Posted on 05/01/2008 12:46:30 PM PDT by kingattax
So far, 2008 hasn't been a banner year for Home Depot.
In January, the Atlanta-based home improvement retailer laid off 500 people from corporate headquarters.
In February, it announced its first ever year over year sales decline.
In April, it announced the net loss of 970 jobs from reorganizing its human resources staff.
And today, it announced it is closing 15 stores, affecting 1,300 employees. Plus, the Home Depot is suspending the development of 50 stores. The 15 targeted stores are mostly in the Northeast and Midwest, from New Jersey to North Dakota. No Atlanta stores are scheduled to close.
"Closing a store is always a difficult decision because it affects both our people and our
communities," Home Depot CEO Frank Blake said in a statement. "But, as with our decision to slow future store growth, this is the right decision and will bring long-term benefits to our associates and to our shareholders. ... By building fewer stores, in the best locations, and making sure our existing stores are profitable, our company will be in a much stronger competitive position."
The home improvement chain has blamed the slowdown in the housing market and the sluggish economy for its retail woes.
Home Depot will record a $586 million pre-tax charge related to the store closings and the 50 shelved stores. That includes $8 million for severance and $11 million for inventory markdowns. Home Depot hasn't revised its earnings forecast for fiscal 2008 to reflect the $587 million charge. Earnings per share from continuing operations are still expected to decline 19-to-24 percent. Analysts have forecast earnings per share of $1.65 to $1.86 , down from $2.27 a year ago.
Home Depot said it will cut capital spending by $1 billion over the next three years and focus on existing stores, as well as possible share repurchases. Home Depot still expects to build 55 stores in 2008, 36 in the United States. The chain currently has 1,970 U.S. stores.
Ron DeFeo, a Home Depot spokesman, said the 15 stores slated to close will remain open for seven weeks and have liquidation sales. The stores' management teams will be offered new jobs and the remaining employees can apply for jobs at other Home Depot stores. Employees that aren't placed will receive severance pay.
Home Depot stock was up in inter-day trading Thursday to $30.18, up $1.38 over Wednesday's close.
Other than the color of the store I’ve never noticed a difference between the two. Ace, where they really employ people that know stuff, seems to be making a come back lately.
I worked at Home Depot part time for Christmas money years ago and was amazed the store wrote a 2% shrink, or as normal people call it, theft, into the stores budget. As long as the theft wasn’t over 2% of the sales they didn’t care. I then realized that 90% of the “shrink” was employees walking out with items after their shift.
people who love the 'politically correct' marketing will really get excited when the 'climate change' crap really starts rolling
I hope yours is as good as mine has been. I’ve had a Miele for about 7 years. I have to give my husband credit for it though. He really wanted it not me. I thought it cost too much. However it’s performance is worth it. It gets whites bright white with no bleach and never beats the cloths up like my old washer used to do. Clothes look better and last longer. And like you said, it’ll take all the clothes you can stuff into it.
On a side note, we got the matching dryer which has not lived up to the price tag. My old Kenmore was better.
But hey, Home "Despot" has day laborer hiring centers, so after you pick up your illegal workers you can buzz over to Lowes and they'll teach em to speak English!
America What A Country!
I can understand your frustration but as a veteran of working in a camera store back in the day, I can tell you that for most customers what they ask for and what they want/need are often two different things. After dealing with more than a few customers returning items they can’t use, asking, “What are you using if for?” becomes a conditioned reflex.
in effect, customers pay a store's crime costs.
Companies screw up during good economies too. HD faces stiff competition, between the nearly identical Lowes that came up quicker and leaner with less overhead from mistakes and Ace and local hardware stores with real customer service HD is in a tough spot. Everybody they compete with is better at doing what they do, meanwhile HD sponsors almost every home improvement show on TV which has to cost a ton of money.
I've worked in both of them and really the only difference is that Home Depot targets the contractor and Lowe's the consumer. Which is why Lowe's looks cleaner with wider aisles and not as much clutter. As for personnel, I won't deal with that as it is different from store to store, so don't flame me on that please!!
But in HD’s case is was almost encouraged. After a shift I was buying some bathroom items since I was redoing one of our bathrooms. The assistant manager asked why I was bothering to pay for them. About a week later the same manager had me assemble a big bbq grill for a new display. As I finished my shift that day I watched him wheel the grill out to his truck.
“You’d think I was trying to buy Schrödinger a new cat.”
LOL!
another guy that should be wearing an ‘integrity is my middle name’ T shirt
No wonder sales are down. As it stands, I walk out without buying if the wait at the checkout is longer than five minutes- if there were NO cashiers on duty I’d never go back in.
I asked for a close nipple, the girl covered her mouth and gasped; I asked for a street ell and she started saying prayers under her breath; I asked to her to mate a male to female union with me and she liked to fall on the floor; I asked her for a pipe sleeve and she reached for her purse; I asked her if she had any loose nuts and she yelled for the manager; I then told her I also needed a petcock and the security guards showed up...
Home Depot, Forced to Provide Day Labor Facilities in Some Cities, Seeks Federal Shield Law
WASHINGTON — The Home Depot is tired of being forced by local governments to accommodate the day laborers who turn up in its store parking lots seeking construction work. So the Georgia-based company turned to Congress for help.
-PJ
I really like the semi-OK part. LOL,
Don't say to much about the grossly overpaid executive, someone will be calling you a socialists.
I wonder if they will be closing the one here in Rome, New York. There’s a Lowe’s here too. The Home Depot actually took over a K-Mart store that closed after only being open a short time. Frankly I don’t know why they bother to put these stores in small cities, especially when they already have a store less than half an hour away. This isn’t the greatest area for growth. We have no factories, only prisons. Our county sales tax is 9.75%.
Home Depot started playing women off against men in advertising and moving away from competitive pricing and toward fashion, ease of use, etc. Then it hired third-world foreigners to replace its local neighbors. The lesson is that of avoiding business practices that show hatred against your own American neighbors.
That's any retail store and has been forever.
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