Hechinger Co., the Landover-based home improvement retailer, said yesterday that it would close seven of its traditional Hechinger stores as part of an ongoing "repositioning."

Four of the stores are in the Carolinas, where the company has based its new Home Quarters Warehouse chain: Greenville, S.C.; Charlotte, N.C. (two stores); and Durham, N.C.

Two other stores, in Harrisonburg, Va., and on Georgia Avenue in Washington, "just don't fit in," said Lennie Zallar, vice president and treasurer. The Georgia Avenue store, the second the company ever opened, has only 8,000 square feet, he said. An average store has 60,000 to 65,000 square feet.

The company also has chosen to use the Home Quarters concept -- stores with at least 86,000 square feet -- to expand in New England, providing a rationale for closing the Hechinger's store in Newington, Conn.

The company said that the closings will take place in January and will affect 575 workers.