LOWE'S

'Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse' () is a US-based chain of retail home improvement and appliance stores. Founded in 1946 in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, the chain now serves over 13 million customers a week in its over 1,400 stores in 49 states. Vermont is the only state without a Lowe's store and with the exception of Wyoming, each of the other 48 states is home to multiple stores. (Wyoming is also home to a Lowe's distribution center). Beginning in 2007 Lowe's will start to operate in Canada with up to 10 stores opening up in Ontario. In 2009 Lowe's will start to operate in Mexico opening between 3 and 5 stores in Monterrey. Lowe's Companies, Inc. is 45 on the Fortune 500 list. The chain is now based in Mooresville, North Carolina, about 30 minutes north of downtown Charlotte. It is currently the second-largest hardware chain in the United States of America.

Contents

History

Organization

Brands

Advertising and Sponsorships

Racing sponsorships

Lowe's Canada

Lowe's Mexico

Lowe's Benefits, Employment, and Culture

Lowe's Class Actions

External links

References

History

Lowe's began as a single neighborhood hardware store in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina in 1946. Through growth and expansion, and later with the addition and rebranding of Eagle Hardware stores, Lowe's has grown to be the largest home improvement store before Home Depot with B&Q 3rd.

Organization

Lowe's is organized geographically into Divisions (such as Southeast, West, Northeast), Regions (usually designated with a two-digit number), Areas, Districts and then the individual store. A Lowe's store can have anywhere from 80 to over 400 employees depending on the size and sales volume. Lowe's is a Big-box store, that is, a retail warehouse environment, its primary competition is from Home Depot.

Brands

As with large retailers across North America, Lowe's also owns and exclusively sells some of the brands it sells. Some of the brands found at the Lowe's stores are:

★ Bosch (tools/appliances)

★ Black & Decker (tools)

★ Char-Broil (grills)

★ Choicedek (composite decking)

★ DeWalt (tools)

★ Fridgidaire (appliances)

★ Harbor Breeze (Ceiling fans and accessories)

★ Hitachi (Tools)

★ Husqvarna (power equipment)

★ John Deere (power equipment)

★ Kohler (bath/kitchen)

★ Kobalt (tools)

★ Larson (storm doors/windows)

★ Maytag (appliances)

★ Miracle-Gro (garden)

★ Olympic (paint)

★ Ortho (garden)

★ Peachtree (doors/windows)

★ Pella (doors/windows)

★ Pergo (flooring)

★ Portfolio (lighting)

★ Roundup (garden)

★ Quikrete (building materials)

★ Samsung (appliances)

★ Scotts (garden)

★ Task Force (Tools)

★ Therma-Tru (doors/windows)

★ TopChoice (lumber)

★ Trex (composite decking)

★ Troy-bilt (power equipment)

★ Valspar (paint; formerly under the name ''American Tradition'')

★ Whirlpool (appliances)
Lowe's offers customers about 40,000 products in stock and more through a Special Order Service.

Advertising and Sponsorships

Prior to 2006, Lowe's tagline was "Improving Home Improvement." In 2006, Lowe's adopted the new slogan "Let's Build Something Together."
In 2006 Lowe's partnered with designer Marianne Cusato to develop and offer affordable house plans for the hurricane-affected gulf region. Lowe's is the exclusive retailer for both the plans and building materials for the Lowe's Katrina Cottage. They offer easy construction and affordability, as well as the possibility of expansion. Moreover, they meet all international building codes and exceed hurricane codes. ^[1]
Lowe's has a wide variety of television and radio commercials. A significant number of different racing-inspired commercials can be seen and are often played outside of television race coverage. Gene Hackman's voice can be heard on many commercial advertisements for Lowe's.^[2]
In 2006 Lowe's began sponsoring the radio broadcast booth of the New York Yankees. Frequently during every game Yankees announcer John Sterling states "We are coming to you live from the Lowe's Broadcast Booth. Lowe's: Let's build something together."
Lowe's and other landscaping companies landscape some area's of Busch Gardens Europe.

Racing sponsorships

Lowe's purchased naming rights of Lowe's Motor Speedway (formerly ''Charlotte Motor Speedway'') in Concord, North Carolina in 1999. Lowe's Motor Speedway is home to several auto racing events annually. The corporation also sponsors the 2006 NASCAR Nextel Cup champion Jimmie Johnson in the #48 Chevy Monte Carlo SS/Impala SS and Busch Series driver Kyle Busch in the #5 Chevy; both teams are owned by Hendrick Motorsports. Previous to the current sponsorship deal with Hendrick Motorsports, Lowe's was the sponsor of the #31 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing from 1997 to 2001. Drivers during this period included Mike Skinner and Robby Gordon. Before that, Lowe's was the primary of the #11 Ford driven by Brett Bodine for Junior Johnson Motorsports, and later, Brett's own team, Brett Bodine Racing (after Bodine bought the #11 team from Johnson).
Lowe's also sponsored Fernandez Racing in the Rolex Sports Car Series and later in the American Le Mans Series when the team switched championships.

Lowe's Canada

Lowe's Canadian unit will start up operations in Ontario with up to five to six stores by the end of 2007 financial year and will be based in Toronto, Ontario, headquarters of Home Depot Canada.
The initial stores are projected to open in the second half of 2007, each creating up to 175 jobs. Each store represents an average investment of $20.5 million ($18.5 million USD).
A news release on Lowe's website stated that "we’re breaking ground on our first location in Hamilton, have identified additional locations in Brantford, South Brampton and Toronto and have another nine locations approved through our real estate committee process...”"Lowe's Updates Canadian Expansion Plans

Lowe's Mexico

Lowe's will expand to Mexico beginning in 2009. An expected three to five stores will be built in Monterrey, Mexico's third-largest city. The new operations is expected to create up to 800 jobs, with each store representing an investment of $18-20 million USD.^[3]

Lowe's Benefits, Employment, and Culture

The average time a employee works at Lowe's is less than two years.
Lowe's offers comprehensive benefits to its employees including 401k, employee stock purchase plans, medical coverage and disability benefits. Lowe's also offers all employees and their spouses a 10% discount on store products.
Six company holidays are standard including New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day. All holidays save Thanksgiving and Christmas are working holidays, with full-time employees receiving eight hours of holiday pay and part-time employees receiving four.
They forgot to tell you they are also open on Easter! Even Walmart is closed.
Full-time hourly employees are entitled to two weeks of vacation after one year of service, while salaried corporate employees with prior experience often receive two weeks of vacation immediately. Lowe's also offers a comprehensive service reward to long-term employees, such as additional vacation time and a series of gifts, ranging from a two-year pin to a thirty-year Rolex watch.
Lowe's offers a 401(k) plan for all employees with 90 days of service or greater. Employees are given a wide selection of mutual funds to invest in, as well as company stock. In addition, Lowe's contributes a baseline match to all employees following 180 days of service. Employees can contribute up to 50% of their paycheck, and the company will fully match the first 4.25%
Lowe's markets itself internally and externally as a customer-focused organization in contrast to Home Depot, a contractor oriented organization. The marketing strategy between Lowe's and Home Depot is similar to the strategy between Target and Wal-Mart, with Lowe's stressing a softer and kinder image, appealing to women.

Lowe's Class Actions

The case focuses on a pay practice known among Lowe's workers as "Chinese overtime," a term that could be translated as "variable overtime." The practice has the effect of paying a decreasing overtime rate the more hours a person works in a week. Your are required to work between 48 and 50 hours per week but are improperly compensated for that time. Fair Labor Standards Act regulations require overtime to be paid at a time-and-a-half rate.
Recently, two groups of Lowe’s employees; both current and former, have started a Lowes class action lawsuit proceedings against the home improvement chain. The Lowe's lawsuit alleges that Lowe’s consistently and systematically failed to pay employee overtime to its employees. The lawsuits are alleged based on violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act which dictate that employers to pay time-and-a-half to workers who put in overtime over the 40 hour work week. Because salaried managers are exempt some companies will promote individuals specifically to get extra work hours out of them without pay. Hence the filing of the Lowes overtime lawsuit.
The variable rate overtime ended in the first quarter of 2006. The lawsuit in itself resulted in a out of court settlement. The amounts dealing with states blue laws were already paid out. Supposedly the last week of September,2007 is when the full amounts will be paid out.

External links

★ Lowes.com

★ Lowes Employee Portal

★ Lowe's Creative Ideas Magazine

★ Lowe's Moving Center

★ Lowe's Forum at Retail-Worker.com

★ Lowe's Retire Rich 401k Details

★ Business Week: A Sharper Edge for Lowe's

★ Lowes stock chart performance

References

1. Lowe's Katrina Cottages F&Q
2. Gene Hackman -other works
3. http://lowes.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=press_releases&item=1379