Whirlpool Wants to Tame
The Junk in Your Garage
Chris Bradford is like a lot of guys. The 29-year-old computer consultant keeps a ton of stuff in his two-car garage in Wylie, Texas -- everything from the tent he and his wife use on camping trips to a jigsaw, a wheelbarrow and bicycles. That's in addition to two cars. He keeps the garage pretty neat but admits some corners need help. "We could definitely do some containing," he says.
Enter Whirlpool Corp.
Already a household name, Whirlpool wants to move into what it sees as an untapped market: the garage. In a nationwide survey of homeowners, Whirlpool found that the garage basically functions as America's junk room, holding all the items the house won't -- or can't. In response, the company is about to launch a line of appliances and storage devices aimed at filling the niche. Whirlpool figures that if it can get just 2% of America's garage owners to buy $500 of the new products, it will create a $650 million retail business.
Whirlpool sees the garage as the next master bath -- a room just waiting to be "accessorized." But don't use that term around men, its target market. Whirlpool calls its new line "Gladiator," and nearly every item features a rugged design made of steel.
The devices range from a small, portable fridge that basically functions as a beer box to an interlocking "gear wall" designed to replace Pegboard. The bigger items are modular and wheeled, so they can be mixed and matched to suit individual garages. Suggested prices range from $10 for wall hooks to $600 for a maple-topped workbench.
There are 65 million garages in the U.S., and demand for bigger ones is growing. In 1992, only 11% of American homes had garages that would hold three or more cars. By 2001, 18% had such jumbo garages.
Big garages are especially popular in the Western two-thirds of the U.S. The National Association of Home Builders says only 9% of new single-family homes in the Northeast had garages that would hold three or more cars. But in the Midwest, 27% did, and in the West, 32% did.
"You have a McMansion with a Garage-mahal attached to it," says Kira Obolensky, author of "Garage: Reinventing the Place We Park." Ms. Obolensky says garages have grown for a number of reasons, including longer cars. The 1917 Ford Model T measured 11 feet 2½ inches bumper to bumper. Today's Ford Expedition, by comparison, is just over 17 feet long.
Ms. Obolensky's residence, built in 1918, has a one-car garage whose door has been adapted with a "bump-out" allowing it to close over a car longer than the garage was designed to hold.
The demand for bigger garages began in the 1960s, as women in growing numbers joined the work force and became commuters and as teenagers gained unprecedented access to cars. At the same time, the California car culture took hold, suburbs mushroomed and Americans began to acquire more and more gadgets.
Meanwhile, the garage itself became more prominent. In older homes, the garage was typically built in the back. But with the rise of the suburbs, the garage moved to the front of the house.
Even as garages grow bigger, many Americans don't use the garage space they have -- at least not for cars. More than half of U.S. garages can hold two or more cars, but they seldom do. According to a 1994 study by the U.S. Department of Energy, 25% of people with two-car garages didn't park any cars in the garage and 32% parked only one car. When it came to those with three-car garages, the utilization was even worse: Only 13% parked three cars.
Which, of course, makes room for all the homeowner's junk. And Whirlpool plans to target the country's junk masters: married men, 35 to 64 years old, with kids. Whirlpool's research shows that men still rule the roost in the garage (or think they do). Some 57% of men it surveyed said the garage was "their" space vs. 10% of women. "It's the last room in the house where males really have a say," says Jeff Fettig, Whirlpool's chief operating officer.
Beginning in October, the Benton Harbor, Mich., company will roll out an ad campaign for the new line in men's magazines like Sports Illustrated, the Family Handyman and Popular Mechanics. Initially, the Gladiator line will be sold through Lowe's Cos., the nation's second-largest home-improvement retailer.
Whirlpool will face a number of challenges in trying to create the garage market, says Britt Beemer, chairman and founder of America's Research Group, a consumer-behavior and marketing-research firm in Charleston, S.C.
No. 1 is competition with the backyard. Grilling is extremely popular, and since Sept. 11, Americans have been spending more time at home, with record numbers grilling meals outside on both Memorial Day and July 4th. "How many consumers out there really want to add appliance products to the garage when they may be trying to decide about putting an outdoor grill in their backyard?" asks Mr. Beemer.
Another problem, especially in the South and Southwest, is heat. Garages, in most cases, aren't air conditioned, so men may not want to spend a lot of time there puttering. "Even in the North," Mr. Beemer says, "at one time many homes had the laundry in the garages and the wives basically said, 'We're not going to work out there.' "
But Mr. Beemer, who lives in Orlando, Fla., admits his own three-car garage is carpeted so his young daughters can play there on rainy winter days. "It's pretty nice," he says.
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