Saturday Night’s Alright …
It appears that the Home Depot could be the new hot spot for those individuals over the age of 50 that are looking for a date.
According to an article by Kathy Davenport, a success coach, trainer and motivational speaker based in Hawaii, the Home Depot “is where it is happening” for mature individuals in search of a date.
Davenport, who says she is in “the second half of my life,” recently re-entered the dating world. She said that at her age, she has no interest in hitting the bars looking for companionship so finding a date was rather challenging. Davenport realized the dating potential that retail establishments might provide after the cashier at her local supermarket began chatting her up about her grocery purchases and that other people were picking up more than just their groceries.
But Saturday night at the local Home Depot is a whole different story, Davenport says.
She made her discovery totally by accident when she stopped by the home improvement store on a Saturday evening because she thought it would be less busy. She needed to pick up a few things and kept running into the same individual as she moved throughout the store.
While she only said hello to the gentleman as they kept meeting up in different aisles, she says the experience “made me more aware of the fun potential on a Saturday night at Home Depot.”
Davenport says that Home Depot provides the “perfect set-up” on Saturday nights as single men and women shop at the stores. And the lawn & garden department offers “a most wonderful lounge area” where you can sit on the patio furniture, start a casual conversation and check out more than just the merchandise.
Davenport believes for the over-50 crowd, dating should be all about having fun. Most people in the 50+ category have already been through a lot of life’s ups and downs so, “dating doesn’t have to be a serious, fearful experience.”
What’s the atmosphere like at your local Home Depot on Saturday nights?
Home Depot’s Distribution Centers Help Drive Growth
The Home Depot’s biggest “store” is 10 times larger than most of its typical stores — and shoppers can’t even walk into the building. That’s because the “store” is actually a direct fulfillment center to support Home Depot’s growing online sales. The home improvement retailer has three distribution centers located in Georgia, Ohio and California. Each center has about 100,000 products versus the 35,000 SKUs in an average store. Depot’s online sales are approximately 5 percent of the company’s total sales that reached $88.5 billion in 2015. The company is aiming for $101 billion in total sales by 2018.
Wal-Mart Commits to Veterans
Since Wal-Mart introduced its Veterans Welcome Home Commitment in 2013, the big box retailer has hired more than 130,000 military veterans to work in its stores and distribution centers. The Commitment guarantees a job offer to any eligible, honorably discharged U.S. veteran since May 2013. The Wal-Mart Foundation is also reinforcing its support for transitioning military members and their families by donating $2.6 million in grants to nonprofit organizations that support veteran reintegration.
Meijer Continues to Open New Stores
Meijer recently opened two new supercenters and plans to open seven more by the end of this year. The new 192,000-square-foot supercenters are in Evansville, Indiana, and Owensboro, Kentucky. The new stores are built to LEED standards and will be open 24 hours a day. These stores are part of an investment of more than $400 million in new and remodeled stores — and reportedly will create 3,000 new jobs across the retailer’s six-state footprint.
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