The Villages Daily Sun

LADY LAKE - It was barely six weeks before her opening date, and the 26-year-old new store manager arrived at her Home Depot that was way behind schedule because of Florida's 2004 hurricanes.

"Normally, when you get to a store, everything is in place to start putting product on the shelf," said Melissa White. "When I walked into this one, there was no parking lot."

The young manager dug in. She erected the steel racking system so that it was merchandise-ready. She interviewed and assembled 120 staff members. She trained them to adhere to fire codes. Then, even though she was a woman, she asserted herself as the go-to person for construction projects and headed off contractors who were instinctively seeking out men to report to.

"I needed to know what was going on," said White.

She knew her company had fourth-quarter sales goals for the store, which was scheduled to open during the last week of the company's fiscal year. "Home Depot has never opened (a store) late."

Only 30 minutes before its sneak preview on Wednesday, the store received its certificate of occupancy. If it hadn't, customers would not have been allowed through its doors, even though a crowd of more than 300 already streamed from the new parking lot.

That night, the Home Depot flourished with sales of more than $22,000.

It didn't seem to matter that a young woman had taken control in what was once a male-dominated field.

Workforce reflects

purchasing power

Thirty years ago, people took note as women became managers. Today, as marketing trends show the highly-charged purchasing power of women, companies strive to reflect their customer bases in their workforces. Statistics show that more and more women are becoming managers.

"It's clear that women do not select themselves out of occupations, where as in the past, they might have said, 'Well, maybe I want to be a manager, but I'm not going to be a manager in Lowe's or Home Depot,' " said Ed Potter, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Employment Policy Foundation, which performs economic analysis from Bureau of Labor Statistics and Census Bureau statistics.

"The majority of managers are women and not men," Potter said, "And that trendline will be substantial over the next 10 years."

Purchases have persuasion. Acknowledging that most home improvement decisions are being made by women, Lowe's Home Improvement Corporation seeks female input at its top tier - where two women are paid to sit on its board.

"Our executives always use the anecdotal comment of 'When's the last time that the husband came home and said, 'Honey, we need to change the paintcolor in our living room, or we really need some new carpet?' " said Jennifer Smith, spokeswoman for the Lowe's Home Improvement corporation in Morrisville, N.C. "So certainly, we know that women are driving a large portion of the home improvement decision."

Home Depot Inc. also noticed the rising number of female home buyers and shopping trends, and now presents how-to clinics for women - hoping that when women learn tool talk, they will feel more comfortable shopping for home improvement products.

Local woman power

The Lowe's in Summerfield, as well as the Home Depot in Lady Lake, has placed a young woman in its top management position.

Both women say they have risen to store management from a proven record of overachieving. In addition, they both say their gender has never been an issue within their company or with their customers.

In fact, Lowe's 26-year-old Jessica Smith says customers remark more about her age.

"The occasional customer may say, 'Oh, you're the manager, you're too young,' but ... if they have a problem, I'm able to help them and they overcome the age factor," she said.

At 18, when Smith began with the company as a cashier, she was in the midst of pursuing a nursing career. Like many women, upon seeing the rewards of an alternative career, she changed her path.

"Lowe's is a company that you spend 20 years with and you can retire, retire rich," she said.

Although she has met many women shoppers who are determined to become do-it-yourselfers, she believes her position within the company has nothing to do with her gender.

"It's not the difference between a man and a woman," she said. "It's seeing what a person's potential is."

But she acknowledges, "I think it's a proven point that if I can do the job, maybe it brings the opportunity for other women who want to get into the business as well," she said.

On a daily basis, Smith can be found mixing paint in the aisles with customers, managing employees or doing sales reports. In two years, she has hired 180 employees with a goal to provide the best customer service possible.

Christine Giordano is a reporter with the Daily Sun. She can be reached at 753-1119 ext. 9071 or christine.giordano@thevillagesmedia.com.