Lowe's Companies, Inc. (NYSE: LOW) is a U.S.-based chain of retail home improvement and appliance stores. Founded in 1946 in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, the chain now serves more than 14 million customers a week in its 1,710 stores in the United States and 16 in Canada. With the opening of the South Burlington, Vermont, location, Lowe's now operates stores in all 50 states. 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. Lowe's Companies, Inc. is 43 on the Fortune 500 list. As of 2010, the chain is based in Mooresville, North Carolina, about 30 minutes north of uptown Charlotte. Lowe's is the second-largest hardware chain in the U.S. 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.
Lowe's continued to expand throughout the southeast United States.
It suffered in the 1980s, due to market conditions and increasing competition from the new big-box chain, The Home Depot. For a while, Lowe's resisted adopting the big-box format, partly because Lowe's management believed that the smaller towns where Lowe's mostly operated would not support huge stores. However, Lowe's eventually had to adopt the big-box format in order to survive. Today most Lowe's stores are of the big-box variety, though some classic format stores remain in smaller markets.
Lowe's has since grown nationally, aided by the purchase of Eagle Hardware & Garden in 1999. It is now the second-largest home improvement chain in North America, and has begun expanding outside the United States, starting with the Southern Ontario area. The first store outside of United States was in Hamilton, Ontario, at Barton Street and Woodward Avenue.
Lowe's announced on 25 August 2009 that it had entered a joint venture with the Australian retailer Woolworths to enter the Australian market with 150 big box style superstores. The first store is scheduled for a February 2010 opening in Victoria.
Organization
Lowe's is organized geographically into Divisions (Northeast, Southeast, North Central, South Central, and West), Regions, Districts and then the individual store. A Lowe's store can have anywhere from 80 to over 400 employees depending on the size and sales volume.
Brands
Lowe's is also one of the top 50 trademark applicants according to the United States Patent and Trademark Office. As with other large retailers across North America, Lowe's also owns and exclusively sells certain brands.
Allen & Roth (Home Decoration)
AquaSource (bathroom products)
Garden Treasures (patio furniture and landscaping)
Harbor Breeze (ceiling fans and accessories)
Kobalt (tools)
Perfect Flame and Masterforge (grills)
Portfolio (lighting)
Precision Components (flooring)
Surface Source (flooring)
Task Force (tools)
TopChoice (lumber)
Utilitech (electrical and plumbing supplies)
Environmental record
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, lumber 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
Prior to 2006, the Lowe's tagline was "Improving Home Improvement," and before that was "Lowe's Knows." In 2006, Lowe's adopted the new slogan "Let's Build Something Together."
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 voiceovers.
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."
Lowe's and other landscaping companies landscape some areas of Busch Gardens Williamsburg.
The domain lowes.com receives at least 7 million unique visitors per month.
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. Lowe's, through its Kobalt brand, sponsors the spring race at Atlanta Motor Speedway known as the Kobalt Tools 500.
The corporation is the primary sponsor for four-time Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson in the #48 Chevrolet Impala SS and a part time sponsor of the #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 And 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..
Lowe's Canada
Lowe's in Hamilton, Ontario
Based in Toronto, Ontario, Lowe's Canada opened its first three stores on December 10, 2007, in Hamilton, Brampton and Brantford. On February 1, 2008, they opened three more stores in Toronto, East Gwillimbury and a second store in Brampton as well as a new location in Maple (Vaughan). Currently, additional stores are under construction, with 16 now open in the province of Ontario. Lowe's also recently announced expansion into Western Canada, starting with three new stores in Calgary, Alberta, which are slated to open sometime in 2010.
Each store represents an average investment of $20.5 million ($20.4 million USD).
Lowe's benefits, employment, and culture
Six company holidays are standard including New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day. All holidays except Thanksgiving and Christmas are working holidays, with full-time employees receiving eight hours of holiday pay which can now be banked and utilized, and part-time employees receiving four.
Full-time hourly employees are entitled to two weeks of vacation after one year of service, three weeks after five years of service, and four weeks after fifteen years of service, while salaried corporate employees with prior experience often receive two weeks of vacation immediately. Lowe's also offers a comprehensive service reward to long-term employees, such as additional vacation time and a series of gifts, ranging from a two-year pin to a thirty-year Rolex watch.
Lowe's offers health, vision, and dental plans for full-time employees. In addition, part-time employees are eligible for health benefits as well, although the part-time employees' health plan is more limited than those offered for full-time employees. Lowe's further offers a variety of other health-and-wellness benefits including optional pre-paid legal services and a program called LifeTrack, which offers programs and rewards to encourage healthy behavior in employees (including smoking cessation and weight-loss programs and incentives).
Lowe's offers a 401(k) plan for employees after six months of employment. Employees are given a wide selection of mutual funds to invest in, as well as company stock. In addition, Lowe's contributes a baseline match to all employees following 180 days of service. Employees can contribute up to 50% of their paycheck, and the company will fully match the first 3% and partially match up to 6% after the employee has been enrolled in the program for a full year. In addition to the 401(k) plan, employees may also elect to participate in a stock-purchase program in which employees contribute either a flat dollar amount or a percentage of their paycheck for a period of 6 months, after which the company purchases Lowe's stock for the employee at a discount equal to 15% off the price of the stock on the last day of the 6 month period.
Lowe's markets itself internally and externally as a homeowner-focused organization in contrast to Home Depot's preliminary target of being a contractor-oriented organization. Since, Home Depot has strived to become more of a homeowner-focused retailer like Lowe's. While both companies employ specialists from their respective fields, Lowe's provides a supplemental commission-pay structure with a philosophy of retaining energized quality staffing, while Home Depot's employees are paid a flat wage. The marketing strategy between Lowe's and Home Depot is similar to the strategy between Target and Wal-Mart, with Lowe's stressing a softer and kinder image, appealing to women.
Lowe's class actions
Lowe's was involved in a small cluster of class action lawsuits, that all revolve around Lowe's employee payment system. The cases focused on a pay practice known as "variable rate overtime". Variable rate overtime has the effect of paying a decreasing overtime rate the more hours a person works in a week. The suits alleged that salaried managers who worked between 40 and 50 hours per week, were improperly compensated for that time. The variable rate overtime ended in the first quarter of 2006.
The first case was filed in October 2002 by employees of the Lowe's store in Shawnee, Kansas. In September 2005, the cases was certified as class action. Lowe's has four similar cases in New York, Indiana, Pennsylvania and Ohio. The lawsuits for New York, Indiana and Kansas resulted in an out of court settlement on September 22, 2006.
The lawsuit in Pennsylvania became a class-action lawsuit in June 2004, with 550 employees.
The case in Ohio was filed by ten former Lowe’s employees, in August 2004.
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(source:wikipedia)
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