An auction house has rolled into town. Purple Wave Auction, based in Manhattan, Kan., opened its first Texas location in January in the former Home Depot building, a 120,000-square-foot space on Fort Worth Drive.

Sal Guerrieri, general manager of Purple Wave Auction, stands with some of the merchandise to be auctioned today, both on the Internet and live, at the former Home Depot location on Fort Worth Drive. Combining traditional and Internet auction practices, Purple Wave Auction is equipped to liquidate retail closeouts and individual assets such as real estate, equipment, vehicles, aircraft and personal property.

Purple Wave uses the latest in computerized auction clerking software, custom inventory management software and digital photography to preview merchandise for upcoming in-house auctions, as well as ongoing online auctions.

“You’ve heard of the brick-and-mortar,” said Gina Scroggs, public relations manager for Purple Wave. “Well, we are the click-and-mortar — both a physical address and on the Internet.”

The former Home Depot building has been vacant for more than a year since the business reopened on Brinker Road in a new shopping center.

“The building’s been empty, so it’s nice to see some activity going on there,” said Linda Ratliff, economic development director for the city of Denton. “It’s a neat idea.”

Ratliff said the business would likely generate sales-tax revenues for city coffers.

“If they’re doing pretty good business, that’s good for us,” she said. With plans to host live in-house auctions two Saturdays a month at the Denton location, Purple Wave also manages on-site auctions intermittently that may range from estate sales to livestock — anything that can be sold.

“Just everything, you name it,” said Sal Guerrieri, general manager of the Denton location.

Purple Wave’s decision to come to Denton was based on its market research of the North Texas area and prospects in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

“There are buyers and sellers here we wanted to tap into,” Scroggs said.

Purple Wave began in 2000 as a local, on-site auction service in Manhattan, Kan., and has since expanded to eight locations spanning Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nevada and, now, Texas.

The new location in Denton currently is selling mainly retail items, mostly household appliances such as refrigerators, stoves and washers and dryers along with electronics ranging from flat-screen televisions to computers. Retail items include floor merchandise, reconditioned pieces and end-of-inventory items that need to be moved out of warehouses, Guerrieri said.

But with the plan to service individual sellers as well, management sees the North Texas area as a steady source for business. Purple Wave is accepting consignment items from the public.

“We plan on being a long-term presence in Denton,” Guerrieri said. The company is a member of the Greater Dallas Chamber of Commerce and The League of Texas Municipalities, with plans of joining the Denton Chamber of Commerce, Scroggs said.

Not only does Purple Wave use the Internet to market the items it sells, but it also sees the Web as an avenue to narrow the scope on niche customers for their sellers. For example, Guerrieri said Purple Wave recently spent 30 days targeting the construction industry with equipment the company was set to auction.

“We want knowledgeable buyers,” Scroggs said.

Purple Wave also spends time evaluating merchandise to be auctioned, assigning a condition score and taking digital pictures so that buyers know what they are bidding on. In turn, the company also evaluates buyers by requiring a credit card to secure purchases.

Internet bidding begins by a prospective buyer entering a maximum bid for each item the person wants to buy. For live auctions, the Internet bidding closes shortly before the live auction begins and — in the case of an Internet-only auction — the item sells when the Internet bidding ends.

During a live auction, merchandise is sold using a traditional auction method, a professional auctioneer.

Two members of the Denton Purple Wave team of seven employees are Guy Taylor and Dave Williams, co-owners of Advanced Auctioneers & Appraisers of Denton, who have operated their auction business for two years.

Both professional auctioneers with memberships in the National Auctioneers Association and the Texas Auctioneers Association, Taylor and Williams are helping Purple Wave segue into the Texas market with live auctions.

“They are providing us great support,” Guerrieri said.

Prospective buyers, who are welcome to preview merchandise, can visit the Denton store or browse the Web site. Once at the live auction, bidders may check their online bids using in-house kiosks or peruse a printed catalog listing of the merchandise to be auctioned available in the store.

“It’s a terrific buy and value for the customer,” said Guerrieri, adding that the seller benefits also with the auction sale being “better than they otherwise would have gotten.”