15 store closings

Joined: 08 Jul 2003 Posts: 6309

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080501/home_depot_store_closings.html?v=4

15 store closing,hopefully everyone gets a new store.

It's common pattern though,first some main office closings or layoffs now store closings.Ironically for years many financial types said HD over built cannabilizing existing stores by building new ones.High growth areas at the peak of the housing boom you could do that but unfortunetly you get see which stores are truely considered the local neighborhood store.

Joined: 08 Jul 2003 Posts: 6309

cannibilization article http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/2003/05/12/story3.html .Notice the date-from 2003

Saw a list(on the consumerist.com),most tend to be in the north.None of the housing boom states seem to be affected yet.At least in Florida and California you have stuff like hurricanes,fires and earthquakes to repair damage from :o .That's not exactly reassuring though.

Instead of building slower and keeping more money in the existing stores with full time employees and customers service sick sigma Bob Nardelli basically screwed the long term future of Home Depot.I heard from employees who said the job and company went DOWN the year he took over.Lowes cashed in on the customer service gap left by HD.At least Frank Blake realized this and took steps to correct it by hiring more but I think it may be too late.

Joined: 06 Jul 2003 Posts: 8380 Location: Central CA

They just opened a second THD store in our little town. Amazing.

Joined: 08 Jul 2003 Posts: 6309

One thing I noticed while checking out the HD message board on other locations is that HD is going to eliminate the HR person in the stores .One poster basically implied it would leave the employees defenseless against abusive or corrupt management.

Alot of people complain about their HR person but just their presence gives the employee a third party advocate.Yeah there's alot of politics but still the HR person in any national company is one of the most under rated under paid thankless jobs in a corporate structure.Many on the Sears forums have acknowledge the volume of work.I've seen HR people literally buried in paper work.

Note :where have the HD posters gone;I know they posted on the old retailworker but since that changed they only place I can find HD posts in on retail freedom fighters forum and MSN or Yahoo.Has HD intimidated the emplopyees again like they did the Orange Blood Bank poster in 2002-03?

Joined: 04 Feb 2008 Posts: 90

I know this is a Home Depot board but I could help but notice that they are going to eliminate their HR position in some stores. It was implied that HR defends the employee against corrupt and abusive management. HR is management, not a defender of the employee. Most employees need protection from HR. Please note. I have been an industrial worker for 30 years before going to retail. HR was called Employee Relations before the name change. Human Resource implies the employees are "just a source of readily available labor that can be replaced easily", much like farm animal. Employee Relations implies that there is a relationship between the employee and the employer. But since America has gone to Asian philosophies concerning labor and mangement, that has all changed. We now use the same work ideals and ethics of the people who sought to destroy us in World War 2. Eliminating HR, will eliminate one more abuser. I unfortunately work retail also, Lowes to be exact. Lowes is due to head down the same path of Home Depot. I hate to see anyone lose their job. But as with many companies, they over built in the "boom era" and are now stuck with to many locations. Fleetwood Travel Trailer for example. They had all their plants running 3 years ago. The country can use only so many travel trailers. Now most of their plants are closed. Arguements say high fuel prices closed them down. If you can afford one of their large RV's, you can most certainly afford the fuel for towing it or driving it. As for store closings. When a company combines one store with another, they still have product available to the public BUT they have reduced labor cost (which is the easiest way to boost profits) and overhead cost. Plus they can sell the property and take tax write-offs for the closing. The stockholders (not lowly 401K holders) win big. I will close with this: Those who forget or change history, are doomed to repeat it!

Joined: 13 Mar 2005 Posts: 464

I know this is an old post, but I keep hearing rumors about the Home Depot in my area closing. Granted I usually don't put much stock into those type of rumors, however it does look as if HD is hurting based by the amount of vehicles, or lack thereof, in the parking lot compared to the Lowe's where I work.

Now I'm not trying to turn this into a Lowe's vs. Home Depot discussion but it sure looks as if something could be up. I'll believe it when I see it though. A little more of the rumor is that when HD does close is that Public's will move into the building. Again, seems a little far fetched but in this time of economic problems you just never know.

Good luck to any and all that is, or has been, hit with a store closure.

Joined: 06 Jul 2003 Posts: 8380 Location: Central CA

Joined: 08 Jul 2003 Posts: 6309

Even though sick sig Nardelli and HD execs over built & screwed up staffing they knocked enough competition out of the way .

Simply by opening their doors in certain neighborhoods they eliminated the very competition that might have taken back their business today .

With-in the first 6 months of an HD opening across from our Sears an ACE franchise & lumber supply closed .Our BC lost 30K a month,about 1 appliance a day .Even our L & G took a hit in outdoor power .

Alot of the competition or new competition is coming back into the area as are customers going back to these smaller hardware stores .But HD forced so many to close that that fact alone is giving MANY HD stores the chance to stay open-for now .

In some areas HD became a defacto monopoly if you will .But their lack of customer service during the boom showed they really didn't want to compete for the residential customer anyway .

HD will always have a significant niche of the market but they will have a significant amount of stores to be endanger of loosing money or closing as well .

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