Lowe's Companies, Inc.is an American chain of retailhome improvement and appliance stores that has retail stores in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Founded in 1946 in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, the chain now serves more than 14 million customers a week in its 1,714 stores in the United States and 31 in Canada.

Expansion into Canada began in 2007, with the opening of a store in Hamilton, Ontario, in early 2008. Lowe's started the construction of two stores in the Mexican city of Monterrey officially entering the Mexican market. In 2011 Lowe's released plans to build over 150 stores in Australia over the next five years, hoping to compete with the A$46 billion industry. Lowe's Companies, Inc. is 43rd on the Fortune 500 list. As of 2010, the chain is based in Mooresville, North Carolina. Lowe's is the second-largest hardware chain[6] in the United States, behind The Home Depot and ahead of Menards. Globally, Lowe's is also the second-largest hardware chain, again, behind The Home Depot and ahead of the European stores B&Q and OBI.

 

History

Lucius S. Lowe opened Lowe's North Wilkesboro Hardware in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, in 1921. The business was inherited by his daughter, Ruth, when Lucius died in 1940. She sold the company to her brother, Jim, that same year. Jim Lowe and Ruth's husband, Carl Buchan, both served in World War II, and during the war, the store was run by Ruth and her mother. Jim took on Carl (honorably discharged after receiving an injury) as a partner in 1943.

 

Under Buchan's management, the store focused on hardware and building materials. Before then, the product mix had also included notions, dry goods, horse tack, snuff, produce, and groceries. The company bought a second store in Sparta, North Carolina, in 1949.

 

Carl Buchan and Jim Lowe differed on expanding the company to new areas, and they split in 1952, with Buchan taking control of the hardware and building supply business, and Lowe taking other joint ventures the two controlled, including a car dealership. Buchan became the sole owner of Lowe's. Lowe started the Lowes Foods grocery store chain in 1954.

 

Buchan quickly expanded, opening stores by 1955 in Asheville, Charlotte, and Durham, North Carolina. More stores opened through the 1950s.

In 1960 Carl Buchan died of a heart attack at age 44. His five-man executive team, which included Robert Strickland and Leonard Herring, took the company public in 1961. By 1962 Lowe's operated 21 stores and reported annual revenues of $32 million.

 

Headquarters

United States

The Lowe's headquarters facility is located in Mooresville, North Carolina.[8] The facility, the newest Lowe's corporate campus, is 25 miles (40 km) north of Charlotte and contains a five story, 400,000-square-foot (37,000 m2) building. The building has a central atrium and two office wings; the atrium houses a food court, a five story spiral staircase, and meeting and reception rooms. A 7-acre (2.8 ha) lake flows underneath the headquarters building.

 

Lowe's previous corporate office was based in North Wilkesboro/Wilkesboro, North Carolina. The building was formerly the Wilkes Mall until 1997 when Lowe's bought the entire property. Since then, the entire 440,000 square-foot campus has been remodeled numerous times, and features a fully gated campus, security gates at all entrances, security guards, cameras, a food court, meeting rooms and others.

 

Organization

Lowe's is organized geographically into divisions (Northeast, Southeast, North Central, South Central, and West), Regions, Districts and then the individual store. It is decentralized. A Lowe's store can have anywhere from 80 to over 400 employees depending on the size and sales volume. Lowes has a policy of not hiring people with criminal records. It does not follow government guiglines for hiring.

 

Lowe's Build and Grow clinics

Lowe's Build and Grow clinics are free workshops for children put on by Lowe's on the second and fourth Saturday of each month.

 

These workshops are free of charge and allow children and their parents an opportunity to experience the joy of building things hands on. Children have a new project at each clinic. They are given an apron and a patch for each project completed. Projects include building boxes, napkin holders, toys, or holiday-themed items.

 

Lowe's has won eight consecutive ENERGY STAR awards (2003–2010), including four ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year awards for educating consumers about the benefits of energy efficiency. On March 1, 2010, Lowe's also became the first winner of the ENERGY STAR Sustained Excellence Award in Retail. The award recognizes Lowe's long-standing leadership as a retailer of energy-efficient products. Lowe’s was awarded for its outstanding contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions through promoting energy-efficient products and educating consumers and employees on the value of the Energy Star program. In 2000, Lowe’s released a policy promising that all wood products sold would not be sourced from rainforests. "Our new environmental policy represents a major victory for the forests and our customers", said Bob Tillman, Chairman and CEO of Lowe's. "Our customers expect Lowe's to deliver the best quality lumber and wood products that have been responsibly harvested and produced by our suppliers." However according to a new report released by the Environmental Investigation Agency, wood used in flooring that Lowe’s has been selling is coming from the forests of Indonesia’s remote Papua Province, where 80 percent of logging is estimated to be illegal. As part of Lowe's ongoing effort to preserve the environment, the company uses direct deposit for its payroll. Employees without a bank account receive a Chase Payroll Card. As of 5/2010, over 250,000 Lowe's employees participate in direct deposit.

 

Advertising and sponsorships

In 2006, Lowe's partnered with designer Marianne Cusato to develop and offer affordable house plans for the hurricane-affected Gulf region. Lowe's is the exclusive retailer for both the plans and building materials for the Lowe's Katrina Cottage. They offer easy construction and affordability, as well as the possibility of expansion. Moreover, they meet all international building codes and exceed hurricane codes.

 

Lowe's has a wide variety of television and radio commercials. A significant number of different racing-inspired commercials can be seen and are often played outside of television race coverage. Gene Hackman's voice can be heard on many commercial advertisements for Lowe's. However, Ben Yannette is currently doing the Lowe's advertising campaign voice-overs.

 

In 2006, Lowe's began sponsoring the radio broadcast booth of the New York Yankees. Frequently during every game Yankees announcer John Sterling states "We are coming to you live from the Lowe's Broadcast Booth. Lowe's: Let's build something together.". The tag line has been changed in September 2011 to 'Never Stop Improving'.

 

After claims that it was avoiding using the term, Lowe's began using "Christmas tree" prominently in advertising.

 

Lowe's advertising has been a part of the Christmas controversy in the United States. In 2005 Lowe's signage for their Christmas trees read "holiday trees" in English, but read árboles de Navidad (Christmas trees) in Spanish rather than árboles de feriados.[15] In 2007, Lowe's started using the term "family tree", sparking protest from the American Family Association, but they have since claimed that this term was only a printing mistake.

 

Racing sponsorships

Lowe's purchased naming rights of Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina, in 1998, and the speedway changed names to Lowe's Motor Speedway. After the ten year naming rights expired, Lowe's extended naming rights by one year. After the one year extension expired, Lowe's discontinued naming rights, and as of the 2010 racing season the racetrack returned to its original name. Lowe's is an associate sponsor of several Speedway Motorsports, Inc. properties such as Atlanta Motor Speedway and Bristol Motor Speedway.

 

The corporation is the primary sponsor for five-time NASCARSprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson in the #48 Chevrolet Impala SS and it was a part time sponsor of the former #5 Nationwide Series team; both teams are owned by Hendrick Motorsports. Prior to the current sponsorship deal with Hendrick Motorsports, Lowe's was the sponsor of the #31 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing driven by Mike Skinner and Robby Gordon from 1997 to 2001. Prior to the RCR deal, Lowe's was the primary sponsor of the #11 Ford driven by Brett Bodine for Junior Johnson & Associates, and later, Brett's own team, Brett Bodine Racing (after Bodine bought the #11 team from Johnson).

 

Lowe's also sponsors Fernandez Racing in the American Le Mans Series and previously sponsored the team in the Rolex Sports Car Series; in that series, Lowe's sponsors the #99 Gainsco Stallings Racing Pontiac in events where Johnson is driving.

 

All-American Muslim advertising

Lowe's withdrew its advertising from the TLC reality television show All-American Muslim in December 2011. One organization that criticized the show was the Florida Family Association, a one-man fundamentalist organization "on the Christian right" that says it's 'defending American values'", The organization claimed the show was "propaganda that riskily hides the Islamic agenda's clear and present danger to American liberties and traditional values." A spokesperson for Lowe's said that "we understand the program raised concerns, complaints, or issues from multiple sides of the viewer spectrum, which we found after doing research of news articles and blogs covering the show".

 

Lowe's faced a backlash from several quarters, including Muslim-American and Arab-American organizations. The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee called upon members to contact Lowe's to urge it to reverse its position. The Los Angeles chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations met to consider possible actions, including boycotts and protests. Several celebrities also called for a boycott. California State Senator Ted Lieu called Lowe's decision "naked religious bigotry" and said he would consider legislative action if Lowe's did not apologize to Muslim-Americans and reinstate the ads.Abraham Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League expressed similar views.Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to the United States Congress, criticized Lowe's decision to "uphold the beliefs of a fringe hate group and not the creed of the First Amendment". Representative John Conyers of Michigan called on Lowe's to apologize. Michigan state representative Rashida Tlaib contacted the company's corporate headquarters, reporting that Lowe's declined to change its decision.