Today’s Associated Press carries a story about a re-do going on at Home Depot. A few excerpts from Home Depot strategy is to push customer service again follow.

CEO Bob Nardelli’s challenge is to make the stores more appealing to customers

ATLANTA – A customer service push three years ago by The Home Depot Inc. was hailed as a much-needed change at the home improvement chain. Now, with the economy slowing, the company is again trying with an extra $350 million in changes at its stores.
The company hopes not only to bring in more customers, but to also soothe investors who have driven Home Depot stock down more than 14 percent since the beginning of the year.

Win or lose, Chief Executive Officer Bob Nardelli says he is sticking with his strategy.

“What chairmen and CEOs have to do is prioritize,” Nardelli said in a recent interview in the Atlanta bureau of the Associated Press. “Those that don’t run the risk of trying to satisfy everyone and accomplishing nothing.”

In 2003, as Atlanta-based Home Depot faced a growing challenge from rival Lowe’s, the company said it would spend $400 million that year alone to modernize many of its stores, retrain employees and install computers to teach workers about the products they sell.

…

Davidowitz said Nardelli’s challenge is much the same as it was three years ago – to make Home Depot more appealing to customers by improving service and the feel of its stores. He suggested Nardelli take a cue from other big-box retailers.

“Go to Costco and look at those wonderful people giving out those free samples of food,” Davidowitz said. “Go to Target and look at the feeling you get when you go into the store. That’s what he’s got to go to school on.”

Nardelli said Home Depot doesn’t have its head in the sand.

…

The changes are part of a theme Home Depot has stressed in the past – improving the customer experience – but there is a greater urgency now, analysts say. Same-store sales, a measure that compares sales at stores open at least a year, fell 0.2 percent in the second quarter.

Based on my most recent negative experience with Home Depot this would appear to be the right move. We’ll see…