Lowe's Closing 51 Stores

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Lowe's Closing 51 Stores

Post by J-Man »

20 in the US; 31 in Canada. This comes on the heels of the shutdown of Lowe's-owned Orchard Supply Hardware (OSH.)
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Re: Lowe's Closing 51 Stores

Post by babs »

Interesting that they are closing the two Manhattan locations that are somewhat similar to Orchard Supply but carried the Lowes name. I guess they have no interest in trying to make a smaller store work.
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Re: Lowe's Closing 51 Stores

Post by Brian Lutz »

None in Washington or Oregon, which is honestly a bit of a surprise. There are a number of fairly marginal stores in the area that were acquired when they bought Eagle Hardware (which prior to its acquisition had 37 stores in nine states) in 1998. Eagle had pretty nice stores back when they were around, but Lowe's has done a poor job of keeping up the stores. It also seems like they're a lot less likely than Home Depot to have items that we're looking for in stock, to the point that we frequently end up walking out empty handed when we go to the one in Everett. They did shut down the Bellevue Lowe's store a couple of years ago (another former Eagle) but much like the situation with the now former Safeway plants in Bellevue I suspect it's a situation where they could make more money from selling the land than from operating the store.

That said, some of the purpose built Lowe's stores I've been to (such as the Renton Landing and Monroe stores) have been quite nice.
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Re: Lowe's Closing 51 Stores

Post by Super S »

Brian Lutz wrote: November 6th, 2018, 9:41 am None in Washington or Oregon, which is honestly a bit of a surprise. There are a number of fairly marginal stores in the area that were acquired when they bought Eagle Hardware (which prior to its acquisition had 37 stores in nine states) in 1998. Eagle had pretty nice stores back when they were around, but Lowe's has done a poor job of keeping up the stores. It also seems like they're a lot less likely than Home Depot to have items that we're looking for in stock, to the point that we frequently end up walking out empty handed when we go to the one in Everett. They did shut down the Bellevue Lowe's store a couple of years ago (another former Eagle) but much like the situation with the now former Safeway plants in Bellevue I suspect it's a situation where they could make more money from selling the land than from operating the store.

That said, some of the purpose built Lowe's stores I've been to (such as the Renton Landing and Monroe stores) have been quite nice.
There is a fairly new Lowe's very close to my house. It is convenient, and nice because it is fairly new, but I often end up leaving empty handed and driving to Home Depot instead because Lowe's doesn't have what I need. Some items I won't even bother going to Lowe's for. The store at times is very poorly staffed also. On more than one occasion, I have seen ZERO checkstands open (including the lumber end) and forced self-checkout as the only option, and remember well when somebody was attempting to drag a sheet of plywood across the self checkout scanner while the attendant was nowhere to be found, while there was only one person at the service counter who looked overwhelmed. I will say that they are doing a little better at staffing the front end now, but I still get the feeling that the store has bare-bones staffing as it's hard to find anybody on the floor. Home Depot isn't much better at the front end but they usually have enough people working the floor.

Lowe's sure is taking their sweet time adding Craftsman though. All I have seen so far are toolboxes and a couple small hand tool sets. I get the impression that they are unsure if they are going to carry the full Craftsman lineup or use it as a secondary line and keep their Kobalt brand. With Sears rapidly winding down, Lowe's could gain from that.
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Re: Lowe's Closing 51 Stores

Post by babs »

Super S wrote: November 6th, 2018, 10:15 am
Brian Lutz wrote: November 6th, 2018, 9:41 am None in Washington or Oregon, which is honestly a bit of a surprise. There are a number of fairly marginal stores in the area that were acquired when they bought Eagle Hardware (which prior to its acquisition had 37 stores in nine states) in 1998. Eagle had pretty nice stores back when they were around, but Lowe's has done a poor job of keeping up the stores. It also seems like they're a lot less likely than Home Depot to have items that we're looking for in stock, to the point that we frequently end up walking out empty handed when we go to the one in Everett. They did shut down the Bellevue Lowe's store a couple of years ago (another former Eagle) but much like the situation with the now former Safeway plants in Bellevue I suspect it's a situation where they could make more money from selling the land than from operating the store.

That said, some of the purpose built Lowe's stores I've been to (such as the Renton Landing and Monroe stores) have been quite nice.
There is a fairly new Lowe's very close to my house. It is convenient, and nice because it is fairly new, but I often end up leaving empty handed and driving to Home Depot instead because Lowe's doesn't have what I need. Some items I won't even bother going to Lowe's for. The store at times is very poorly staffed also. On more than one occasion, I have seen ZERO checkstands open (including the lumber end) and forced self-checkout as the only option, and remember well when somebody was attempting to drag a sheet of plywood across the self checkout scanner while the attendant was nowhere to be found, while there was only one person at the service counter who looked overwhelmed. I will say that they are doing a little better at staffing the front end now, but I still get the feeling that the store has bare-bones staffing as it's hard to find anybody on the floor. Home Depot isn't much better at the front end but they usually have enough people working the floor.

Lowe's sure is taking their sweet time adding Craftsman though. All I have seen so far are toolboxes and a couple small hand tool sets. I get the impression that they are unsure if they are going to carry the full Craftsman lineup or use it as a secondary line and keep their Kobalt brand. With Sears rapidly winding down, Lowe's could gain from that.
Been to Lowe's several times over the past week. They're in the process of adding a ton of Craftsman tools so that's well underway.

The self-checkout has been closed. Really annoyed at having to wait in line where there are four unused self-check lanes that I could use. They really should be adding more to better justify the staffing.

Overall Lowes and Home Depot are very different carrying virtually the same product but often a different brand just to be different. Home Depot always seems to have slightly lower prices and a better selection. But the appliance are at Lowes seems to be a bit better. However, Home Depot is always so much busier.

Recently Home Depot seems to have refreshed their stores in the area. New internal signage and repainted buildings. It really does help make their stores look nicer. Lowes is closer to my house but I prefer shopping at Home Depot.
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Re: Lowe's Closing 51 Stores

Post by storewanderer »

babs wrote: November 6th, 2018, 8:50 am Interesting that they are closing the two Manhattan locations that are somewhat similar to Orchard Supply but carried the Lowes name. I guess they have no interest in trying to make a smaller store work.
This is the same CEO who closed all those old (decades old) small town JCP Stores so I am not surprised he seems to be following a similar path with "small size" stores at Lowe's (or OSH).

Lowe's runs a former Eagle in Reno and it is quite nice. The departments are mostly in the same spots as they were as Eagle. They did a fairly large expansion once or twice on the garden center which was much too small at first. They also had a former Eagle in Sparks but closed it (rough part of town). Not long after, they built a new Lowe's elsewhere in Sparks which is also nice enough, but reminds me more of a Home Depot. The former Eagle is quite a bit different. I too notice how understaffed their stores are. Home Depot seems much better staffed. The employees are Home Depot also seem genuinely friendly and helpful and willing to take time to help you find an item or answer questions. At Lowe's, the employees seem to be in a rush to deal with you as fast as they can and move on.
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Re: Lowe's Closing 51 Stores

Post by arizonaguy »

In my opinion, Home Depot is the superior operator.

In my area (Phoenix) Home Depot and Lowe's stores are predominately all new build stores (Home Depot does have at least one former Home Base store but it has been renovated to basically mirror a standard Home Depot).

I find that when I go to Lowe's, I have less success in finding what I want. Also, Home Depot has much better customer service. Home Depot also seems to do significantly greater volume than Lowe's.

The number of closings is relatively small (for the total number of stores in the chain) and it appears Lowe's is trying to go to a "back to the basics" model.
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Re: Lowe's Closing 51 Stores

Post by cjd »

In my area, both Home Depot (2001) and Lowes (2006) are new builds. I do notice more traffic at HD too and more staff. The staff at Lowes seems just as helpful but there aren't as many on the floor. Plus Home Depot always has four self checkouts open but Lowes only has two and I very rarely see either one open.

I used to be under the impression that Home Depot sold basic items while Lowes sold higher end or more expensive fixtures, etc but I don't know if that's truly the case.
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Re: Lowe's Closing 51 Stores

Post by jamcool »

Maybe it’s time for Menards to expand...plenty of ex-Sears and K Mart sites
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Re: Lowe's Closing 51 Stores

Post by rwsandiego »

cjd wrote: November 13th, 2018, 3:44 pm In my area, both Home Depot (2001) and Lowes (2006) are new builds. I do notice more traffic at HD too and more staff. The staff at Lowes seems just as helpful but there aren't as many on the floor. Plus Home Depot always has four self checkouts open but Lowes only has two and I very rarely see either one open.

I used to be under the impression that Home Depot sold basic items while Lowes sold higher end or more expensive fixtures, etc but I don't know if that's truly the case.
That was my impression back in 2010/2011 when I was shopping for appliances. It seems like HD has since learned from its mistakes and went upscale.
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