Basic Company and Industry Information Bernie Marcus and Author Blank founded Home Depot in Georgia in 1978. The first few stores were attached to Treasure Island stores and stocked around 25,000 products. What started out as a small neighborhood hardware store soon sprouted as the largest home improvement store in the nation. It wasn't before long that Home Depot (HD) shares were being traded publicly on the New York Stock Exchange. Today, Home Depot is a member of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and is one of the "Top Ten Most Admired Companies" by Fortune magazine, which also ranked The Home Depot as "America's Most Admired Specialty Retailer" for the seventh consecutive year. This company only goes up with increasing net sales and net profit. .
The main ingredient to Home Depot's success is not only the number of stores there are, but the diverse types of customers they attract. Home Depot attracts contractors, other retail stores, the do it yourselfer, and the average John Doe shopper. Home Depot is also attracting more and more women by increasing and expanding their EXPO Design stores which focuses on wall paper and other types of remodeling. So, whether you"re a contractor looking for lumber to build a house or John Doe who just broke his door handle and is looking to buy a new one, the Home Depot is your one stop superstore. .
What makes the Home Depot such a pleasant place to shop is the 201,000 friendly and knowledgeable sales associates. Home Depot forces their employees through a rigorous training program to ensure that which ever department they work in, they know the products they"re selling and have the customer service skills to sell it. Home Depot offers their employee's stock options and 401(k) retirement plans. On the whole, this is just a few of the many reasons why Home Depot has such a low turnover rate on the average when being compared to other large retail chains.