Big-Box New Home Center

Housing’s retail king: Is housing a form of retailing? Houston-based David Weekley Homes, which closed 3,412 homes in 2001, certainly seems to think so. It has built a 45,000-square-foot New Home Center on Interstate 35 in the Dallas suburb of Carrollton, Texas. Designed to serve buyers from early browsers seeking information to contracted buyers choosing options and upgrades, this center has three fully furnished “idea homes” in back.