The Home Depot (NYSE: HD) is an American retailer of home improvement and construction products and services. Headquartered in Vinings, just outside Atlanta, The Home Depot employs more than 355,000 people and operates 2,141 big-box format stores across the United States (including the 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Guam), Canada (ten provinces), Mexico and China. The world's second-largest Home Depot (as of the end of 2007) opened November 14, 2007 on the island of Guam.
The Home Depot is the largest home-improvement retailer in the United States, ahead of rival Lowe's, and the second-largest general retailer in the United States, behind only Wal-Mart.
| The Home Depot, Inc. |
 |
| Type |
Public (NYSE: HD) |
| Founded |
1978 (Marietta, Georgia) |
| Headquarters |
Vinings, Georgia |
| Key people |
Frank Blake, CEO & chairman |
| Industry |
Retail (home improvement) |
| Products |
Home improvement products such as appliances, tools, hardware,lumber, building materials, paint, plumbing, flooring and garden supplies & plants. |
| Revenue |
▲$90.838 billion USD (2006) |
| Net income |
▲$5.761 billion USD (2006) |
| Employees |
355,000 |
| Website |
www.homedepot.com |
History
The Home Depot was founded in 1978 by Bernie Marcus, Arthur Blank, Ron Brill, and Pat Farrah. The Home Depot's proposition was to build home-improvement warehouses, larger than any of their competitors' facilities. Investment banker Ken Langone helped Marcus and Blank to secure the necessary capital.
| “ |
"Bernie and I founded [The Home Depot] with a special vision -- to create a company that would keep alive the values that were important to us. Values like respect among all people, excellent customer service and giving back to communities and society." |
” |
|
—Arthur Blank
|
In 1979, the first two stores, built in spaces leased from J. C. Penney that were originally Treasure Island "hypermarket" (discount department and grocery) stores, opened in metro Atlanta on June 22. Two more opened not long after, and all four shared the space under the "squiggly" zig-zag roof with Zayre on its right side. The first headquarters was on Terrell Mill Road on the southeast side of Marietta, Georgia, just down from one of the stores at the corner of Cobb Parkway. (That store [
33°54′23″N 84°29′14″W / 33.9065, -84.4872 (former location of The Home Depot's first store (1979))], in the Marietta Plaza strip mall, became Value City, changing to Burlington Coat Factory in 2008; part was also a short-lived Little Bucks, in which Brill had a stake.) Since the 1990s, its current headquarters (33°51′54″N 84°28′55″W / 33.865, -84.482 (The Home Depot, headquarters)) is a high-rise building on Paces Ferry Road, on the western edge of the Cumberland/Galleria edge city in unincorporated Cobb County, Georgia, across Interstate 285 from the town of Vinings, and served by mail from Atlanta.
In 2000, after the retirement of Marcus and Blank, Robert Nardelli was appointed chairman, president, and CEO. Nardelli was replaced in January 2007 by Frank Blake.
In 2007 the Home Depot sold its USD $13 billion revenue wholesale division, HD Supply, to a consortium of three private equity firms.
The Home Depot today
Distribution of Home Depot stores in the lower 48 states
Home Depot stores are large, averaging 105,000 ft² (9,755 m²) and organized warehouse-style, stocking a large range of supplies. The company color is a bright orange (PMS 165, CMYK 60M100Y), on signs, equipment and employee aprons.
Its 2006 sales totaled US$90.8 billion (US$77.0 billion in retail sales). Despite the 10% increase in revenue, it dropped three spots to #17 on the 2007 FORTUNE magazine's FORTUNE 500 list (it was #13 in 2005 and #14 in 2006). The Home Depot also owns EXPO Design Center, a chain of higher-end home decorating and appliance stores. In 2006, the Home Depot acquired Hughes Supply which is to be assimilated into HD Supply serving contractors. In September 2005, Home Depot Direct launched its high-end online home-furnishings store, 10 Crescent Lane, shortly followed by the launch of Paces Trading Company, its high-end online lighting store. In mid 2006, the Home Depot acquired Home Decorators Collection which was placed as an additional brand under its Home Depot Direct Division. Home Depot Landscape Supply, with only a few stores each in metro Atlanta and Dallas/Fort Worth, was founded in 2002 and closed in late 2007.
On January 2, 2007, the Home Depot and Robert Nardelli mutually agreed on Nardelli's resignation as CEO after a six-year tenure. Nardelli resigned amid complaints over his heavy-handed management and whether his pay package of $123.7 million, excluding stock option grants, over the past 5 years was excessive considering the stock's poor performance versus its competitor Lowe's. His golden parachute severance package of $210 million has also been criticized because when the stock went down his pay went up. His successor is Frank Blake, who previously served as the company's vice chairman of the board and executive vice president.
Board of directors
Current members of the board of directors of the Home Depot are: F. Duane Ackerman, David H. Batchelder, Frank Blake, Ari Bousbib, Gregory D. Brenneman, Albert P. Carey, Armando Codina, Brian C. Cornell, Bonnie G. Hill, and Karen Katen. The Home Depot's board consists of 10 members, with 9 of them being outside directors.
Marketing
The slogan "You can do it. We can help." has been used by the Home Depot since 2003. Other slogans used in the past 25 years include "The Home Depot, Low prices are just the beginning" in the early 1990s and "When you're at the Home Depot, You'll feel right at home" in the late 1990s and "The Home Depot: First In Home Improvement!" from 1999-2003.
Online
The domain homedepot.com attracted at least 120 million visitors annually by 2008 according to a Compete.com survey.
Exclusive brands
The Home Depot exclusively carries several major brands, including:
- BEHR Paint
- Chem-Dry (carpet cleaning, upholstery cleaning, tile and grout services)
- Distinctions Cabinetry
- Feather River Doors
- G.E. (water heaters)
- Glacier Bay (faucets and bath)
- Husky (tools, store brand)
- Lutron (lighting controls)
- Millstead
- Pegasus (kitchen and bath items)
- Ryobi (power tools)
- Thomasville cabinetry
- Vigoro (fertilizer, store brand)
Additionally, the retailer has its own house brands:
- Commercial Electric (lighting and electrical)
- Eco Options (store brand)
- Hampton Bay (lighting, ceiling fans & patio furniture)
- n:vision (compact fluorescent bulbs, formerly part of Commercial Electric)
- Workforce
Commercial Electric and n:vision both have addresses listed in Mableton, the next town southwest of the company's Vinings headquarters.
Fuel centers
Starting in 2006, the Home Depot has started testing with fuel centers at some of its stores. The first center, located in Acworth, Georgia, followed by two additional centers in Hermitage and Brentwood, Tennessee, and are expected to earn $5-$7 million per year. The fuel centers sell beer, hot food, snacks along with providing diesel at a separate island. This allows contractors with large trucks to be able to fill their vehicles. The fuel centers also offer car washes, which are large enough to accommodate full-size pickup trucks.
Home Depot construction toys
The Home Depot also has its own brand of construction toys, which include plastic hammers, wrenches, and screwdrivers, but are sold exclusively at Toys R Us.
Social and community philanthropy
"The company is also dedicated to giving back to the community and donates time, labor, money, and supplies to numerous charities, totaling more than $200 million in contributions. The Home Depot Foundation, established in 2002, supports a variety of community projects, including Habitat for Humanity; City of Hope Cancer Center, a California-based cancer-treatment center; and KaBOOM!, a playground-construction organization.
In 2005, Home Depot was among 53 entities that contributed the maximum of $250,000 to the second inauguration of President George W. Bush.
Employment
Interviewing with Home Depot
Home depot interview candidates report mostly 1:1 and phone interview formats. Many candidates also report drug tests as part of the interview process. 80% of candidates describe their interview experience with Home Depot as "Positive". The overall difficulty of the interview is described as "Average".
Compensation at Home Depot
Most of the non-managerial positions in Home Depot's retail stores are compensated on an hourly basis. Store manager positions and most headquarter roles are compensated on a salary basis. Home Depot pay and Home Depot Salary details for common jobs in-store include:
- Home Depot Cashier pay - $9.66/hr (Average, USD)
- Home Depot Sales Associate pay - $9.66/hr (Average, USD)
- Home Depot Department Supervisor pay - $16.34/hr (Average, USD)
- Home Depot Department Manager pay - $17.48/hr (Average, USD)
- Home Depot Assistant Manager salary - $54,330 (Average, USD)
- Home Depot Store Manager salary - $77,820 (Average, USD)
This article uses content from http://www.wikipedia.org
