Lowe’s Companies Inc. Overview

Lowe’s Companies Inc.

Introduction

Along with its associates, Lowe’s Companies, Inc. runs a home renovation business both domestically in the US and abroad. The business provides a line of goods for building, maintaining, repairing, remodeling, and redecorating. Lawn and yard care, lumbering facilities, Cuisine and baths equipments, painting, flooring, rough plumbing, construction materials, decoration, illumination, and electricity installation are just a few of the operations that the company offers. It also provides prolonged protection plans, in-warranty and out-of-warranty repair services, as well as installation services through independent contractors for a variety of product categories. Homeowners, tenants, and business clients can purchase the company’s private brand products as well as its national brand-name goods. Lowe ran 1,971 hardware and home improvement businesses as of January 28, 2022. Additionally, the business offers its goods via mobile applications and websites like Lowes.com and Lowesforpros.com. The Lowe’s Companies, Inc. was established in Mooresville, North Carolina, in 1921. After competitor The Home Depot, Lowe’s is the biggest hardware supply network in America (it was the biggest until The Home Depot overtook it in 1989). Additionally, it is the second-largest hardware supply network globally, trailing only The Home Depot and surpassing reputable businesses in Europe like Leroy Merlin, B&Q, and OBI.

Roots of the company

Lucius Smith Lowe established the first Lowe’s store, North Wilkesboro Hardware, in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, in the year 1921. When he passed away in 1940, his daughter, who was named Ruth Buchan took over the firm and eventually sold it to her brother James Lowe in the same year. In 1943, Carl Buchan joined James as a business associate.

After World War II, the need for construction had a dramatic elevation, and Buchan foresaw this development, therefore the business he oversaw concentrated on hardware and building supplies.

Prior to it, the supply chain of the company consisted of food items, produce, equestrian-related equipment, novelties, snuff, and so on. In 1949, the business made acquisition of a second facility in Sparta, North Carolina.

Lowe’s was registered as Lowe’s North Wilkesboro Hardware in 1952, the same year that Buchan became the firm’s registered owner. Jim Lowe founded the brand of Lowes Foods supermarkets in 1954.

By establishing locations in Asheville, Charlotte, and Durham in North Carolina in 1955, Buchan had swiftly grown the business. Buchan had a total of six shops open by the end of 1955. Unfortunately, Buchan passed away from a cardiovascular disease in 1960 at the young age of 44.

In 1961, Robert Strickland and Leonard Herring were two of the five members of his management team who brought Lowe’s Companies Inc. public. Lowe’s company had about 21 locations and $32 million in annual sales by 1962 and in 1979, it delved into stock exchange and commenced trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

Owing to the state of the industry and competition in the industry from The Home Depot, a new big-box retailing network, Lowe’s suffered in the 1980s. This was as a result of its management perception that the smaller areas where Lowe’s generally ran its business activities would not befit large stores. For a while, the company abstained from using the mega-store structure. But in order to survive, Lowe’s finally embraced the big-box model.

Since then, Lowe’s has expanded across the globe thanks to the 1999 acquisition of the Eagle Hardware & Garden business in Renton, Washington. Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, hosted the startup Lowe retail locations to open beyond the US. Although the company’s Mexican retail outlets were shut down in the latter part of 2010, according to Lowe’s website, the company has ran its business affairs and services in more than 2,355 sites in the Canada, Mexico and US alone. There were 14 Lowe’s stores in Mexico prior to its closure. On April 10, 2019, Lowe’s Mexico shuttered all of its locations in the country.

Evolution of the company’s head office

To house its corporate offices, Lowe’s bought the Wilkes Mall in Wilkesboro, North Carolina, in 1998. The building’s 440,000 square feet (41,000 m2) structure was taken over by Lowe’s in 2002 after the ten surviving mall tenants left the premises. A year later, Lowe’s developed a new 350-acre campus in Mooresville, North Carolina, and relocated the company’s headquarters there. A five-story structure and two seven-story buildings make up the complex. The structure has an aesthetically pleasing spiral staircase, a food court,  as well as close door meeting areas. The head office structure is surrounded by a 7-acre (2.8 hectare) lake.

Over 2,400 employees work at Lowe’s in Wilkesboro, where company still maintains its historic headquarters. A full-service food court, coffee shop, wellness center, and the construction of a guardhouse were among the enhancements and modifications that Lowe’s made to the facility in 2011, spending roughly $10 million.

Following the company’s amalgamation with Rona, Lowe’s Companies Canada relocated its head office to Boucherville, Quebec where the corporate headquarters remains till today. Toronto, Ontario served as corporate headquarters of Lowe’s Canada until 2016. In addition to Indianapolis, Indiana, Albuquerque, New Mexico, and India, Lowe’s also has customer service centers in Mooresville and Wilkesboro, North Carolina, and India.

Acquisitions & Sponsorship

The company took up the role of National Football League official sponsor in January 2019. The Charlotte Motor Speedway located in North Carolina, rebranded to Lowe’s Motor Speedway following the company’s acquisition of the naming policy  to the track in 1998. The company prolonged the policy by twelve months after the first decade had concluded. The racetrack’s initial moniker was reinstated beginning with the racing season after Lowe’s withdrew from the policy after the twelve month prolonging came to an end.

In addition to supporting Fernandez Racing in the American Le Mans Series, Lowe’s also sponsored the race group in the Rolex Sports Car Series, where Johnson competed in the No. 99 Gainsco Stallings Racing Pontiac.

In 2006, Lowe’s hired professional architect Marianne Cusato to create and provide inexpensive construction designs for the Gulf location that had been damaged by hurricanes. The Lowe’s Katrina Cottage’s building supplies and plans are only available from Lowe’s. They provide simple construction, low cost, and the capacity for growth. Additionally, they surpass hurricane regulations and adhere to all global building conducts. Katrina Cottage line was dropped by the firm in 2011.

From 2003 through 2010, the company won over seven straight Energy Star awards, these awards included four “Partner of the Year” honors for the company’s effort in spreading awareness of the advantages of conservation of energy among consumers. Along with winning the “Sustained Excellence Award” in Retail on March 1, 2010, Lowe’s was also honored for its role in lowering production of gases that can facilitate global warming by manufacturing energy-efficient goods and informing their clients and staff about the importance of the Energy Star program.

Conclusion

Lowe’s Companies, Inc. is a multibillion dollar corporation that has about 300,000 employees (as of 2020). As of today, it is operational mainly in the Australia, US, and Canada. It offers a long list of products which includes, Home appliances, tools, hardware, construction tools, lumbering tools, building materials, garden supplies, plants, housewares, and so on. As of 2020, the company saw a whooping $72.148 billion in revenue. It has about 2015 retail locations (as of February 2019). Currently, it’s has its affairs run by Marvin R. Ellison, who is the CEO of the company.