PROGRAMS Lowe's Fits Manhattan Home improvement retailer launches small-format urban locations By Samantha Nelson neW York - Lowe's spent months studying urban customers' lives, shopping norms and needs when developing its first small-format prototype designed to infiltrate these densely packed markets. Rather than just trimming its existing 112,000-square-foot model to fit a small urban location that offers only a quarter of the space, the home improvement retailer realized it would have to build a new format from the ground up, said vice president of market and concept development Jonathan Luster during a panel discussion at the National Retail Federation Retail's Big Show in January. 28 y SHOPPER MARKETING APRIL 2016 The retailer's findings impacted not only inventory at its two small-format locations - which w a s a d j us te d from the assortment in a typical store to offer more products tailored to small apartments - but also the services offered. Lowe's opened its first urban store in New York (in Manhattan's Upper West