Throwback Thursday: Battle of the DIY fairs

The Jan. 17, 1977 issue of National Home Center News, the forerunner of HBSDealer, reported that Ole’s Home Centers expected capacity crowds for its first-ever Home Improvement Show at the Great Western Exhibit Center in City of Commerce, California.

Ole’s fair promised four days of “consumer-confidence building, product demonstrations and community service.”

But wait – the Feb. 14 issue reported that Vornado beat Ole’s to the punch, with a Southern California DIY fair scheduled two weeks prior to that of its competitor. At the time, Vornado was the operator of 66 Builders Emporiums and Two Guys Discount Stores on the West Coast.

(Ole’s CEO Bob Stutz said he couldn’t gauge the impact of the encroachment.)

The off-site DIY fair was a hit in the late 1970s, before the advent of the 100,000-square-foot store and the in-store clinic changed the typical trip to the home center into a carnival-like experience. Ole’s, for instance, learned from the DIY fair operations of Ernst, Pay ‘n Save and Forest City, all of which hosted their own DIY fairs in 1976.

The Ole show included a coupon-strategy to encourage consumers to visit a store after they attended the DIY fair.

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