Throwback Thursday: Bob Rickel starts a trend
In an industry where retail formats often blur across generally accepted guidelines – from pro-focused lumberyards to family friendly hardware stores – pinpointing the birth of the “home center,” is a highly disputable exercise.
But curious readers might take note of an interview with Bob Rickel, one of the original Rickel Brothers, in the Dec. 10, 1979 issue of National Home Center News, the forerunner of HBSDealer. In the long article under the headline “Bob Rickel recalls the birth, growth of a $150M chain,” Rickel told the story of moving into a building that had been occupied by the Atlantic Thrift Center in Union County, New Jersey:
“This was a 100,000 sq. ft. building. The sign was already up on the building. We wanted to salvage some of the expense for a new sign. We were able to save some of the lettering and put up a sign and retain that word ‘center.’
“We feel that is the origin of the expression ‘home center,’ because we hadn’t seen it used any place.”
There you have it.
Do you have a story for Throwback Thursday? Send it to us here: [email protected].
But curious readers might take note of an interview with Bob Rickel, one of the original Rickel Brothers, in the Dec. 10, 1979 issue of National Home Center News, the forerunner of HBSDealer. In the long article under the headline “Bob Rickel recalls the birth, growth of a $150M chain,” Rickel told the story of moving into a building that had been occupied by the Atlantic Thrift Center in Union County, New Jersey:
“This was a 100,000 sq. ft. building. The sign was already up on the building. We wanted to salvage some of the expense for a new sign. We were able to save some of the lettering and put up a sign and retain that word ‘center.’
“We feel that is the origin of the expression ‘home center,’ because we hadn’t seen it used any place.”
There you have it.
Do you have a story for Throwback Thursday? Send it to us here: [email protected].