Home Depot Free Toy Truck: Kids Workshop

[Alpha8472]

Apparently every first Saturday of the month is a free kids workshop where your kid can build something for free. This Saturday is a free Home Depot Delivery truck.

I kind of wish that they would let adults make one too.

https://www.homedepot.com/c/kids?irgwc= ... 8TlRQJsW40

[wnetmacman]

Apparently every first Saturday of the month is a free kids workshop where your kid can build something for free. This Saturday is a free Home Depot Delivery truck.

I kind of wish that they would let adults make one too.

https://www.homedepot.com/c/kids?irgwc= ... 8TlRQJsW40

Both Home Depot and Lowe's did just this for a very long time; I have pictures taking my daughter (who will be 16 on Thursday) to Lowe's when she was between 2 and 3 all the way up until she was in school. Did the same for Home Depot. Both companies discontinued it about 8 years ago - Lowe's excuse at the time was that staff did not have the time to do this *and* their job. You can still buy the kits in the store.

Lowe's appears to be doing this again too:
https://www.lowes.com/diy-projects-and-ideas/workshops

[mjhale]

In the late 80s and early 90s I worked for Hechinger which was a regional northeastern US home improvement chain. We held some kind of home improvement clinic almost every weekend. A lot of the topics were more female oriented like closest organizing techniques, planting a flower garden or home decorating tips. There were the typical guy stuff too like hanging drywall or framing a wall. We also did the kids workshops as have been described here in the fall and leading up to Christmas. The clinics were a real draw for people to come into the store. Even with the much more basic sales auditing tools we had back then we could tell there was an upswing in sales in the hours after the home improvement clinics. On the surface the clinics were an educational initiative for the customer. But, like everything else in retail, it was about selling more product. After all, if you plant the seed in someone's mind that they too can organize their out of control closet and the product is right behind you, people will buy, buy, buy.

[babs]

In the late 80s and early 90s I worked for Hechinger which was a regional northeastern US home improvement chain. We held some kind of home improvement clinic almost every weekend. A lot of the topics were more female oriented like closest organizing techniques, planting a flower garden or home decorating tips. There were the typical guy stuff too like hanging drywall or framing a wall. We also did the kids workshops as have been described here in the fall and leading up to Christmas. The clinics were a real draw for people to come into the store. Even with the much more basic sales auditing tools we had back then we could tell there was an upswing in sales in the hours after the home improvement clinics. On the surface the clinics were an educational initiative for the customer. But, like everything else in retail, it was about selling more product. After all, if you plant the seed in someone's mind that they too can organize their out of control closet and the product is right behind you, people will buy, buy, buy.

I remember when Home Depot had bleachers in the front of the store and regularly held classes. I thought it was such an awesome customer engagement program but it died with the GE exec came in and changed HD from a fun startup to a faceless corporation.

[Romr123]

Yeah, say what you will about the odious politics versus the local Atlanta philanthropy of Bernie Marcus, but they could do programming like this and it was brand-appropriate and served a purpose.

[buckguy]

Yeah, say what you will about the odious politics versus the local Atlanta philanthropy of Bernie Marcus, but they could do programming like this and it was brand-appropriate and served a purpose.

Marcus gets mixed reviews in Atlanta because of things like the new football stadium. When Home Depot, posted declines in profits back in the early 2000s, they cut back on store hours and staffing. It was very obvious when this happened and why. The most experienced people quickly were gone from the stores, including the flagships and it's quickly gone down hill from there.

[storewanderer]

Yeah, say what you will about the odious politics versus the local Atlanta philanthropy of Bernie Marcus, but they could do programming like this and it was brand-appropriate and served a purpose.

Marcus gets mixed reviews in Atlanta because of things like the new football stadium. When Home Depot, posted declines in profits back in the early 2000s, they cut back on store hours and staffing. It was very obvious when this happened and why. The most experienced people quickly were gone from the stores, including the flagships and it's quickly gone down hill from there.

Not to mention how their pricing is (not that Lowe's is any better). Sure not the deep discount pricing these big stores had in the 90's and 00's as they were squeezing out all of the medium sized chains.

[veteran+]

Isn't THAT interesting

Put the small guys out of business and then jack up the prices........................shocking!

Wassup FTC?