Lowe’s shutters 51 stores in ‘ongoing strategic reassessment’
Though the chain has largely avoided the issues facing other retailers as they struggle to compete against e-commerce traffic, it is closing underperforming locations to focus on growth.
Lowe’s is finally starting to feel the pressure with which many retailers have been struggling.
On Monday, the home improvement chain announced that by February 2019, 51 of its stores—20 in the United States—would permanently close their doors.
In a press release, Lowes said it was closing the stores as part of its “ongoing strategic reassessment.” It also said it’s focusing on profitable stores and improving “the overall health of its store portfolio.”
Lowe’s said that it’s giving “most” employees the option to transition to stores nearby—which, in the case of the majority of U.S. closures, are within 10 miles of the location shutting down.
CNBC reported:
“Today’s announcement that Lowe’s is closing 51 underperforming stores is not surprising, and in our view, could suggest the beginning of a broader initiative to improve profitability via real estate rationalization,” wrote Zachary Fadem at Wells Fargo on Monday.
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