Lowe’s Near Me
Lowe’s Companies, Inc. is an American home improvement chain. It operates in the US, Canada and Mexico. The company was founded in 1946 in North Carolina, and opened its first Canadian store in 2008, moving into Mexico by 2010. The company also attempted to move into the Australian market in 2011, but did not succeed in gaining a market share and went defunct in 2016.
In America, the brand is highly successful. The company is a Fortune 47 company, and is the second largest hardware chain in America, and also globally, beaten only by The Home Depot in both. Today the company is a multi billion dollar operation, earning over $56 billion in revenue each year. Don’t forget to search “Lowe’s near me” to find your local store!
Lowe’s Near Me – Find it on the Map
Lowe’s Near Me – Lowe’s Trivia
How did Lowe’s begin?
The first Lowe’s store was Lowe’s North Wilkesboro Hardware, in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina. It was opened in 1921 by Lucius Smith Lowe. In 1940, Lowe died, and his daughter inherited the business. She sold it to her brother Jim, who ran the business with his partner Carl Buchan. Buchan anticipated the need for construction material at the end of World War II, and so under his leadership the store focused on those areas. This proved to be a successful strategy, and the company opened a second location in Sparta, North Carolina in 1949. Today, the company headquarters is in Mooresville, North Carolina.
Are there other Lowe’s?
Carl Buchan and Jim Lowe did not agree on business strategy, and so they decided to split the company. Buchan managed the hardware chain side of the business, while Lowe took over their other ventures, including a car dealership. In 1954 he also started the Lowes Foods grocery store chain, which has also been successful, and today has 97 locations. To find your nearest location, search “Lowe’s near me”.
What items does Lowe’s sell?
Today the Lowe’s chain stores have several different departments, selling various different types of materials, goods, tools and hardware. The stores sell items such as doors and windows, paints, building supplies such as asphalt, drywall and concrete, laminate flooring and lumber. There is also an electrical department, that sells wires, batteries, surge protectors and light switches and sockets; and a plumbing department, which sells faucets, valves, pipes and tanks.
How big is Lowe’s?
The Lowe’s chain is highly successful. After some turbulent times in the 1980s due to increasing competition from The Home Depot, the chain made a comeback, helped partly by the purchase of the Washington-based Eagle Hardware and Garden in 1999. Today, Lowe’s employs around 265 thousand people, in 1840 stores across North America. The company has a revenue of over $56 billion, with a net income of around $2.6 billion.
Are there Lowe’s outside America?
In 2011, Lowe’s announced plans to move into the Australian hardware store market. The market in Australia is dominated by Bunnings Warehouse, an $11.6 billion company with 324 locations and 31 thousand employees. Lowe’s entered into a deal with Woolworths, one of the two major supermarket chains in Australia, and opened its first store in Braybrook, Victoria, in 2011, under the name Masters Home Improvement. However, the stores struggled to compete with Bunnings and the other chains, and in January 2016, Woolworths decided to exit the hardware business. The stores will be sold off to Bunnings and other companies.
Lowe’s Near Me – Lowe’s Facts
The company slogan is Love Where You Live.
When Carl Buchan took over the business, he decided to keep the name Lowe’s, so that he could use the slogan Lowe’s Low Prices.
Following World War II, the company became very profitable. From 1952 to 1959, sales increased from $4.1 million to $27 million. In fact, there was such high demand, that goods were often purchased directly from the train freight car on the railway siding that served the store.
By 1982, total sales reached $1 billion!
In the 1980s, the company faced fierce competition from The Home Depot. By 1989, Lowe’s had opened its 300th store, and all of their stores averaged 20 thousand square feet of retail space. The Home Depot’s ‘big box’ strategy meant that it had stores that were five times as large! Lowe’s was eventually forced to also create larger stores in order to compete.
Lowe’s stores differ from The Home Depot in two areas of stock, however. Lowes carries large appliances like freezers and refrigerators, and also home electronics, whereas The Home Depot Stores usually do not.
Lowe’s Companies, Inc. won an Energy Star award for eight years in a row, from 2003-2010, including four Energy Star Partner of the Year awards. In 2010, Lowe’s also became the first winner of the Energy Star Sustained Excellence Award in Retail, as recognition for its work in encouraging customers to purchase and use energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly products.
Lowe’s has sponsored the radio broadcasting booth of the New York Yankees since 2006. The announcers often identify themselves as being inside the “Lowe’s Broadcast Booth”, and quote the company slogan or tagline.
From 1998 to 2009, Lowe’s Companies Inc. owned the naming rights to the Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. During this period, it was known as Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Lowe’s is still an associate sponsor of the Bristol and Atlanta Motor Speedways.
Lowe’s is also the main sponsor of Jimmie Johnson, six time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion. Lowe’s is also the sponsor of the Fernandez Racing team, in the American Le Mans Series.
Since opening its first three Canadian stores in Hamilton, Brampton and Brantford in 2007, Lowe’s has continued to expand in Canada. In 2015, they announced plans to purchase thirteen former Target Canada premises.
Until recently, the voice of the Lowe’s television commercials was famous American actor Gene Hackman. The current voice is that of Ben Yannette.
Lowe’s Companies, Inc. has many stores in locations all across North America. To find the store closest to you, make sure you search for “Lowe’s near me”!
WHY DO I HAVE TO GO FROM ONE WEBSITE TO ANOTHER? WHY CAN’T I JUST PUT IN THE NAME OF THE STORE AND LOCATION AND GO THAT WEBSITE?