Silver Lake Home Center readies for big-box arrival

New kitchen showroom is latest in series of updates and changes for family-owned business

When Home Depot and Lowe's come to town, Silver Lake Home Center will be ready.In fact, for several years now, the 25-year-old family-owned business has been positioning itself not only for the big boxes that may be coming to the area, but also the ones that already exist outside the area."Some people are traveling to Rochester and Tilton now to the nearest Home Depot," said co-owner Mark Sherwood.Two changes and additions in the recent years designed to help Silver Lake Home Center compete in the changing market include: Construction of a 20,000-square-foot "drive-through" warehouse, where materials are stored inside and people and contractors can park under cover while they pick up what they need. Opening of a 1,000-square-foot Marvin windows and doors showroom. "We have a lot of different windows and doors built into walls with siding and trim and different moldings so people can get an idea of what sidings and trims to use together and how they will look with different windows and doors," Sherwood explained.Silver Lake Home Center is now about to unveil a 1,000-square-foot kitchen showroom. "People will be able to look at kitchen cabinets and touch them and feel them," Sherwood said. "We'll have about 80 or 90 door styles on display, and about 25 different granite tiles for counters. There's also a full line of solid surface kitchen counter material.The kitchen showroom is expected to be completed by the end of the week, and a grand opening is scheduled for Saturday, April 29, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. There will be a sale on all products, and manufacturer representatives from cabinet and granite companies will be on hand.Silver Lake Home Center will also be starting a program called "The Right Price," inviting customers to compare prices with those of Home Depot and Lowe's. Orgill Hardware, a supplier of business materials, will be doing research on about 1,700 products, which is cross-section of the 10,000 items at Silver Lake Home Center, and prices will be set so that they are comparable to what the bigger chain stores may be offering."We buy from co-ops," Sherwood said, "and one of the co-ops has $9 billion in purchasing power. We also deal with a company that is a nationwide supplier and in 67 countries. These are huge, huge companies that supply us with materials, and, because they're so big, they can provide us with pretty much the same buying as Lowe's or Home Depot."In a way, Sherwood thinks the arrival of the big boxes locally will benefit Silver Lake Home Center. Since some people are traveling outside the area to shop at Home Depot or Lowe's, he said, having one or both of those stores here will keep people closer to home and hopefully doing comparative price shopping.Sherwood thinks Silver Lake Home Center has an advantage in other ways as well. While people may want to check out Home Depot or Lowe's when they first open, he believes they will eventually be drawn back to the personalized service that smaller stores like Silver Lake HOme Center offer."They like to deal with local people," Sherwood said. "I think people do in general. These are big purchases they're making, and they want as much information as possible about how to install it and how to use it. We have that expertise, and we can spend that time with people. When you go to a box, you're often dealing with somebody you don't know, and you don't know if you're dealing with somebody who knows what they're talking about."Silver Lake Home Center, located on Route 113 in Madison, is open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Web site is www.silverlakehome.com, and the phone number is (603) 367-8848.