True Value market features new store format

Atlanta True Value got a head start on its 2007 fall market today with a media preview tour, showing the company’s newest store format at the Georgia World Congress Center.

Under the header “Destination True Value,” executives joined members of the press on a guided tour of a model 13,255-square-foot store.

The new store featured a softer, more “female-friendly” format, designed to “make hardware shopping less intimidating.” The new store format is focused on small home improvement projects.

True Value retailer store owners will get a chance to view the new store design at the co-op’s fall market, held here at the Georgia World Congress Center through Oct. 29. The event will include a special focus on lawn and garden products for the spring 2008 season.

Lawn and garden sales have been strong at the co-op -- in the company’s second quarter, CEO Lyle Heidemann said the category helped drive a strong comparable-store sales increase.

In its most recent quarter, True Value saw revenue decrease slightly to $594.4 million from $597 million in the same period last year. However, comparable-store sales rose 1.5 percent for the quarter.