Lowe's Companies

Lowe's Companies, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a home improvement retailer in the United States and internationally. The company offers a line of products for construction, maintenance, repair, remodelling, and decorating. It provides home improvement products, such as appliances, seasonal and outdoor living, lawn and garden, lumber, kitchens and bath, tools, paint, millwork, hardware, flooring, rough plumbing, building materials, décor, lighting, and electrical. 

It also offers installation services through independent contractors in various product categories; extended protection plans; and in-warranty and out-of-warranty repair services. The company sells its national brand-name merchandise and private brand products to homeowners, renters, and professional customers. 

As of January 28, 2022, it operated 1,971 home improvement and hardware stores. The company also sells its products through websites comprising Lowes.com and Lowesforpros.com; and through mobile applications. Lowe's Companies, Inc. was founded in 1921 and is based in Mooresville, North Carolina.

The first Lowe's store, North Wilkesboro Hardware, opened in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, in 1921 by Lucius Smith Lowe. After Lowe died in 1940, the business was inherited by his daughter, Ruth Buchan, who sold the company to her brother, James Lowe, that same year. James took on his brother-in-law Carl Buchan as a partner in 1943. 

Buchan anticipated the dramatic increase in construction after World War II, and under his 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 location in Sparta, North Carolina, in 1949. 

In 1952, Buchan became the sole owner of Lowe's and the company was incorporated as Lowe's North Wilkesboro Hardware. In 1954, Jim Lowe started the Lowes Foods grocery store chain. By 1955, Buchan quickly expanded the company by opening stores in the North Carolina cities of Asheville, Charlotte, and Durham. By the end of 1955, Buchan had opened a total of six stores.

In 1960, 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 under the name Lowe's Companies Inc. By 1962, Lowe's operated 21 stores and reported annual revenues of $32 million. Lowe's began trading on the New York Stock Exchange in 1979. Lowe's suffered in the 1980s due to market conditions and increasing competition from the new big-box store chain, The Home Depot. For a while, Lowe's resisted adopting the mega-store format partly because its management believed the smaller towns where Lowe's mostly operated would not support huge stores. However, Lowe's eventually adopted the big-box format to survive.

Lowe's has since grown nationally, as it was aided by the purchase of the Renton, Washington–based Eagle Hardware & Garden company in 1999. The first store outside the United States was in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. According to its website, Lowe's has operated/serviced more than 2,355 locations in the United States, Canada, and Mexico alone, although the Mexican stores were closed in the late 2010s. 

Lowe's acquires Maintenance Supply Headquarters for $512 million in 2015. In 2016, Lowe's acquired RONA, a Canadian home improvement retailer, for $3.2 billion. The acquisition added over 700 stores to Lowe's portfolio, making it the largest home improvement retailer in Canada. As well this year, the company announces the launch of its new Lowe's Innovation Labs and its partnership with Techstars for its Retail Accelerator Program.

 In 2018, Marvin Ellison took over as CEO of Lowe's, succeeding Robert Niblock, who had been with the company for more than a decade. Ellison, a former executive at Home Depot, brought a fresh perspective to the company and implemented changes to improve customer experience and operational efficiency. Also in 2018, Lowe's announced that it would be closing all of its Orchard Supply Hardware stores, a chain that it had acquired in 2013. The decision was made as part of a broader strategy to focus on core operations and improve profitability.

Lowe's announced that it would be expanding into Mexico in 2019, with plans to open its first stores in the country by the end of the year. The move was part of the company's strategy to grow its international presence and tap into the growing home improvement market in Mexico. This year, Lowe's also announced a $1.7 billion investment in technology and supply chain to enhance the customer experience.

Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic: In 2020, Lowe's responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by implementing several safety measures to protect customers and employees. The company also provided financial support to its employees, including bonuses and increased hourly wages.

Lowe's formerly operated in Mexico with 14 locations: 8 in Monterrey, Nuevo León, 1 in Saltillo, Coahuila, 1 in Hermosillo, Sonora, 1 in Chihuahua, Chihuahua, 1 in Culiacán, Sinaloa, 1 in Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes and 1 in León, Guanajuato. Lowe's Mexico closed all its stores on April 10, 2019.

“The mission of Lowe's Companies is to help people love where they live. The company is committed to providing customers with quality home improvement products and services, and to helping them bring their home renovation and decorating ideas to life.”

“Lowe's Companies vision is to create a world where everyone has access to the products, services, and experiences that make their home feel like home.”

“Lowe’s Total Home Strategy provides a full complement of products and services for Pros and Consumers alike, enabling a Total Home solution for every need in the home. Foundational to this strategy is providing customers one of the world’s most customer-centric, omni-channel retail experiences.”

The company's product portfolio includes:

• Kitchen Appliances 
• Building materials, 
• Tools and hardware, and 
• Lawn and garden 
• Fashion fixtures 
• Rough plumbing and 
• Electrical, seasonal and
• Outdoor living, paint, flooring, millwork
• Outdoor power equipment