The Home Depot (HD) is an American home improvement retail warehouse chain that claims a grand total of 2242 retail outlets and maintains an online presence through its website HomeDepot.com. The Home Depot has stores within the fifty United States and its territories in Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, the ten provinces of Canada, and China and Mexico. A typical Home Depot store averages 105,000 sq. ft.
The Home Depot, which famously espouses a non-union policy, specializes in materials and services for construction, gardening, painting, plumbing and home appliances. The Home Depot is a seller of major brands like BEHR, Martha Stewart Living, Ryobi, Homelite and Chem-dry, as well as hardware tools, paint and storage supplies from its two in-house brands Husky and Workforce. In the last five years, some Home Depot warehouse stores have installed on-site fuel stations in a convenience store-type format.
The Home Depot's contributions to the green movement include measures that promote sustainability of natural resources and forests and energy conversation. The chain's steadfast promotion of fluorescent lighting accessories led it to form the single largest light bulb recycling program in the nation. Additionally, the Home Depot has fulfilled contributions to the City of Hope and Habitat for Humanity in the area of $200M.
Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank founded The Home Depot warehouse chain in 1978 along with Ron Brill and Pat Farrah. Marcus and Blank retired in 2000. The current CEO and Chairman is Frank Blake. Cobb County, Georgia is the site of the current headquarters of the chain, which is the title sponsor of the 27-000 seat soccer stadium The Home Depot Center in Carson, California which serves as the home of the Los Angeles Galaxy and Chivas USA professional soccer clubs.
Home Depot stock price since January 3, 2011 has averaged just under $35. The Home Depot's net income in the third quarter of 2010 rose 21% to $834 million, and its net sales increased 1.4% to $16.6 billion. This was the second largest increase of that year after the first quarter's 41.1% and 4.3% increases, respectively.
