Company Overview

Lowe’s Companies is based in North Carolina, where it was founded in 1922 as a family-run hardware store. The company has ridden the do-it-yourself home improvement wave to become the second-largest home improvement retailer in the United States, after Home Depot, with more than 1,250 stores in 49 states. These days, the focus is on expanding into major urban centers. It is also making an effort to capture the female market, which it claims holds 80 percent of home-improvement purchasing power within households. Much of the company’s recent success has been driven by sales of installation services. Lowe’s stores sell everything from cabinets, flooring, and lighting products to paint, appliances, and lumber; the typical Lowe’s store stocks more than 40,000 products. The company also has nine regional distribution centers and nine flatbed distribution centers for lumber and building supplies, as well as a facility that handles special-order plumbing products.