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New Home Depot concept coming to Audio?

Home Depot just opened a new store in town with a different name - it's called Expo and it's a mega-store for home remodelling and decorating. It has high-end appliances, oriental rugs, etc. My wife, who has been reading about kitchen upgrades for the past year and has tried in vain through different venues to see all the products she has read about can now see most of them in one stop locally. I don't know how the prices are, but if the concept catches on I would think the prices would come down somewhat based on competition and increased sales in this market segment.

I've always wondered if high-end audio manufacturers will ever see benefit in this approach and support it as well. I don't think you'll see a mega-store with only products that you see in boutiques, but the ability to go see a lot of different manufacturers' products in one place, many more than you see in any given high-end shop today, would be an interesting concept to consumers. I suppose the market for $3K ovens is bigger than the one for $3K amps but does it have to be?

I know a lot of high-end shops are falling on hard times, but there are some where business is just booming and it would seem to me that one of the big-time retailers could open a new chain that services the high-end audio / video market and designs stores with display capabilities that go well beyond what we have to choose from today and gain a critical mass of manufacturers. Any opinions? -Kirk

kthomas
raguirre
120 posts
 
My experience with Home Depot is that the sales staff is extremely knowledgeable. A good perecntage of Home Depot revenue comes from sales to contractors so they have to be fairly well trained. Also Expo is fairly high end (how many of you have $3,000 shower heads?). Still, the analogy between home improvement and audio still doesn't work. I believe that Expo has succeded by and large because in the last ten years of prosperity many people ended up with excess wealth that they reinvested in their homes (home traditionally being the sole investment of Americans). But I think the home improvement craze will subside with the shift back in the market. I really wonder if Expo's sales model will work in a recession. Regardless, while many people can think of fixtures and paint as a capital improvement (and hence, in some ways an investment), I think that it would be more difficult for them to believe the same about speakers.
subaruguru
1,376 posts
 
Tweeter: UPPER mid-fi? I don't think so....
woodman's avatar
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woodman
152 posts
 
Incredible Universe failed in the Dallas Fort Worth Area. They sold some mid fi stuff such as Parasound, Denon, Acurus, Etc. Most of their sales staff did not know from up. There were, however, a couple af outstanding exceptions.
An aside to pdaneluzzi: I for one do not think Hales are gone because of little value for their money. I think many of their products had exceptional value. It was only after Wadia bought out Hale that the problems started.
ed_sawyer
588 posts
 
You must not have been in the stores around here: Proceed, Pioneer Elite, Sonus Faber, REL, I'd call those things upper mid fi at least. Maybe bordering on hifi (the REL).
argent
245 posts
 
Woodman is right. Wadia got into money trouble with their R&D, and they drug Hales down with them. I heard that Hales chief designer got fed up and left the business. As for the speakers, they were priced WAY below what they were worth. Stereophile loved them, I loved them. If I had had any money at the time I would have bought a pair of Trancendant 5s. Anyway, a note on Tweeter: yes some of their salespeople are clueless, yes they sell some mid-fi audio gear. But I take it in stride. They are a Home Theater store, not a hi-fi store. I go there sometimes just to chill out and see all the new gizmos. Plus, I got a great deal on my Mitsubishi Diamond RPTV. :-)
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