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With these new stores both companies mark their second Alaska locations. Home Depot and Lowe's operate one store each in Anchorage.
The new stores should add more than 200 full- and part-time jobs to the Alaska retail market.
Home Depot is breaking into its northernmost market, opening its first Fairbanks store Feb. 28. The 130,500-square-foot store is on the Johansen Expressway.
"This is a last frontier for Home Depot," said company spokesman Chuck Sifuentes. "We had no presence in the middle of the state" before plans for the new Fairbanks store, he said.
The retailer now runs stores in every state except West Virginia.
Fairbanks store manager John Romeu agrees the retailer's debut in Interior Alaska is significant.
"I think if you were to characterize the 1,250 stores we have, this store is strategically the most important," said Romeu, who has managed Home Depot stores in other cold-weather markets in Wisconsin and Minnesota.
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"Because of the remoteness of our location, this is one of the biggest challenges out there," Romeu said.
The company aims to minimize shipping costs by working with area vendors to supply some products, he said. In Anchorage, Home Depot is already working with Alaska vendors, and that program will continue in Fairbanks, Romeu said. Some area vendors plan to expand to serve the new Fairbanks store, he noted.
Alaska Countertops serves the Anchorage Home Depot and expects to open a Fairbanks office with about four employees to serve the new Fairbanks store, he said.
The retailer's buyers are working to pinpoint other Alaska vendors, and Romeu expects to add Fairbanks area vendors for the gardening season.
Although Home Depot officials didn't yet list items stocked specifically for Fairbanks, that store will have Alaska-ready products chosen for the Anchorage store, he said.
In Fairbanks Home Depot will open with 137 full- and part-time employees including 12 managers with two from Fairbanks, Romeu said. Of the total employees, about half will work full time, he said.
A job fair at the Fairbanks Regency Hotel Jan. 5-6 drew strong response. During the Saturday and Sunday event Home Depot received 1,300 applications, an increase from a typical two-week hiring period which yields between 150 to 200 applications, Romeu said.
"I've never seen a job fair like this," he said.
Another round of hiring is due this spring. Just as many retailers add employees to handle the holiday retail season, Home Depot boosts its roster for its busy season in summer, Sifuentes said.
The February opening is the result of a summer construction start, Sifuentes said.
"We build them in the summer and open in the winter," Romeu noted.
For the grand opening, Home Depot will open at 6 a.m. and close at 10 p.m. Regular operating hours are 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday.
Home Depot in Anchorage will be open 24 hours during summer. Romeu will evaluate the possibility of extended hours based on customer demand.
Some Fairbanks residents are excited about the new store, Romeu said.
"People are telling me they are going to spend the entire first day at the store," he said, adding that customers enjoy planning decorating or other home improvement projects. "It's a dream place."
Last year Home Depot officials sketched plans for a second Anchorage store. That project was canceled because of site acquisition issues rather than concerns about a slowing national economy, Sifuentes said.
Instead competitor Lowe's expects to open its No. 2 Anchorage location later this year.
Officials from Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse of Wilkesboro, N.C., say construction continues on its second store in Anchorage, at the corner of Old Seward Highway and O'Malley Road.
The store could open in spring or early summer, spokeswoman Tawn Earnest told the Journal last fall.
Current site work began in early October, she said.
A new Lowe's store should total about 150,000 square feet, including 28,000 to 30,000 square feet for a lawn and garden center. Stores of this size typically employ 175 to 200 people with 85 percent of those employees working full time.
The two new hardware retailers have already had an affect on Alaska business during construction.
Members of Associated General Contractors of Alaska, including general contractor Roger Hickel Contracting Inc. of Anchorage, participated in the Home Depot project, said executive director Dick Cattanach.
Once open, the two stores will probably affect do-it-yourself builders rather than contractors, he said.
Spenard Builders Supply, an Alaska hardware store with several statewide locations, has refined its strategy to emphasize niche markets and services.
"No doubt the competitive climate of our business has changed with the addition of Home Depot and Lowe's," said SBS spokeswoman Pat Anderson. "We've kept our focus on larger home improvement projects, new residential construction and commercial building projects."
Construction of large commercial projects like Home Depot and Lowe's has attracted laborers away from residential building during a tight labor market, said Chuck Spinelli, president of the Anchorage Home Builders Association Inc.
"What is acute right now is availability of labor," said Spinelli who also is president and owner of Spinell Homes Inc.
Construction time for a typical house has extended from 60 days to nearly five months thanks to a lack of workers, he said. Paychecks for commercial construction have outpaced residential projects, luring away workers, he said.
