RETAILING : With 3 Stores Here--and 3 More Planned--HomeClub Is Settling In

HomeClub, the Fullerton-based home improvement store chain, is making itself right at home in Orange County.

If Sean F. Lee, HomeClub’s new president, has his way, the chain will add three stores here next year, bringing the countywide total to six.

“Orange County has the concentration--particularly in the southern market with all the new building--and the demographics that fit into what we’re looking for,” Lee said. That is, the middle-income do-it-yourselfers who like to save money and are willing to put up their own molding or trim.

The HomeClub chain, a subsidiary of Massachusetts-based Zayre Corp., plans to have 46 stores by the end of January, all of them in the western United States.

The three stores already in Orange County are in Fountain Valley, Irvine and Fullerton.

Of the new stores, two are planned for south Orange County and one for the north.

South Orange County’s per-household income is comparatively high, Lee said, pointing out that the chain is targeting two-income households. Lee, 48, was named to the post in August, replacing Herb Zarkin, who was promoted to chairman of the Zayre’s stores division.

In September, Zayre agreed to sell its ailing discount-store division; it kept HomeClub, BJ’s Wholesale Club and an 83% interest in the TJX Cos.

With the discount-store division gone, Lee said he expects Zayre to be concentrating more on the specialty business. “There absolutely will be a greater capital infusion . . . with a quicker propensity to grow,” Lee said.