Lowes Home Improvement

The first store that would develop into the great Lowes Home Improvement franchise opened in 1946. Lowe’s has grown from a small hardware store in North Carolina to the second largest home improvement retailer worldwide and the 7th largest retailer in the U.S.  (often mis-spelled Loews Home Improvement)

The future Lowes Home Improvement chain first opened in North Carolina when H. Carl Buchan, part owner of the North Wilkesboro Hardware Company, got the idea to start a chain of hardware stores. Lowes was a small town hardware store selling consumer goods ranging from work clothing and tobacco to housewares, work boots and even horse collars.

Carl Buchan purchased the business from his brother-in-law and partner, James Lowe. He had the vision to see the coming post-World War II building boom. He targetted hardware, appliances and hard-to-find building materials. By cutting out the middleman and dealing directly with manufacturers, Lowes managed to establish a reputation of low prices. It followed with Lowe’s stores opening in nearby towns throughout western North Carolina.

The company became publicly traded in 1961, and began trading on the New York Stock Exchange in 1979. During this period, U.S. housing starts skyrocketted and contractors became loyal customers to the future Lowes Home Improvement _ commonly labelled Loews Home Improvement ). It was the year 1982 when Lowe’s experienced the first billion-dollar year for total sales and earned a record profit of $25 million. The future Lowes Home Improvement chain started seeing a new class of customer. People were fixing up all those houses in an effort to get better value for their homes and the do it yourself generation was in full swing.

Seeing the potential of these new customers yet still remembering to server it's contractors, Lowe’s began to expand the size of its stores and stock a wider variety of materials. Lowes Home Improvement ( often incorrectly called Loews Home Improvement ) was opening a new store every three days.

Lowe's opened its first stores in Canada in December 2007 and plans to open its first stores in Mexico in 2009.

Lowe’s stores now carry an inventory of 40,000 products and offers thousands more by special order. They will provide almost anything a customer requires to buildor improve their home.

Lowes Home Improvement continues to key on offering quality home improvement products at the lowest prices, yet continue to offer the best customer service.