Did Cyndi Lauper work there at one time or something?

First of its kind

Hechinger could have been as big as home depot or Lowes.

Speaking of Lowes, wasn't there a Lowes in Vienna years ago? In a much smaller building about the size of a mom and pop hardware store?

Remember me? I'm still around, lurking in the shadows.

gjy,b Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hechinger could have been as big as home depot or
> Lowes.

I worked for Hechinger around the time everything came off the rails. It wasn't an unusual story. They failed to keep up and adapt when Home Depot entered the DC and Baltimore markets. A lot of old guard management and employees were unwilling to change to compete with what Home Depot was offering. There was also an assumption that folks would continue to shop at hechinger because it was the hometown chain even though Home Depot had better selection and lower prices.

> Speaking of Lowes, wasn't there a Lowes in Vienna
> years ago? In a much smaller building about the
> size of a mom and pop hardware store?

The current Whole Foods building in Vienna started its life as a Lowe's. Not sure when Lowe's closed there.

Old Timer DC Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> gjy,b Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Hechinger could have been as big as home depot
> or
> > Lowes.
>
> I worked for Hechinger around the time everything
> came off the rails. It wasn't an unusual story.
> They failed to keep up and adapt when Home Depot
> entered the DC and Baltimore markets. A lot of
> old guard management and employees were unwilling
> to change to compete with what Home Depot was
> offering. There was also an assumption that folks
> would continue to shop at hechinger because it was
> the hometown chain even though Home Depot had
> better selection and lower prices.
>
> > Speaking of Lowes, wasn't there a Lowes in
> Vienna
> > years ago? In a much smaller building about the
> > size of a mom and pop hardware store?
>
> The current Whole Foods building in Vienna started
> its life as a Lowe's. Not sure when Lowe's closed
> there.

I remember those days. Hechingers prices were way above Home Depot and management never caught on. They seemed to think they had a monopoly but
they didn't. A friend of mine (IT) worked in their PG County Hq for a
couple of years and told me their computer hardware and software was dated
but they refused to spend the money for upgrades and what they had was
worn out. They were clinging to an IBM-360 and using keypunch as the
input when the rest of the world passed them by.

dlybvt Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> They were clinging to an IBM-360 and
> using keypunch as the
> input when the rest of the world passed them by.

Yeah, no they weren't. The maintenance cost alone on hardware that old would have forced an upgrade long before (and long before then, wasn't even available). Now, they may have been running on IBM mainframes, but that isn't a sign of being behind the times--the largest corporations in the country all still rely on mainframes. But for sure Hechinger's was complacent and that killed them.

Yes that Lowes was in Vienna . That was a good while back it seems now when they were not the name they are today. Hechinger had large stores where you could get all kinds of things, but none were as big as a Home Dept or Lowes today, Then Hechinger opened some very large stores Where the Giant Food is on Rt 50 in Fairfax, On Rt 1 at Hybla Valley Where the " International Food Store" don't know the name is in the center on Backlick road near the Burger King, but none of them were as big a Todays Home Depots or Lowes.

There was a Channel hardware place like Hechingers and a Builders Square too Down at the Old Memco on Pickett Road in Fairfax. Or was Channel a dept store?? Anyway Hechingers was a good place to buy a lot of things for a long time. I don't know if they sold stoves, appliances like Lowes and Home Depot do today. I rented then so it did not matter to me. Also the Micro Center at Pan n Am was one of those places I think that may have been the Channel. Been a good while back now. And that store as a big Woolco store when it first opened owned by WW Woolworth



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/11/2015 09:26PM by Double Action Jackson.

I remember Channel. It was a total dump. At least the one up in Rockville, MD where I lived up until the very early 1990s was. Someone told me that the now Wal-Mart at the Dulles Expo Center was originally a Builders Square. Hechinger didn't sell appliances during the time that I worked for them. But you are right that they sold just about everything else that Home Depot and Lowe's sell now. The Hechinger Home Project Centers were their answer to Home Depot as at the the time they were building them Lowe's was really not in the DC market to the extent they are now. The Home Project Centers had much larger selections and lower prices than traditional Hechinger stores. Still no major appliances that I remember. But still it was too little too late.

Lowe's apparently had several smaller Northern Virginia stores that date back to the early 1970s. Vienna is one of them. They seem to have all been gone by the very early 1990s. Then Lowe's came back with the large stores they are building now.

> ^ Lowe's apparently had several smaller Northern Virginia stores that date back to the early 1970s. Vienna is one of them. They seem to have all been gone by the very early 1990s. Then Lowe's came back with the large stores they are building now.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

That's what I remember, The Lowes went way back and they had a following as I remember people talking about them as a good place. And was the Lowes in Vienna a Southern States Later or before.? I don't remember a Builders Square out at Dulles Expo, but that may have been what it was I started going to Boat Shows there early mid 90's.

Greybeard Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> dlybvt Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > They were clinging to an IBM-360 and
> > using keypunch as the
> > input when the rest of the world passed them
> by.
>
> Yeah, no they weren't. The maintenance cost alone
> on hardware that old would have forced an upgrade
> long before (and long before then, wasn't even
> available). Now, they may have been running on IBM
> mainframes, but that isn't a sign of being behind
> the times--the largest corporations in the country
> all still rely on mainframes. But for sure
> Hechinger's was complacent and that killed them.

I distinctly recall my friend telling me IBM had sent a letter to all their customers saying that after a certain date they would no longer provide maintenance on their 029 Keypunch Machines but Hechingers decided to keep them and contract with a Beltway Bandit who owned a warehouse full. They cannibalized for parts and hired former IBM techs to keep it going.

BTW, my friend left Hechingers after a couple of years because their management sucked and created a hostile work environment. He went to work for the Social
Security Admin and retired as a GS-15. Said it was the smartest move he ever
made in his life.

Greybeard Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> dlybvt Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > They were clinging to an IBM-360 and
> > using keypunch as the
> > input when the rest of the world passed them
> by.
>
> Yeah, no they weren't. The maintenance cost alone
> on hardware that old would have forced an upgrade
> long before (and long before then, wasn't even
> available). Now, they may have been running on IBM
> mainframes, but that isn't a sign of being behind
> the times--the largest corporations in the country
> all still rely on mainframes. But for sure
> Hechinger's was complacent and that killed them.

I can't tell you what Hechinger was using for their central computers but up until 1993 they were using NCR 2151, 2152 and one newer model in the stores that were built from 1987 on. The registers were hooked up to this huge file cabinet size CPU unit that was usually at the Service Desk. Somehow it communicated with HQ and got pricing info as well as credit authorizations. Those old CPUs were total bitches. They overheated, blew disk units and all kinds of crazy stuff. Also no power backup. Any time there was an issue with the CPU, bam, no prices, no credit authorization. And none of the merchandise was physically priced. Imagine that hell on a busy weekend.

In 1993 Hechinger upgraded all of their register and inventory systems to an integrated system made by ICL. Much more reliable plus we finally had some basic inventory info as to what was in the stores that had been converted. I worked on a training team that went to different stores once they had been converted over to the new system. The people who had been around for 20+ years thought they were having their first child ripped from them and would begrudgingly use the new stuff. I think what they were afriad of was the new system had much more extensive cash and transaction tracking systems so it was harder to get away with stuff.

I worked for Hechinger until mid-1995. Good job, good people especially for the first half of the time I worked there. But the end was a mess because of all their missteps in dealing with new competition. I'm glad I got out when I did. I would not have wanted to be there after the company sold to the private equity firm.

Hechinger sucked. Always Out Of Stock on common items. Always understaffed and overpriced. So glad they are gone.

Double Ajax Unsigned Wrote:
------------------------------------------------------
> I don't remember a Builders Square out
> at Dulles Expo, but that may have been what it was
> I started going to Boat Shows there early mid
> 90's.

Yes, there was. Then Hechinger's bought Builder's Square, and then fell apart. I liked that Builder's Square--staff were engaged and friendly. At one point I was trying to buy some sweeping compound; Hechinger's and Lowe's didn't have it. I asked at Builder's Square, and they said "We don't sell it, but we use it, so why don't we sell it? Come back next week." So I did, and they had some to sell. I probably still have most of a box somewhere...

There was a Lowe's around the corner (sorta) from there, on Metrotech, where Lotte Plaza is now.

dlybvt Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I distinctly recall my friend telling me IBM had
> sent a letter to all their customers saying that
> after a certain date they would no longer provide
> maintenance on their 029 Keypunch Machines but
> Hechingers decided to keep them and contract with
> a Beltway Bandit who owned a warehouse full. They
> cannibalized for parts and hired former IBM techs
> to keep it going.

Sure, 029s were still around for a while, at least as late as 1986 in one shop I knew. And there was a guy in Pennsylvania who maintained them until sometime after 2000. Then he DIED -- he was something like 86!

But 360s were obsolete as of 1972 or so. By 1980, running one was a money pit. And anything that could run on a 360 would run on a 370, so there was no point in keeping the old beasties.

Mind you, your friend may just have been confused about the name.

You are still thinking about Hechingers? Really? This thread is as timely as the guy bitching about his cable box from 15 years ago.

Edit

John Hechinger, Sr. helped pioneer the do-it-yourself industry; from a single hardware store established by his father (Sidney) in 1911, Hechinger grew to a 64-store chain by the time it acquired Virginia Beach, Virginia-based HQ Home Quarters Warehouse in December 1987 for $66 million. In the 1980s, it underwent a massive expansion of both HQ and the Hechinger Co. divisions, opening big-box stores to better compete with rivals Home Depot and Lowe's.

Hechinger was one of the first sponsors of network television news in the early 1950s, when television was in its infancy. Their sponsorship of the 11:00 p.m. newscast at T.V. station WTOP in Washington, D.C., was a first, according to Walter Cronkite (an anchor of those broadcasts) in his autobiography A Reporter's Life. Walter Cronkite also reported that the products of this particular business, such as sheet rock, tools, and other appliances, did not compare to their competitors' quality of products. Therefore, he did not recommend the use or purchase of these products due to the nature of their insufficient qualities.[citation needed]

1980s-1990sEdit
Hechinger continued to lose money in the 1980s, however. The Hechinger family sold the company to Los Angeles, California-based investors Leonard Green & Partners for $507 million in July 1997, and the management launched new, smaller concept stores called Better Spaces and Wye River Hardware & Home, searching for a niche. Hechinger was merged with San Antonio, Texas-based Builders Square, formerly owned by Kmart.

Bankruptcy and demiseEdit
After several rounds of store closings, the Hechinger Company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on June 11, 1999, but the reorganization failed. Later that year, in September 1999, Hechinger's assets were liquidated, including its 117 remaining stores.

Online revivalEdit
In 2004, Home Decor Products bought the Hechinger brand name and opened an online retailer the following year,[1] which sold the same products as the former brand. On February 5, 2009, it was announced that the site would shut down and Hechinger would no longer sell tools. The site closed shortly thereafter.

giddyup Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You are still thinking about Hechingers? Really?
> This thread is as timely as the guy bitching about
> his cable box from 15 years ago.

The arrogance of youth. Hechingers is a case study in how businesses fail. In part, through arrogance.

the more you know Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Edit
>
> John Hechinger, Sr. helped pioneer the
> do-it-yourself industry; from a single hardware
> store established by his father (Sidney) in 1911,
> Hechinger grew to a 64-store chain by the time it
> acquired Virginia Beach, Virginia-based HQ Home
> Quarters Warehouse in December 1987 for $66
> million. In the 1980s, it underwent a massive
> expansion of both HQ and the Hechinger Co.
> divisions, opening big-box stores to better
> compete with rivals Home Depot and Lowe's.
>
> Hechinger was one of the first sponsors of network
> television news in the early 1950s, when
> television was in its infancy. Their sponsorship
> of the 11:00 p.m. newscast at T.V. station WTOP
> in Washington, D.C., was a first, according to
> Walter Cronkite (an anchor of those broadcasts) in
> his autobiography A Reporter's Life. Walter
> Cronkite also reported that the products of this
> particular business, such as sheet rock, tools,
> and other appliances, did not compare to their
> competitors' quality of products. Therefore, he
> did not recommend the use or purchase of these
> products due to the nature of their insufficient
> qualities.[citation needed]
>
> 1980s-1990sEdit
> Hechinger continued to lose money in the 1980s,
> however. The Hechinger family sold the company to
> Los Angeles, California-based investors Leonard
> Green & Partners for $507 million in July 1997,
> and the management launched new, smaller concept
> stores called Better Spaces and Wye River Hardware
> & Home, searching for a niche. Hechinger was
> merged with San Antonio, Texas-based Builders
> Square, formerly owned by Kmart.
>
> Bankruptcy and demiseEdit
> After several rounds of store closings, the
> Hechinger Company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
> protection on June 11, 1999, but the
> reorganization failed. Later that year, in
> September 1999, Hechinger's assets were
> liquidated, including its 117 remaining stores.
>
> Online revivalEdit
> In 2004, Home Decor Products bought the Hechinger
> brand name and opened an online retailer the
> following year,[1] which sold the same products as
> the former brand. On February 5, 2009, it was
> announced that the site would shut down and
> Hechinger would no longer sell tools. The site
> closed shortly thereafter.

John Hechinger was on the board of directors of Handgun Control Inc.,
the forerunner of the Violence Policy Center. (Brady Bunch) Once I found out
I never spent another dime in their stores. He was also a strong advocate
of home rule for the District, one of the stupidest ideas around. I know
Marion Barry would have loved to have been called, "Senator" but lets be
serious. Jessie and Al would be moving to DC just to line their own pockets.
"Governor" Sharon Pratt-Dixon? Laughable at best.

sasb Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> the more you know Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Edit
> >
> > John Hechinger, Sr. helped pioneer the
> > do-it-yourself industry; from a single hardware
> > store established by his father (Sidney) in
> 1911,
> > Hechinger grew to a 64-store chain by the time
> it
> > acquired Virginia Beach, Virginia-based HQ Home
> > Quarters Warehouse in December 1987 for $66
> > million. In the 1980s, it underwent a massive
> > expansion of both HQ and the Hechinger Co.
> > divisions, opening big-box stores to better
> > compete with rivals Home Depot and Lowe's.
> >
> > Hechinger was one of the first sponsors of
> network
> > television news in the early 1950s, when
> > television was in its infancy. Their
> sponsorship
> > of the 11:00 p.m. newscast at T.V. station
> WTOP
> > in Washington, D.C., was a first, according to
> > Walter Cronkite (an anchor of those broadcasts)
> in
> > his autobiography A Reporter's Life. Walter
> > Cronkite also reported that the products of
> this
> > particular business, such as sheet rock, tools,
> > and other appliances, did not compare to their
> > competitors' quality of products. Therefore, he
> > did not recommend the use or purchase of these
> > products due to the nature of their
> insufficient
> > qualities.[citation needed]
> >
> > 1980s-1990sEdit
> > Hechinger continued to lose money in the 1980s,
> > however. The Hechinger family sold the company
> to
> > Los Angeles, California-based investors Leonard
> > Green & Partners for $507 million in July 1997,
> > and the management launched new, smaller
> concept
> > stores called Better Spaces and Wye River
> Hardware
> > & Home, searching for a niche. Hechinger was
> > merged with San Antonio, Texas-based Builders
> > Square, formerly owned by Kmart.
> >
> > Bankruptcy and demiseEdit
> > After several rounds of store closings, the
> > Hechinger Company filed for Chapter 11
> bankruptcy
> > protection on June 11, 1999, but the
> > reorganization failed. Later that year, in
> > September 1999, Hechinger's assets were
> > liquidated, including its 117 remaining stores.
> >
> > Online revivalEdit
> > In 2004, Home Decor Products bought the
> Hechinger
> > brand name and opened an online retailer the
> > following year,[1] which sold the same products
> as
> > the former brand. On February 5, 2009, it was
> > announced that the site would shut down and
> > Hechinger would no longer sell tools. The site
> > closed shortly thereafter.
>
> John Hechinger was on the board of directors of
> Handgun Control Inc.,
> the forerunner of the Violence Policy Center.
> (Brady Bunch) Once I found out
> I never spent another dime in their stores. He was
> also a strong advocate
> of home rule for the District, one of the
> stupidest ideas around. I know
> Marion Barry would have loved to have been called,
> "Senator" but lets be
> serious. Jessie and Al would be moving to DC just
> to line their own pockets.
> "Governor" Sharon Pratt-Dixon? Laughable at best.

Oops. Should have said Sharon Pratt-Kelly. My bad.

To answer the original question, what supposedly made Hechingers unusual was that they carried a wide variety of stuff other than lumber.

Back in the day there were these things called "lumber yards." If you needed wood and some limited other associated building materials, that's where you went. That's what they sold - wood. Real wood not the stuff that sort of looks like it at Home Depot that you have to sort through a pallet of to find two marginally decent pieces. Crazy idea huh?

There still are a few around but they're kept secret from most suburban white folks who no longer have any clue what to do with it anyway.

Dart Home kicked ass compared to Hechinger.
Attachments:

Great album.

Manuel Labor Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> To answer the original question, what supposedly
> made Hechingers unusual was that they carried a
> wide variety of stuff other than lumber.
>
> Back in the day there were these things called
> "lumber yards." If you needed wood and some
> limited other associated building materials,
> that's where you went. That's what they sold -
> wood. Real wood not the stuff that sort of looks
> like it at Home Depot that you have to sort
> through a pallet of to find two marginally decent
> pieces. Crazy idea huh?
>
> There still are a few around but they're kept
> secret from most suburban white folks who no
> longer have any clue what to do with it anyway.

Smoot lumber?

Double Ajax Unsigned Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> > ^ Lowe's apparently had several smaller
> Northern Virginia stores that date back to the
> early 1970s. Vienna is one of them. They seem to
> have all been gone by the very early 1990s. Then
> Lowe's came back with the large stores they are
> building now.
> --------------------------------------------------
> --------------------
>
> That's what I remember, The Lowes went way back
> and they had a following as I remember people
> talking about them as a good place. And was the
> Lowes in Vienna a Southern States Later or
> before.? I don't remember a Builders Square out
> at Dulles Expo, but that may have been what it was
> I started going to Boat Shows there early mid
> 90's.

No, Lowe's was not a Southern States in Vienna. Southern States was its own business on the other side of Park Street where Noodles&Co/Chipotle are now, across the street from the old movie theater that is now a bike store. Lowe's was in what is now Whole Paycheck, across the street from the worst restaurant in the world....The Vienna Inn.

Right across the street from the Vienna Inn. Oh well been a while. Dont remember it there just somewhere nearby there.. And I enjoyed the Vienna Inn way back when as it seems everyone did and people traveled far to buy beer in kegs

Drove round Vienna the other day had never seen the train depot Mill St looks about the same Sheets down at the end too. I though for a while they owned the gas stations, maybe they do.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/20/2017 02:47PM by Double Action Jackson.

Double Action Jackson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Right across the street from the Vienna Inn. Oh
> well been a while. Dont remember it there just
> somewhere nearby there.. I did work on weekends in
> Vienna part time, lived in Berkley Sq. 74-75. And
> I enjoyed the Vienna Inn way back when hot dogs
> were .35 cents and a draft beer 37 cents and Jack
> Herrity sat at my table hustling me to vote for
> him for the BOS Chair in 1975. And I did.
>
> Drove round Vienna the other day had never seen
> the train depot Mill St looks about the same
> Sheets down at the end too. I though for a while
> they owned the gas stations, maybe they do.

Those 37 cent hot dogs don't allow much in the way of capitol improvements!!! Last time I was there you could see through the floor of the men's bathroom into the basement.

The reason Hechinger's motto was "The World's Most Unusual Lumber Yard." was because they carried things that nobody else carried. Keep in mind this was in their heyday of the 70's and 80's where they were in fact a monopoly. Their only competition was locally owned hardware stores and that's about it. What also made them unusual was you could get your wood custom cut on the premises. In the early days, they did this for free as part of your purchase...and later they charged. Most lumber yards back then would simply sell you the wood...no custom cutting.

My brother worked for Home Depot back in the 90's when they entered the DC market. He worked in the regional office in operations and still speaks fondly of the coffin Home Depot had on display in the lobby of their building which was draped with a Hechinger flag. Nobody needed daily reminders of what their job was.

Smokin hot chicks used to work as cashiers at Hechingers in Vienna.

I worked there from 87 to 92, age 16 to 21. Lost my virginity multiple times to a few of the hot cashiers there.

I'll stick with Village Hardware, thankyewverymuch.

I worked at Heckinger in Vienna/Tyson's back in the mid/late 70s. Made a lot of friends, lots of after work hanging out and parties. Most people liked their jobs, though upper management sucked.

The difference between now and then is that there were quite a few older retirees working at Hechinger then that really knew what they were doing - they could answer almost any "how to do it" question. If I go into a Home Depot now, the knowledge level (and English) is almost zero, few exceptions.

do it yourself Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> The difference between now and then is that there
> were quite a few older retirees working at
> Hechinger then that really knew what they were
> doing - they could answer almost any "how to do
> it" question. If I go into a Home Depot now, the
> knowledge level (and English) is almost zero, few
> exceptions.

I was replacing a toilet seat a few weeks go and somehow the plastic bolts that came with the new one were lost. I went to HD plumbing department and the clerk
didn't speak English worth a fuck. He kept thinking I needed the whole seat and
could not understand that I only wanted the bolts. I finally gave up and
ordered them online. Sometimes I get the impression they don't want to hire
Americans.

Have to agree about the Vienna Hechingers having the hotest cashiers.

I don't think store size had much to do with Hechingers losing out to Home Depot. The HD in Annadale was formerly a Hechingers. When you factor in outdoor sales areas the Hechingers in Springfield was probably larger than the HD near Springfield mall. I think it was more about management and finances. I believe the Hechinger family sold out and Hechingers went through some risky expansions leaving them in a weak financial condition just before Home Depot rolled into town. When HD arrived I believe they made an effort to recruit former construction workers who knew something about the products they were selling. So you stack up clean new stores with new merchandise and knowledgeable sales staff selling at the same or lower prices, and it was largely a question of when Hechingers money would run out.

Hechinger bought Home Quarters (HQ) in 1987. Ironically, HQ performed much better than Hechinger itself did. The company started putting a lot of resources into HQ and expanded the chain since they were in a better place to compete against Home Depot and Lowes. The financial difficulties that Hechinger encountered were from the Hechinger chain's inability to compete against Home Depot. That ended up doing in Hechinger and HQ. At the time I said that Hechinger should have started building or converting existing stores that were large enough to the HQ format. But again as I've said upstream the old timers simply wouldn't have anything to do with that. Hechinger also bought a small chain called Triangle Building Supply that was in southcentral and northeastern PA. The intent was to convert the stores to Hechinger to build market share in the area. That never happened and Hechinger ended up closing Triangle sometime in the early 1990s.

Hechinger was run by liberals. 'Nuff said.

Bill.N. Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> When HD arrived I believe they made an effort to
> recruit former construction workers who knew
> something about the products they were selling.
> So you stack up clean new stores with new
> merchandise and knowledgeable sales staff selling
> at the same or lower prices, and it was largely a
> question of when Hechingers money would run out.

When they first arrived, Home Depot had tons of stock, helpful, knowledgeable sales poeple, and really low prices. All that of course changed radically once Hechinger's and Lowe's had been done in. Today's HD isn't even a third-world version of what Hechinger's used to be. About all they are good for these days is light bulbs.

Bob Nardelli Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hechinger was run by liberals. 'Nuff said.


Pretty much sums it up. The children of the founder and the Englands only lasted as long as they did because there was no competition. Neither had a clue of how to run a successful business. The Hechinger and England families were more interested being DC elites than "hardware people". Their arrogance and scandals did the company in and they had to sell.

The only thing unusual about Hechinger was that it survived far longer than any other business run by incompetent libtards. But ultimately, natural selection always wins.