said "Uh, however many will fit." He laughs and says "Oh yeah, all the dresses and outfits!!!"

It was so weird. He was making the assumption that since I'm female, I must have a lot of clothes. And they must be dresses and "outfits." And, there was no reason for him to ask me about it, because I wasn't asking him if it would hold my clothes up. I was asking where I could get it cut. I didn't say anything, because I was just like huh? So weird. I'm sure if my boyfriend had asked, they wouldn't have mocked him about all his clothes and outfits.

Oh Gary. Did you even bother to read the article that this discussion is focused on? If you read it, you would clearly see that they are targeting this to women based on gendered stereotypes (women like things neat and tidy, women don't like lumber in their stores).

Straight out of the 1950s!

the video on the cbs13 website looks like a PR piece. I think if they interviewed more women, the comments wouldnt be so cheery.

buggle, I not only read The Consumerist post linked above but also a couple of actual articles on the topic before responding, but thank you for asking so politely. I wanted confirmation beyond a blog that "Her Depot" was actually the name those apparent bozos at Home Depot came up with, and thankfully that proved not to be the case. Many commenters here didn't bother to do that, or even read The Consumerist post, considering the reactionary responses to a name which is not what these pilot stores are being called.

There is no nefarious, anti-woman agenda in a company attempting to appeal to a female clientele that has been elusive to them. It was done in response to market research done by Home Depot. I don't know the nature of the research, but it involved existing female Home Depot customers as well as potential Home Depot Design center customers. I'd imagine focus groups, questionnaires, and the typical marketing research methods were used.

Sigh. Out with the old troll, in with the new.

Glad i work at Lowe's!

Actually I think that Lowe's folks, at least at white marsh MD are cool. The manager of hardware and tools WAS a woman, but she moved.
When I used to sell Outdoor Power equipment, i got these guy coustmers who would ignore me. So i just started explainng things about engines and such that they didnt even know! Then they listented or they ran away because i 'emasculated' them. PULEEZE! I have had women and men not know the difference between a 2 cycle and a 4 cycle. Its just a matter of being nice and explaining it to them. Not everyone knows about tools and shit. I can't believe Home "Despot". Lousy way of treating women like they are children and treating men in the manley stereotype.

Thank God Home Depot has finally heard my cries. Since Home Depots are traditionally located miles and miles and miles away from the nearest Target or Walmart, every time I bought a washing machine I was all befuddled about where I could get detergent. Now that I finally know where the detergent is, I'll simply buy a new washing machine every 80 loads of laundry.

Doesn't matter, Home Depot, Her Depot, niether will have what I really need, which is a freezer that freezes at -20 C.

"I mean, they're excluding a whole bunch of consumers who aren't female but still might like interior design and pretty garden furniture, as well as all the women who prefer original Home Depot"

Maybe they figure their existing stores will continue to include these consumers but exclude other consumers who buy the stereotypes and think shopping at the existing Home Depots is unfeminine?

"their money would be better spent training a bunch of kick-ass female sales associates to become really astute home-improvement experts, and training their male staff in how to interact in a helpful and not condescending manner with female customers, or, for that matter, males who aren't hardware honchos."

Right on.

Maybe they just want to keep us away from the power tools, because our prowess is starting to scare them.

Okay, seriously, I didn't want to shop at the local Home Depot when it moved in, because it's American-owned (I live in Canada), and I read somewhere the owners donated money to the Bush campaign. But best (female) friend and I are the queens of home improvement, and truly, we've had nothing but good experiences with them. Locally. Can't speak to other HDs, and I have no idea if this separatist store is moving into my community. But truly, there are tons of female employees at the local HD, the men seem to have been trained not to be assholes, and everyone I've met has been great in helping me plan projects and learn more about tools and stuff like that.

BUT the new marketing language is disgusting enough to turn me off. Do they even wonder how many loyal customers they are going to lose with this kind of b.s.? And if there is to be a new store focused on decorating, aren't they afraid of alienating the growing numbers of men (besides the women they are already alienating) who are taking an interest in decorating, by implying that this sort of thing is only the province of women? Jeez.

Gary, it's "offensive" because marketers that assume all their female customers are more interested in design than repair are being sexist. And hey, my husband's doing laundry right now, and I've been known to install and repair washers and dryers, and I don't think we're that unusual. How would this gender segregated marketing benefit us? Not at all.

Gender segregated marketing is offensive because gender roles are limiting, patronizing, and most of all, FALSE. Utter fabrications, perpetuated by lazy thinkers like the geniuses who insist that every product marketed to those w/out Y chromosomes be dipped in pink, related to fashion, cooking, cleaning, or babies, and cute.

Women are half the human race (51% actually), and that's a group that's too damn big to pigeonhole. But yet, we keep having crap like this thrust in our faces. If they just bothered to actually talk to their female customers, instead of assuming they know what "women" like, then they wouldn't market it this way. But they don't even bother.

In my area, Home Depot and Lowe's are essentially across the street from each other. I much prefer Lowe's to HD. I found the customer service at Lowe's much better than at HD. At HD, I had to search for employee assistance, whereas at Lowe's, the staff were available and helpful.

In my area, Home Depot and Lowe's are essentially across the street from each other. I much prefer Lowe's to HD. I found the customer service at Lowe's much better than at HD. At HD, I had to search for employee assistance, whereas at Lowe's, the staff were available and helpful.

Sorry for the double post!

Now, I did notice that a lot of tools are sized for men (I have tiny hands) - and it would be wonderful if stores and manufacturers were to offer products for those of us with smaller phalanages

That's odd, I've always thought most tools were on the small side since getting into tight spaces is a priority.

Holy fucking Christ.

I apologize if my comment offends. I was just trying to relate...

I am sickened by their silly "pro female" store idea as the other posters are. Don't they already have a set of stores that are devoted to decorating? "IKON" or "IDEA" or something? I used to shop at it in San Jose, Ca.

I have been to at least 9 Home Depot stores in the process of doing remodeling and building a house and I have never been insulted or had a strange sexist comment directed at me. I have also spent a lot of time in macho-type businesses like plumbing and electrical distribution companies, irrigation suppliers and lumber stores and always have been treated normally.

Don't take this too personally, but I think that if you go into a store with a nervous, fearful attitude, then you are probably attracting what you least like about it.

When I enter the store, I ask for what I want and I get shown it. Sometimes I am not really sure what the item I want is called and sometimes the employees are completely clueless and I know more than they do, but usually they make an honest effort.

Men appear to be brought up to notice other's fear and sort of make fun of it. (Kind of like wild animals can smell fear.) Since I don't show any fear or embarrassment, they don't respond in that way.

Maybe this is because I am 5'11" and overweight instead of "cute". I think people would need to do some sort of "control group" of cute women vs. unconventional women vs. men (cute men?) to see if they really are discriminating.