DIY retail history in 150 issues

1/1989 Women take bigger interest in DIY Women are increasingly involved in the DIY field. Whereas they were reluctant previously, they are now tackling even difficult jobs. They are also developing brand loyalty to a particular store. This is the result of research by the Payless group which compiled a comparison to 1983. The women believed that they do a better job than men, especially in decorating. But, they also felt confident as plumbers and in many other DIY fields. 6/1991 Mad onslaught on Praktiker in Athens Praktiker, the German DIY superstore operator, ventured onto what is virtually a DIY noman’s-land with the opening of its first store in the Greek capital. Even after the turbulent opening, however, it is not certain that Greece will yet prove to be a “sleeping beauty” so far as DIY stores are concerned, relatively difficult as it is to service logistically from Central Europe, not to mention the current difficult political situation in Yugoslavia. 4/1993 Baumax paves the way in Hungary Now the citizens of Budapest have a Baumax of their own, was what presumably went through the minds of the odd one or two of them on 2nd June. Which was the day when the Austrian group’s first DIY superstore within the catchment area of the Hungarian capital opened its doors at Erd on the southern outskirts of Budapest. 4/1990 Newsflash GDR Price reductions as high as 70 per cent in the Leipzig Hand-werkerzentrum. Now there is room for the huge product ranges of western manufacturers. It can only be hoped that a bit of space will be left on the shelves for GDR-produced goods as well. 1/1992 1992 DIY’TEC, the builders’ and DIY supplies trade fair On 8th march the gates will open again and trade visitors from all over the world will come in their tens of thousands to Cologne to catch up on new ideas at what is probably the most important trade fair for the DIY sector. This year things have progressed even further and the booming DIY sector has been granted the status of an independent fir: “DIY’TEC”. 6/1994 Quality as a selling point What is “Total Quality Management (TQM)”, the much-quoted expression of a fashionable trend that has engulfed our executive floors, or “the answer to what is perhaps today’s most urgent and relevant challenge to industry”? Companies hoping still to exist in the marketplace in the year 2000 must play by the rules of the game, one of which comes under the heading of “quality”. 6-7/1996 First Koçta˛s DIY store in Izmir Turkey cannot…