Lowe's closing stores: Is yours on the list?
Lowe's announces it's closing 20 stores. Home-improvement chain also says it will open far fewer Lowe's stories beginning next year.
Information that Lowe's closed its store in Biddford, Maine, is taped on the outside window on Oct. 17, 2011.Home-improvement retailer Lowe's Cos. said Monday it will close 20 underperforming stores in 15 states and cut 1,950 jobs in order to focus on more profitable locations.
Pat Wellenbach/AP
MOORESVILLE, N.C.
Home-improvement retailer Lowe's Cos. says it will close 20 underperforming stores in 15 states and cut 1,950 jobs in a move that it says will allow it to focus on more profitable locations.
Ten locations were closed Sunday; the other 10 will close in a month.
Before the closures Lowe's operated 1,725 stores.
Lowe's, based in Mooresville, N.C., also says it will only open 10 to 15 stores in North America annually beginning in 2012. Previously the company expected to open 30 stores per year. It will open 25 stores this year.
Lowe's says the moves will cost it 17 cents to 20 cents per share in 2011.
In August, Lowe's said volatile weather and shoppers' worries about the economy hurt demand. Its net income was nearly flat in the second quarter and the company lowered its yearly sales forecast.
Here are the stores set to be closed:
CALIFORNIA
Los Banos
Westminster
COLORADO
Denver
ILLINOIS
Aurora
Oswego
LOUISIANA
Chalmette
MAINE
Biddeford
Ellsworth
MASSACHUSETTS
Haverhill
MICHIGAN
Ionia
MINNESOTA
Rogers
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Claremont
Hooksett
Manchester
NEW JERSEY
Old Bridge
NEW YORK
Batavia
RHODE ISALND
N. Kingstown
VIRGINIA
Emporia
WASHINGTON
S. Tacoma
WISCONSIN
Brown Deer