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.
That’s what happens when you put customer service at the very end of your priority list.
“Someone needs to tell Home Depot that no one needs bedding plants in Wisconsin in early April.”
I drove past HD today. They had BLOOMING LILIES for sale, fer Pete’s Sake! No wonder people are so confused about how to garden! But then, they come to me to set them straight. (I’m in The Biz.)
We are having a rough Spring season at our garden center; it’s either close to freezing, raining, or we have 45 MPH winds tearing through the yard. We’ve put packaged roses on sale already; I’m to get hundreds of potted ones in next week. *Rolleyes*
But there have been worse seasons. I understand that one of the Managers before me forgot to turn off the irrigation one evening when it dropped below freezing. There was 2” of ice covering every square inch of the yard, and all of the plants, trees and shrubs.
On Mother’s Day Weekend, no less, LOL!
I do love it! Ours has a wonderful selection of basic clothing (jeans, t-shirts, etc.) and the shoe/work boot department is terrific.
I can buy jeans, a watering system for my chicken coop, kitchen towels, a new wooden spoon, a new pocket knife, pet food and birdseed and bags of cheap walnuts for baking...all in the same place.
Oh, and rat poison, LOL! :)
I use regular old detergent. Either liquid or powder. Just use less.
The only consistent thing I've found about Home Depot's layout is that the exit doors are not located near the entrance doors. So, if it's raining, snowing, or otherwise inclemate, you'll either have a long walk from the car to the store, or from the store to the car.
Well the local hardware store is generally the best, if you have one, in terms of service and knowledge, I will admit that readily. However, between the two box stores, HD has gone into the crapper.
You want to see why HD is crashing and Lowes isn’t? Walk into HD and just go to their ceiling fan section and look around, then head over the Lowes. The difference is night and day.
Good riddance. Home Cheapo blows.
We’ve been renovating our kitchen. Went to both Lowe’s and Home Depot for flooring and cabinets. The flooring people at both were knowledgeable, but not very helpful (we ended up at Lumber Liquidators). The cabinet people at Lowe’s were so rude that we walked out. HD was MUCH better. We wanted to view in-stock cabinets at both places and in both places the aisle was blocked. At Lowe’s when we asked when we could see them, we were yelled at (literally) and told to come back later. At HD they stopped what they were doing and cleared the aisle for us, then gave us other options that were price comparable - even without an appointment.
We were leaning HD over Lowe’s based on their efforts in Iraq and their policy on the reserves, but the attitude at Lowe’s pushed us over.
I basically stopped going there soon after that, and apparently so did a lot of other people too. The store closed about a year later.
Now it's an ACE and I go there all the time.
My wife and I waited around a Home Depot for TWO HOURS for someone just to show us some flooring. Another time I wandered around for a half hour just to ask one simple question about something.
Yes, but the small local stores don’t have near the selection when you need EVERYTHING for your project - that’s the appeal of the big box places.
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