CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM Aloma Wang is renovating the 60-year-old home she bought in Manoa, and performing most of the renovations herself. Hardware stores say female shoppers like Wang are becoming an increasingly large percentage of their customers.

Hardware stores focus
on their women shoppers

Who they are

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By Lyn Danninger
ldanninger@starbulletin.com

The stereotypical image of a hardware store shopper, even 10 years ago, was likely to be a slightly overweight middle-aged man dressed in a stained t-shirt, wearing a pair of jeans weighed down to an uncomfortably revealing level by a large tool belt.

Today, it is more likely to be someone like Aloma Wang or Cherri Larson.

Both are fashionably dressed, spend a lot of time in hardware stores buying materials for a variety of do-it-yourself home improvement projects -- and are women. The demographic shift has not gone unnoticed by Hawaii hardware stores. Not only are they making it their business to know exactly what women like Wang and Larson expect, they are catering to their tastes.

With most of the bigger projects already done in her Ewa Beach home, Larson is now concentrating on decorative touches like the faux-tile finish to her patio, or the wooden arbor she recently designed and built.

CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM Aloma Wang's Manoa home.

"I needed something to frame the lanai doors that was not necessarily permanent and could be moved around if necessary," she said. Comfortable with a variety of tools and building materials, Larson said the project, which included cutting lumber and lattice to the correct size, connecting the pieces with decking screws, and anchoring the completed structure, took her about two days.

Wang, who recently purchased an older home in Manoa for herself and her son, is planning to do most of the renovation work herself.

Home Depot, the national big-box hardware retailer, conducted a survey among women customers earlier this year to confirm what they had been seeing in their stores, more women showing an interest in home improvement.

CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM Aloma Wang credits reading and research with giving her the confidence to begin her home improvement projects, a trend that has caught the attention of hardware stores.

"It's true," said Kathryn Gallagher, a Home Depot spokeswoman. "The survey confirms our assumptions."

Gallagher notes that 37 percent of their survey respondents said they would rather do home improvements than go to the mall (28 percent) or cook (25 percent).

"We do recognize now that female shoppers are a majority of our business," she said.

Larson is not surprised at the results.

"I can spend all day at the hardware store but only about 10 minutes at the mall. I'd definitely rather spend the day at the home improvement store," she said.

Moreover, the survey found that 54 percent of women vs. 51 percent of men said they were currently working on a home improvement project.

Gallagher said she believes at least one reason for the popularity of home improvement projects is the growing number of new tools that are comfortable for women to use.

"There are lighter weights, rubber grips, no cords, things that are easier for women to use," she said.

Larson agrees.

"I started out with a small, but heavier, power drill. Now the drill I have is powerful, but light in weight so I can handle it easier," she said.

Tool design has improved in the past five to 10 years, according to Dan Marsh, manager at Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse in Waikele. Many of the new products are ergonomically designed to better accommodate women's smaller hands.

"They are more streamlined and weigh less, so in general can be used by a novice," Marsh said. Tool companies are well aware of the growing demographic shift, said Home Depot's Gallagher.

"A lot of the (tool) companies are going after the female consumer," she said. "I think the vendors are smart to do it. It's fashionable and trendy."

The appeal of home improvement projects for women may also be partially explained by the growing number of single women who now own property. According to the Home Depot survey, 57 percent of its female shoppers own their homes.

Many don't want to go the expense of hiring a contractor or a finding a good handyman, especially for relatively simple tasks.

The availability of how-to classes offered in hardware stores has also encouraged women, both Marsh and Gallagher said.

At Home Depot's Iwilei store, Kenneth Boyce, known as Kenny B. to his students, conducts a variety of how-to classes for those wanting to learn.

Usually the classes are at least 50 percent women and sometimes higher depending on the topic, he said.

His women students gain confidence after learning to do something new, he said.

"A lot of times the women are unsure so I build confidence in them," Boyce said

Sometimes the results are so successful that after completing a project, former students have brought in photos to show him the finished product.

"They get very excited about it because there is a lot of self-accomplishment there," said Rick Hutchinson, an assistant manager at the Iwilei Home Depot who has taught classes there. "Forget about saving money, it's the self-satisfaction of accomplishing it yourself,"

With more women now making a trip to the hardware store a regular part of their routine, retailers are also reorganizing.

Marsh, from Lowe's, notes that the physical focus of his store is on designer products, such as kitchen and bathroom displays.

"The first thing you hit is the kitchen area. We have what you would call the 'uglies' around the outside, with the core, more attractive things in the interior," he said. "The focus there is more on core designer products than nuts and bolts." Home Depot stores are designed similarly.

"Now it's a more inviting atmosphere," spokeswoman Gallagher said. "It's also how women like to shop and still have all the things they need so we are making it more female-friendly with things like appliance showrooms, wider isles and the lighting is lower."

Women at work

Back in Manoa, Wang estimates it will take her about 18 months to complete all the projects she has planned for her 60-year-old home.

Her to-do list includes tiling, painting, replacing bathroom fixtures, creating a large picture window in her living room to replace two existing windows, knocking out a wall in the kitchen and stripping existing wallpaper off a bedroom wall.

Wang knows she's going to be spending a lot of time in hardware stores, even though she already has her own large collection of tools.

"Certainly hardware stores are very helpful now," she said. "They are much more respectful and recognize that gender doesn't come into play."

Says Larson: "They don't automatically ask 'Is there is a man at home to help you?'"

Wang, who is an interior designer, said her professional training helped in seeing what was possible for the house.

But it was watching contractors at work on some of her professional projects and doing extensive reading that gave her the confidence to take on more complicated projects.

For example, one of her projects will be installing a new more modern-style sink in the bathroom.

"I'm comfortable with renovations, that's part of my work, so it takes the apprehension and the unknown away," she said.

Except for knocking out the kitchen wall and some electrical re-wiring where she will use contractors, Wang will be doing all her own renovations.

She started doing projects herself about eight years ago, after a divorce.

"When I was married, we just hired someone to do it. So when I found myself single and had moved into a place where the landlord wouldn't do any improvements but was happy to buy me the supplies, that's how it started," she said.

Wang said she also spent a lot of time at the library researching projects and figuring out what she needed to do.

She learned that much of a successful home improvement project is also good planning, allowing enough time and being prepared for the unforeseen, she said.

"Sometimes simple jobs can become complicated, like pulling tiles and finding dry rot underneath," she said.

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Tool box >> 37 percent of the female Home Depot shoppers said they would prefer to spend their weekend leisure time working on a home improvement project rather than shopping in a mall (28 percent) or cooking/baking (25 percent). >> Women accounted for nearly 38 percent of all do-it-yourself product purchases in 2001, according to the American Hardware Manufacturers Association, and >> 65 percent of women surveyed were actively involved with home improvement. >> 82 percent of women said they undertook home improvement projects with the goal to make their homes more comfortable or livable, according to survey by Owens Corning. >> 75 percent wanted their homes prettier. >> 62 percent wanted to make their homes easier to maintain.