Lowe’s is an American retail company that specializes in home improvement. The company operates under Lowe’s Companies, Inc., and it operates a chain of retail stores around the United States as well as Canada, and it is headquartered in Mooresville, North Carolina.
Lowe’s is currently the second-largest hardware chain in the US and is ranked behind Menards and The Home Depot. The company is also the second-largest hardware chain in the world. Currently, the Lowe’s and all its related businesses operate a total of 2,015 hardware stores as well as 2,015 home improvement stores around North America.
Inception
The very first Lowe’s store was opened in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, in 1921. The founder of the store was Lucas Smith Lowe (1879-1940), and it was called North Wilkesboro Hardware. Following the death of Lucas in 1940, his business was inherited by his daughter by the name of Ruth. Later that year, she sold the company to her brother Jim. After running the company for just two years, Jim brought a partner Carl Buchan and together in 1946, they changed the company’s name to Lowe’s Hardware.
After running the company together as partners, Jim sold his share of the company to his partner, and Carl became the sole owner of the company in 1952. Jim, on his part, opened a grocery store chain called Lowe’s Foods in 1954. In 1961, Carl died, and the five executive members of his company took over and took the company public the same year. After just one year of going public, the company had 21 stores, and in 1979, it started trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
Due to the market conditions and increased competition in the 1980s, the company suffered a great loss as The Home Depot and Big-Box store chain presented the greatest competition. In 1999Lowe’s purchased a Washington based company Eagle Hardware & Garden Company since then, it became an international company. The company’s first store outside the United States was based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Evolution
Lowe’s purchased the Wilkes Mall located in Wilkesboro, North Carolina in 1998. The purpose of buying the mall was to make it the location of their headquarters. In 2002 the company acquired full control of the building, and in 2003, the company relocated to Mooresville, North Carolina, where they constructed their own headquarters. The company maintained its former headquarters in Wilkesboro, and in 2011, the company renovated the property and added a coffee shop, health center, which was part of a full-service food court.
In Canada, Lowe’s company is based in Boucherville, Quebec, and it was headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. The company has customer contact centers in different places like India, New Mexico, North Carolina, Indianapolis, Indiana, and Albuquerque. This is in addition to the ones located in Wilkesboro and Mooresville.
Lowe’s started building a 23-story tower in South End in 2019, and it became operational in 2020. The building, which costs $153 million, houses more than 2000 employees. The tower houses a global technology hub for the company. The company has been sponsoring different events over the years, and in 2019, they became the official National Football League (NFL) sponsors. They have also sponsored several racing championship events.
Awards & Achievements
Over the years, the company has won several environmental awards. These include the Energy Star Award, which they won for eight consecutive years from 2003 to 2010. Four of these awards were Energy Star Partner of the Year Award. In 2010 the company was the very first winner of the Energy Star Sustained Excellence Award in Retail.
Net Worth of Lowe’s in 2024
As of April 2024, The estimated net worth of Lowe’s company is $120 billion. The company’s shares are trading at over $100 per share, and its market capitalization is valued at $80 billion. The company was ranked number 40 on the Fortune 500 list in 2018. The list was on the largest corporations by their total revenue in the United States.
Lowe’s is a company that specializes in home improvement and is located in the United States. Though the company I headquartered in Mooresville, North Carolina, it has retail stores all over the United States as well as Canada. The company had stores in Mexico, but they were closed in the late 2010s, and currently, it has more than 2,015 stores in North America with more than 312 thousand employees.