The Home Depot Facts
The Home Depot is headquartered in Vinings, Georgia, is a home improvement retailer that aims for both the do-it-yourself consumer and the professional in home improvement and construction. It is the second largest retailer in the United States, behind Wal-Mart; and the third largest retailer in the world, behind Wal-Mart and French company Carrefour.
The Home Depot operates about 1,900 stores across North America. The company operates stores in the United States (including the 50 states, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands), Canada, and Mexico. The Home Depot also operates EXPO Design Center stores in select U.S. markets, providing high-end home design products and services.The Home Depot employs over 325,000 people.
The Home Depot History
Home Depot stores are large, averaging 109,000 ft² (10,000 m²) and warehouse-style, stocking a large range of supplies. The company color is a bright orange, on signs, equipment and employee aprons.
The company was founded in 1978 in Atlanta, Georgia by Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank, and grew rapidly, with sales topping $1 billion annually by 1986.
The Home Depot Sales
Its 2004 sales totaled US$73.1 billion. It was ranked #13 on FORTUNE magazine’s FORTUNE 500 The Home Depot also owns EXPO Design Center, a chain of higher-end home decorating and appliance stores.
The Home Depot Board of Directors
Current members of the board of directors of Home Depot are: Greg Brenneman, Richard H. Brown, John Clendenin, Claudio González, Milledge Hart, Bonnie Hill, Laban Jackson, Lawrence R. Johnston, Ken Langone, Robert Nardelli, and Tom Ridge.
The Home Depot Brands
Home Depot exclusively carries these brands:
- RIDGID
- Ryobi
- Workforce
- Thomasville cabinetry
- Ralph Lauren paint
- Mill’s Pride
The Home Depot Sponsorships
Since 1991, the company has become a large supporter of athletics, sponsoring the United States and Canadian Olympic teams, and launching a program to offer employment to athletes that fully allowed for their training and competition schedules. Company co-founder Blank also purchased the Atlanta Falcons franchise of the National Football League in February 2002. The Home Depot is also the primary sponsor of Joe Gibbs Racing.. NASCAR driver Tony Stewart drives The Home Depot car.
The Home Depot Canada
The Home Depot Canada is the Canadian unit of Home Depot NYSE: HD and one of Canada’s top home improvement retailers. The Canadian operations consists of more than a hundred stores in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador and employs over 18,000 people in Canada.
The Canadian unit was created with the purchase of Aitkenhead Hardware. Home Depot management has an ambitious plan to overtake its biggest competitor, Rona, which is about four times its size in number of stores. However, many of Rona’s stores are small. In terms of big box stores, Home Depot has many more stores than Rona.
