Throwback Thursday: The ‘Q’ Program at work

The Feb. 8, 1988 issue of National Home Center News, the forerunner of HBSDealer, reported a new store-design program from Portland, Maine-based Emery-Waterhouse. It was called The Golder Rule “Q” or “Quality” store program.

What made it stand out from a crowded field of other store design programs was its emphasis on the contractor customer.

Here’s how Emery-Waterhouse’s fixtures and fittings manager Ron Johnson described the idea behind the distributor’s design concept: “It’s of paramount importance to address the contractor business as well as enhancing the DIY,” he said.

Looking at the photo of the program’s first convert – Timbermart, an independent dealer in New Hampshire -- one sees warm colors, a racetrack layout and tall fixtures. The dealer pointed to sales gains of 24% since the opening of the new 40,000 sq. ft. store.

Today, there is little trace of Timbermart of New Hampshire to be found online. Emery-Waterhouse, of course, was acquired by Ace Hardware Corp. in 2014.

# # #

BONUS Throwback: Just under the photo of the Timbermart story on the front page of the 1988 issue, a Newsbreakers section reported the following headline: “Black & Decker bids $1.8 billion for American Standard.” American Standard successfully fought off a subsequent Black & Decker bid with a poison-pill anti-takeover strategy