Lowe's Companies history

1949 Growth in North Carolina Lowe’s opens its second store, in Sparta, N.C.

In 1954, Jim Lowe started the Lowes Foods grocery store chain.

1958 Growing Stronger In 1958, Lowe’s reaches 344 associates.

He managed the chains growth to 15 stores by 1960.

In 1961, Buchan died of a heart attack at age 44.

By 1962, Lowe's operated 21 stores and reported annual revenues of $32 million.

1964 One Million Lowe’s serves one million customers annually for the first time.

By 1969, the company operated 50 stores and revenues neared $1 billion.

By 1970, Lowe’s generated a sales revenue of over $100 million and operated over 50 stores.

Korn, Don, "Lowe's Gets Ready to Raise the Roof," Sales Management, July 7, 1975.

Rising steadily through the ranks, Strickland had reached the position of chairman of the board in 1978 and, with newly appointed Lowe’s President Leonard Herring, spearheaded the decision to attract consumers in a big way.

The company’s management focused on how to remain profitable during the fluctuations and managed to generate over $900 million in sales revenue by 1979.

Despite these efforts, the company’s net income was down by 24 percent in 1980.

Lowe’s is listed on the London Stock Exchange as of January 26, 1981.

In 1982, Lowe’s achieved its first billion dollar sales year and earned a profit of $25 million.

1984 Best Company to Work For Lowe’s is named a “Top 100 Best Companies to Work for in America” by Fortune Magazine.

The company had opened some larger units in 1988--including a 60,000-square-foot store in Knoxville, Tennessee, a 40,320-square-foot unit in Boone, North Carolina, and a 60,480-square-foot store in North Chattanooga, Tennessee--but none approached the size of a Home Depot.

The company managed to have 300 stores that were over 20,000 square feet under its wing by 1989.

Lowe’s officially adopted the warehouse-style stores in 1991.

And it also continued to sell major appliances and home electronics (including home office equipment, which was added to the mix in 1994), two categories usually absent from Home Depot stores.

Leonard Herring’s term as president and CEO of Lowe’s ended in August 1995.

Meanwhile, in August 1996 Herring retired and was succeeded as president and CEO by Robert L. Tillman, who had served as chief operating officer.

HD Supply profile and corporate video HD Supply was formed in 1997 as the professional services division of Home Depot.

Tillman was named chairman as well in January 1998.

Lowe's has since grown nationally, as it was aided by the purchase of the Renton, Washington–based Eagle Hardware & Garden company in 1999.

According to Forbes, it is considered one of the world’s most valuable brands, one of the top regarded companies, and one of the top 2000 largest public companies in the world.

The first New York City store opened in the spring of 2001.

2002 Fortune 100 Lowe’s joins for the Fortune 100 for the first time with $22B in revenue.

In 2003 the company introduced a smaller prototype format measuring 94,000 square feet that was designed for smaller, mainly rural markets.

Dyer, Leigh, "Retiring CEO to Leave with Sun Shining on Lowe's," Charlotte (N.C.) Observer, November 16, 2004.

As Lowe's posted another record year in fiscal 2005, profits of $2.77 billion on revenues of $43.24 billion, one possible cloud on the horizon was a cooling of what had been a red-hot housing market, which had the potential to precipitate a concomitant downturn in the home improvement industry.

Designer Marianne Cuasto collaborated with Lowe’s back in 2006 to come up with affordable housing plans for victims affected by the hurricane that hit the Gulf region.

On December 10, 2007, Lowe’s penetrated the Canadian home improvement market by opening its first three stores in Brantford, Brampton and Hamilton, Canada.

The company also opened three more stores in East Gwillimbury, Brampton (the second one) and Toronto on February 1, 2008.

According to its website, Lowe's has operated/serviced more than 2,355 locations in the United States, Canada, and Mexico alone, although the Mexican stores were closed in the late 2010s.

14 May 2012. <http://media.lowes.com/history/>.

2015 Expanding to India In 2015, Lowe’s continues its global approach to hardware and establishes an office in Bangalore, India.

2016 Northern Growth Lowe’s purchases RONA in 2016, expanding its reach in Canada.

As of 2018, Lowe’s operates 62 stores in Canada.

Lowe's Mexico closed all its stores on April 10, 2019.

2021 Lowe’s Turns 100! Lowe’s commemorates its centennial by celebrating 100 years of service to its customers and communities.