Home Depot continues to experiment

Under the latest diversification efforts of CEO Bob Nardelli, Home Depot is testing the possibility of converting unused parking spaces into …

The Top 30 in Europe und North America

Radically customer-responsive

Toom, the German DIY retail chain that is part of the Rewe group of companies, has geared its latest store entirely to the customer. A development t…

Slower rhythm

Agnès RichardDIY in Europe, FranceEditor-in-chief, Univers HebdoWill 2006 be the year when the French are won over to do-it-yourself? That is open to question. DIY …

Growth for Belgium’s DIY market

In comparison with the neighbouring Netherlands and the majority of the DIY markets in western Europe, the world of  DIY retailing is still in…

Service calls for financial support

Multimate, the Dutch DIY retail chain, now numbers more than 60 outlets. Everything revolves around service in these stores. And there is also a…

Quality competition invigorates the market

In the course of a DIY seminar organised by the Dutch specialist magazine, Mix, Albrecht Hornbach, chairman of Hornbach Holding AG, spoke…

Market conditions are getting tougher

For the first time in years, the DIY retail trade in the Netherlands had to take a sales decrease of nearly two per cent in 2005

First Platform store in Germany

Saint Gobain has opened a first specialist store in the “Platform Building Materials” format, a distribution concept that is positioned …

Service comes first

In its 20 stores the Portuguese DIY retailer, Maxmat, offers a broad range of services that includes installation by tradesmen

Castorama success story in Italy

Over the past four years, Castorama has enabled Kingfisher to double the group’s sales in Italy. This year will see the opening of the first …

Foreign to the trade, or a foreign trade?

Bert Hoogeland, DIY in Europe, Netherlands, Managing editor of MixSuppliers of branded goods don’t have it easy. Here in the Dutch …

Compare your performance with that of top-flight retailers

Are you content just to be profitable, or would you like to improve your performance and profitability?

Austrian window market is recovering

Since the Austrian window market hit rock-bottom in 2002, it has shown positive growth for the third year in a row. The introduction of the …