Lowe's laying off 2,000, closing 20 stores, canceling new ones
The North Carolina home-construction supply chain will only open 10-15 stores/year, not the promised 30
Lowe's laying off 2,000, closing 20 stores, canceling new ones
Joseph N. DiStefano
Lowe's Companies, having apparently given up on hopes of a rapid recovery for US consumers, has "discontinued" plans for dozens of new stores. The North Carolina-based construction and home supply chain says it will only open 10-15 new stores a year in the forseeable future, not the 30 a year it previously projected. It's not that Lowe's doesn't have the money. The company is spending $5 billion buying back its own stock to prop up share prices, notes Gimme Credit analyst Carol Levenson. It's that Lowe's believes the "slump" won't end soon, she adds.
The North Carolina-based chain also says it's laying off around 1,950 workers at 20 "underperforming" stores it plans to close, mostly in New England and the Midwest. The closest to Philly is in Old Bridge, NJ. List and statement here. "We have an obligation to make tough decisions when necessary to improve profitability and strengthen our financial position," said chairman Robert A. Niblock in the statement. Lowe's, a smaller rival of Home Depot, claims $49 billion in yearly sales at its 1,725 North American stores, which include 25 new this year.
Comments (25)
Glad they're not closing ours. Home Depot is a hole compared to our local Lowes.— CiceroSpuriousDeodatus- Yea....the economy is really buzzing along.......— STEPHEN1988
- Yeah! And everyone who doesn't have a job (occupy center city) is just lazy bums. (that was the opinion of some complete morons on another article earlier today)
We are in trouble, and the people with enough power to do something about it are either too stupid or gutless, and I can't figure out which. ...can they be too stupid AND gutless?— justacarpenter - Lowes is a class act compared to Home Depot. Even though Home Depot is closer to me, I ride the distance to Lowes.— J3player
- Lowes definitely has a better layout, higher quality merchandise, including better building products. They do a better job at carrying more of the types of items people typically need. For example, I always go there for appliances and have had a good experience doing so.— shaman0607
- Starting to look like a graveyard of empty stores. Thrift shops doing well though.— neddyflanders
- I pick from the best of both companies. Somethings are better at one than the other. Since mine are only a mile apart I can do that.— Wildman Bill
- If you stand in front of a Home Depot or Lowes and turn 360', you will more than not, see the other. It is some brilliant logistical strategies. Sometimes you can go to multiple Lowes and Home Depots without putting more than 10 miles on your car. — justacarpenter
Comment removed.- Wow. I take it you go there a lot. — justacarpenter
- STEPHEN1988: If you read the statement, it mentions underperforming stores in the article, but the chairman is talking profitable, i.e., stock prices. And they still opened 25 stores this year, and plan to open 10 per year. That's still a lot of stores. This sounds like repositioning the stores into better markets. It also sounds like someone there is pulling back a little from an old overly-aggressive plan to open 25 stores a year based on pre-Great Recession data. Look at big Pharma, they are consolidating like crazy, enjoying record profits, yet laying off thousands of workers. The government can only do so much. This is a wake up call from the CEOs of America to the American people that greed is good, and that you need to spend money or there will be no demand, and that you need to improve your educational/professional skills are else you ain't getting a job. Occupy Wall Street? It should be more like Confront a CEO to offer retraining. 14 million people out of work, yet companies are screaming for highly intelligent, foreign workers with IT/Engineering skills. This is a wake up call that not everyone is going to an American Idol or on reality TV. If our people don't want to be in customer service jobs, then we need to shift away from a consumer-spending / customer service economy. Yet, thanks to 30 years of deregulation, tax holes, and rising demands of Americans, those old jobs are gone. Overseas. But mostly gone.— MichaelZoe
- I am halfway between 2 Home Depots and 2 Lowes and the folks in the Rt 73 Lowes are the best.....so helpful.....the HD's are jsut walking around talking.....— nuggett
- Homedepot Staff are more knowlegeable of what you need to fix a problem and what you are looking for. lowe's staff just tell you where things are....lol— keith6
- Lowes is so much better than Home Depot. Home Depot and Wal-mart must sit around in their corporate headquarter offices and say "let's try and make our stores as cheap and cheesy as we possibly can."— a4049412
- Yeah I pull in $49 billion per year, but I have to stuff my pocket more, er uh, improve profitability and strengthen my, uh, i meant our financial position.— bumpyface
- Blame it all on Bil Clinton and Robert Rubin— Lew Klein
- Comment removed.
Personally, I love Home Depot's. I always grab a few of those hot dogs they sell up front. But......sadly, I have now been banned from Home Depot for life. Well, you know how big those stores are. Those two hot dogs went thru me....and all of a sudden, I had to find a bathroom, cause I had the "Kentucky Quick Step" (if ya catch my meanin') Well......I happened to be in the plumbing dept. at the time. You know....there should really be a sign on those toilets they got out there that says "For Display purposes only". The next thing I know, while I'm readin' the paper on the komode, some sales manager has me by the neck...and I'm out on the pavement. Well.......the upside of this story is that someone is gonna get a 'half off price' on a used toilet plunger.— Yermak29- I too drive a little further to shop at Lowes, because all the HD's in Chester /Montco that I've visited were staffed by very, unhappy people. There was a time when HD hired skilled trades people to staff their department, but no more.— Jean Valjean
- I'm glad were in the great Obama recovery...they'll change their mind in a few days.
Then we'll have a new list--how many Lowe's "saved."— barneygoogle - the rich get richer and the poor gets poorer. Sorry for the folks that will be outta jobs.— sha31
- Lowes' revenues have been flat for the past 4 years (I'm not sure if the numbers of stores have increased in the same time period). Net Income has dropped from $3 billion to $2 billion in the last 4 years. They're probably being hurt by commodity prices and healthcare costs.— AvoidSundanceVacations
Over expansion has been, and will continue to be, the death of many companies. IMPROVE what you have. Can anyone say greed?— Ben Fan- The "occupy wall street" crowd believes Lowes should open 1000 stores per year and run them all at a loss so more Americans will have jobs and health care. This is the same business model that Government Motors, Fannie & Freddie, and the Postal Service all operate under. Who needs profits and revenues?— Desslok of Gamilon
- I agree that Lowes is way better than Home Depot. Housing will be in the dumps for several more years.— damnels
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Joseph N. DiStefano blogs about the latest news in the Philadelphia business community and elsewhere. Contact him at 215-854-5194.
Reach Joseph N. at JoeD@phillynews.com.
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