The Home Depot (Atlanta) has announced that it will roll its EXPO concept into the Chicago area this year. The first of the four interior design showroom-type stores – a 105,000-square-foot space – opens today on Route 59 in Aurora, Ill., west of the city. The other three EXPOs scheduled to open in 2001 will be in suburban Vernon Hills and Downers Grove, and on the city's Near North Side.
The concept, which emphasizes decorating and design products in more of a showroom setting than Home Depot's traditional warehouse format, was begun in the retailer's headquarters city of Atlanta in 1991. The EXPO chain has now grown to 24 stores in the United States, in: Atlanta; Anaheim, Calif.; Boston; Chicago, Dallas/Ft. Worth and Plano, Texas; Detroit; Houston; San Diego; San Francisco; New York; Miami, West Palm Beach and Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.; Los Angeles; and Fairfax, Va.