April 7, 2004
Lowndes County - Valdosta has a new home improvement store. "It's taken a lot of hard work, but we're finally ready for business" said Robert Sauvage, Store Manager.
From the outside, it looks like your typical Lowe's. But this store is anything but ordinary. "This happens to be the biggest store in the company, we've got 198,000 square feet here," said Sauvage.
Until last year, the building was home to Super K-Mart. When that company moved out, Lowe's made a few changes and moved in. "We had to install new cement floors to accommodate our heavy equipment and do a little work, but after about six weeks we're ready to open," said Sauvage.
Not only is this store the largest in the nation, the isles are wider, the lighting's brighter, and it also has more merchandise. "Those qualities just make it a more shoppable and customer-friendly environment for our shoppers," said Sauvage. "And we're adding some new product categories so you'll find some items here that aren't in any other stores."
And the bigger the store, the more employees needed to work the floors. "We've got 175 employees hired, about 80 percent of those are full time, and most all hired locally," said Sauvage.
The store is keeping most of its business local, giving a boost to Valdosta's economy. "We're using local companies for our installers, we buy from local manufacturers as much as we can, and we want to be a community partner," said Sauvage.
A partnership he hopes will bring more shoppers to this store and big bucks to Lowndes County.
posted at 2:30 P.M. by ashley.harper@walb.com
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