Boxed-In Cda Retailer Bails Out Duncan’s Won’t Try To Compete With Eagle And Home Depot

The Eagle has landed. And what may be seen as one giant step for a national hardware chain has crushed the expansion hopes of an independent Coeur d’Alene business.

Duncan’s Garden Center and its nursery, pet department and florist shop will close this month at 711 Kathleen Ave. to avoid what owner Steve Badraun called the coming “blood bath” when Eagle Hardware and Home Depot go head-to-head.

Eagle opened its 175,000-square-foot Coeur d’Alene store Dec. 4.

Home Depot reportedly is planning to buy about 14 acres on the southeast intersection of Kathleen and U.S. Highway 95, where the national chain will locate a 130,000-square-foot store in early 1999.

“I’ve heard negotiations are moving along over there,” said Badraun. “That would be a great location for them.”

For Duncan’s, however, the arrival of Home Depot within view of his front door and only a few blocks north of Eagle’s Appleway location would place the business in a competitive vise grip.

“They both offer a lot of products and services,” said Badraun, who has owned the pet and garden supply store with his wife, Jane, for the past 24 years. “Unfortunately, it’s at the expense of other retailers. There isn’t a place for middle-sized stores in this fierce competition.”

Out of survival instinct, Duncan’s owner is stepping back and thinking small, abandoning the 16,400-square-foot Kathleen store and consolidating at Duncan’s Pet Shop on Government Way.

The florist shop has been purchased by longtime manager Jennette Marjamaa, who plans to move the business to a new site at U.S. Highway 95 and Orchard Ave. The Badrauns will continue to operate their garden supply and nursery business on a scaled-down, seasonal basis, although no location had been decided upon.

Although the Duncan’s store on Kathleen was “behind from the very start” because of construction debts and other costs, the owner said his business was on the verge of a financial turnaround and being readied for expansion.

“From our perspective, it’s going to be very difficult to grow when there are large box stores that offer national exposure at below-market prices,” Badraun said. “The future is not bright enough for us to expect to prosper and have our employees prosper.”

Duncan’s employed about 60 full-time and part-time people, but will cut staff size in half with the store closure.

At the Ace Hardware store in downtown Coeur d’Alene, owner John Montandon is just glad he’s far enough away from the big-box brouhaha to be out of the firing line.

“The giants are going to kill each other and the little guys close to them,” he said. “We’re small, but we’re a whole two miles away. I don’t think they’ll put us out of business.

“But if I’m gone in two years,” he added, “you’ll know I was wrong.”

By the time Eagle Hardware and Home Depot exchange blows in Coeur d’Alene, the retailers will be well into a contest that started almost as soon as Eagle opened its first store in 1989. The hardware chain now has 31 stores in eight states. According to Eagle President Rich Takata, Home Depot has stores in 75 percent of the markets he serves, making it his largest competitor.

But then, as North America’s fastest-growing hardware chain, Home Depot is everyone’s largest competitor.

The company had more than 560 outlets in the U.S. and Canada at midyear and plans to open in 34 new locations in the next three months.

Badraun believes North Idaho is too small for both companies and that only one of the giants will be around after the dust settles.

“But during that time period, it’ll be a real blood bath,” the Duncan’s owner said.

Michael DiNoto, a professor of economics at the University of Idaho, agrees there will be a blood-letting, but predicts Home Depot and Eagle Hardware will manage to turn a profit in Coeur d’Alene.

“They may drive a whole bunch of smaller folk out of business in the process, but I have a feeling they’ll survive,” DiNoto said.

He cited growth in Post Falls and recent population data showing that Coeur d’Alene now has more residents than Lewiston as proof of a national-caliber retail market.

In the end, DiNoto explained, customers always will favor lower prices over loyalty to local merchants.

The hidden cost, according to Badraun, comes when employers disappear and take jobs with them.

“Are big-box stores good for the community?” he asked. “That’s the age-old question, isn’t it? There may be a price savings on the hammer, but there’s a price to pay beyond the hammer.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo