Lowe's plans Madison Heights store next to Home Depot

<p>The Lowe's Companies home improvement chain is planning head-to-head competition with rival Home Depot with a new 170,000-square-foot store in suburban Detroit.</p><p>The Mooresville, N.C.-based Lowe's has announced plans to build on the site of the former Saturn Corp. engineering center in Madison Heights. The 22-acre property is next to a store from the Atlanta-based Home Depot chain.</p><p>"Competition is nothing new for us and we certainly go head-to-head with all kinds of competition," Lowe's spokeswoman Julie Yenichek told The Daily Tribune of Royal Oak for a story Tuesday. "When there's competition, it's the customer who always wins."</p><p>Lowe's has 1,100 stores in 48 states _ including 32 in Michigan. It says it plans to open 150 new locations this year.</p><p>Madison Heights Economic Development Director Joyce Seitz said it is common for Lowe's and Home Depot to compete in the same market, even on the same block.</p><p>"It could become our 'Hardware Row.' If you go to Home Depot and they don't have what you want, what do you do? Go to Lowe's," said Seitz. A site plan submitted by Lowe's in early March is under city review.</p><p>___</p><p>On the Net:</p><p>HASH(0x3866530)</p><p>HASH(0x38665d8)</p><p>___</p><p>HASH(0x3866770)</p>