World Top 100 Retailers

No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 Retailer Wal-Mart Stores, lnc Carrefour Group The Kroger Co MetroAG The Home Depot, lnc Albertson's, lnc ITM Entreprises SA Sears, Roebuck and Co Kmart Corporation Target Corporation JC Penney Royal Ahold Safeway Inc Rewe-Gruppe Tesco plc lto-Yokado Co, Ltd Edeka-Gruppe Costco Companies, lnc TengelmannWarenhande The Daiei, lnc Aldi Group J Sainsbury plc Auchan Groupe Jusco Co, Ltd Leclerc, Centres E OttoVersand Gmbh & Co IGA lnc MYCAL Corporation CVS Corporation Federated Department Delhaize "Le Lion" Walgreen Co Kingfisher plc Lowe's Companies, Inc Casino Groupe Karstadt Quelle AG Coles Myer Ltd Saison Group Winn-Dixie Stores The May Dept Store Base USA FRA USA GER USA USA FRA USA USA USA USA NET USA GER UK JPN GER USA GER JPN GER UK FRA JPN FRA GER USA JPN USA USA BEL USA UK USA FRA GER AUS JPN USA USA Type Discount Store Hypermarkets Supermarkets Diversified Hardlines Supermarkets Supermarkets Dept Store Discount Store Discount Store Dept Store Supermarkets Supermarkets Supermarkets Supermarkets Gen. Merchandise Diversified Warehouse Clue Supermarkets Diversified Supermarkets Supermarkets Hypermarkets Gen. Merchandise Hypermarkets Non-Store Supermarkets Dept Store Drug Stores Dept Store Supermarkets Drug Stores Diversified Headlines Special Hypermarkets Diversified Diversified Supermarkets Supermarkets Dept Store Sales in U.S. $millions 163,532.00 52,196.10 45,352.00 44,163.37 38,434.00 37,478.00 36,762.45 36,728.00 35,925.00 33,702.00 31,503.50 31,222.15 30,801.80 30,567.69 30,404.40 30,237.57 30,002.57 26,976.45 26,509.12 26,486.11 26,107.50 25,833.06 23,742.42 23,166.21 22,876.97 19,781.13 19,600.00 18,173.10 18,098.30 17,923.35 17,840.52 17,839.00 17,521.35 15,905.60 15,515.98 14,913.95 14,611.94 14,414.03 14,115.57 13,869.00 Region N.America Europe N.America Europe N.America N.America Europe N.America N.America N.America N.America Europe N.America Europe Europe Asia Europe N.America Europe Asia Europe Europe Europe Asia Europe Europe N.America Asia N.America N.America Europe N.America Europe N.America Europe Europe Australia Asia N.America N.America Regional Station Global Global Single Country Global Global Single Country Regional Regional Single Country Single Country Global Global Regional Regional Global Global Regional Global Global Regional Global Global Global Global Regional Global Global Regional Single Country Single Country Global Single Country Global Single Country Global Regional Regional Regional Regional Single Country % of sales in foreign country 13.90% 37.70% 0.00% 40.00% 3.70% 0.00% 36.00% 10.60% 0.00% 0.00% 0.50% 76.40% 10.80% 19.70% 10.00% 29.80% 2.40% 18.40% 47.90% N/A 32.50% 15.00% 18.90% 8.90% 1.10% 52.00% 44.90% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 83.00% 0.00% 41.00% 0.00% 21.00% 8.20% 0.80% N/A N/A 0.00%

41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85

Lidl & Schwarz Stiftu Rite Aid Corporation Publix Super Markets Marks & Spencer plc Best Buy Co, lnc Safeway plc Woolworths Limited Toys "R" Us, lnc The Gap lnc Takashimaya UNY Co Ltd Circuit City Stores Office Depot, lnc Pinault-Printemps-Red The Limited, lnc Loblaw Companies Mitsukoshi Ltd Migros - Genossenscha Systeme U Meijer, lnc Staples, lnc Somerfield plc TJX Companies, lnc Dillard's, Inc COOP Italia scarl SuperValu lnc IKEA AB Daimaru, lnc El Corte Ingles Empire Company Limited H. E. Butt Grocery CO Coop Schweiz Great Universal Store Dixons Group The Boots Company plc Euromadis Spa ICA Group Army and Air Force Ex Scv Cora Group Saks Incorporated Galeries Lafayette Dairy Farm International S Group John Lewis Partnership La Rinascente

GER USA USA UK USA UK AUS USA USA JPN JPN USA USA FRA USA CAN JPN swi FRA USA USA UK USA USA ITA USA SWE JPN SPA CAN USA SWI UK UK UK ITA SWE USA FRA USA FRA HK FIN UK ITA

Supermarkets Drug Stores Supermarkets Gen. Merchandise Hardlines Special Supermarkets Supermarkets Hardlines Special Apparel Special Dept Store Gen. erchand Headlines Headlines Diversified Apparel Supermarket Dept Store Supermarkets Supermarkets Hypermarkets Hardlines Supermarkets Apparel Dept Store Supermarkets Supermarkets Ha dlines Dept Store Dept Store Supermarkets Supermarkets Supermarkets Non-Store Hardlines Drug Stores Supermarkets Supermarkets Diversified supermarkets Dept Store Dept Store Supermarkets Diversified Dept Store Dept Store

13,461.60 13,328.00 13,068.90 12,667.26 12,494.02 12,389.52 12,252.15 11,862.00 11,635.40 11,367.98 10,808.88 10,599.41 10,263.28 9,947.64 9,723.33 9,563.33 9,370.50 9,344.85 9,297.83 9,250.00 8,936.80 8,841.31 8,795.34 8,676.71 8,256.10 8,069.76 8,057.28 8,011.86 7,618.21 7,580.48 7,420.00 7,294.64 7,242.31 7,027.33 7,000.54 6,901.70 6,816.51 6,690.67 6,650.00 6,423.81 6,172.55 5,764.70 5,736.64 5,458.10 5,366.72

Europe N.America N.America Europe N.America Europe Australia N.America N.America Asia Asia N.America N.America Europe N.America N.America Asia Europe Europe N.America N.America Europe N.America N.America Europe N.America Europe Asia Europe N.America N.America Europe Europe Europe Europe Europe Europe N.America Europe N.America Europe Asia Europe Europe Europe

Regional Single Country Single Country Global Single Country Regional Regional Global Global Global Regional Single Country Global Global Single Country Single Country Global Regional Single Country Single Country Global Single Country Global Single Country Single Country Single Country Global Global Global Single Country Regional Single Country Global Regional Global Single Country Regional Global Global Single Country Regional Global Regional Single Country Single Country

20.40% 0.00% 0.00% 17.20% 0.00% 2.00% N/A 27.00% 11.30% 1.90% 1.40% 0.00% 12.90% 48.10% 0.00% 0.00% N/A 1.40% 0.00% 0.00% 5.40% 0.00% 8.70% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 99.90% N/A N/A 0.00% N/A 0.00% 16.40% 18.10% 0.80% 0.00% N/A N/A 26.10% 0.00% N>/A N/A N/A 0.00% 0.00%

86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100

GIB Group, SA Nordstrom, lnc Marui Co Ltd Hudson's Bay Company Faellesforeningen Dan OfficeMax, lnc Kesko Ltd Consolidated Stores Co Venator Group, lnc Anton Schlecker Kohl's Corporation Menard, lnc Vendex KBB Matsuzakaya Co, Ltd Mdo Spa

BEL USA JPN CAN DEN USA FIN USA USA GER USA USA NET JPN ITA

Diversified Dept Store Dept Store Discount Store Diversified Hardlines Supermarke Diversified Diversified Drug Store Dept Store Hardlines Diversified Dept Store Supermarket

5,158.19 5,124.23 5,109.22 5,024.96 4,965.98 4,842.69 4,673.43 4,658.85 4,647.00 4,623.68 4,557.11 4,500.00 4,499.81 4,376.62 4,229.24

Europe N.America Asia N.America Europe N.America Europe Americas N.America Europe N.America N.America Europe Asia Europe

Global Single Country Single Country Single Country Single Country Global Regional Single Country Global Regional Single Country Single Country Global Global Single Country

12.90% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 1.70% 0.00% 16.90% 15.00% 0.00% 0.00% 11.90% N/A 11.00%

About Us
Walmart serves customers and members more than 200 million times per week at more than 9759 retail units under 60 different banners in 28 countries. With fiscal year 2010 sales of $405 billion, Walmart employs 2.1 million associates worldwide. A leader in sustainability, corporate philanthropy and employment opportunity, Walmart ranked in the top ten among retailers in Fortune Magazines 2010 Most Admired Companies survey.

Our History
Walmart was founded in 1962, with the opening of the first Walmart discount store in Rogers, Ark. The company incorporated as Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., on Oct. 31, 1969. The company's shares began trading on OTC markets in 1970 and were listed on the New York Stock Exchange two years later. The company grew to 276 stores in 11 states by the end of the decade. In 1983, the company opened its first Sams Club membership warehouse and in 1988 opened the first supercenter -now the companys dominant format -- featuring a complete grocery in addition to general merchandise. Walmart became an international company in 1991 when it opened its first Sam's Club near Mexico City. Learn more about our history.

Our Purpose
Saving people money to help them live better was the goal that Sam Walton envisioned when he opened the doors to the first Walmart more than 40 years ago. Today, this mission is more important than ever to our customers and members around the world. We work hard every day in all our markets to deliver on this promise. We operate with the same level of integrity and respect that Mr. Sam put in place. It is because of these values and culture that Walmart

continues to make a difference in the lives of our customers, members and associates. Learn more about our purpose. Ed. Note: Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) is the legal name of the corporation. The name "Walmart," expressed as one word and without punctuation, is a trademark of the company and is used analogously to describe the company and its stores. Use the legal name when it is necessary to identify the legal entity, such as when reporting financial results, SEC filings, litigation or governance matters.

Walmart
Walmart Discount Stores
Our founder, Sam Walton, opened his first Walmart discount store in 1962. Today, there are 670 stores offering a pleasant and convenient shopping experience across the United States. The size of an average store is 108,000 square feet. Each store employs about 225 associates. Our stores feature wide, clean, brightly-lit aisles and shelves stocked with a variety of quality, value-priced general merchandise, including:

Family apparel Healthy and beauty aids Electronics Toys Lawn and garden items Jewelry Automotive products Home furnishings Hardware Sporting goods Pet supplies Housewares

Walmart Supercenters
Our Supercenters were developed in 1988 to meet the growing demand for convenient, one-stop family shopping featuring our famous Every Day Low Prices. We save you time and money by combining a full grocery and our general merchandise under one roof.

There are 2,967 Supercenters nationwide, and most are open 24 hours. Supercenters average 185,000 square feet and employ about 350 or more associates. Supercenter groceries feature:

Bakery goods Meat and dairy products Fresh produce Dry goods and staples Beverages Deli foods Frozen foods Canned and packaged goods Condiments and spices Household supplies

Most Supercenters also have many specialty shops such as:

Vision center Tire & Lube Express Brand-name restaurants Portrait studio and one-hour photo center Pharmacy Standards of Behavior

Health clinic Employment Agency Hair salon Bank

Walmart Neighborhood Markets

Walmart Neighborhood Markets offer a quick and convenient shopping experience for customers who need groceries, pharmaceuticals, and general merchandise all at our famous Every Day Low Prices.

First opened in 1998, there are now 160 Walmart Neighborhood Markets, each employing about 95 associates. A typical store is about 42,000 square feet. Walmart Neighborhood Markets feature a wide variety of products, including:

Fresh produce Meat and Dairy products Frozen foods Dry goods and staples Health and beauty aids Stationery and paper goods Drive-through pharmacy Deli Household supplies One-hour photo center

Walmart Express Stores

The first two Walmart Express test stores opened in June 2011 in Northwest Arkansas. Walmart Express has been created to offer low prices every day in a smaller format store that provides convenient access for fill-in and stock-up shopping trips. The stores give Walmart flexibility in serving customers, especially in rural and urban areas where shoppers may not have access to larger stores. The Walmart Express test stores average 15,000-square-feet and offer groceries and general merchandise, including an assortment of fresh produce, dairy and meat, dry goods, consumables, health and beauty aids, over-the-counter medicines and more. Many have pharmacies as well.

Marketside
Opened in 2008, Marketside stores are small community pilot grocery stores specializing in fresh, delicious meals at great prices. In our stores, customers can shop for a variety of fresh ingredients, restaurant-quality prepared meals and their everyday favorite national brands - even freshly baked breads and a wide assortment of wines. We provide a fresh and convenient shopping experience for busy people who want an easy answer to the question, 'What's for dinner?'

Marketside offerings include:

ENTRES AND SIDES inspired by classically trained chefs and ready to serve in minutes. An assortment of HOT FOODS like pizzas, roasted chickens, soups and breads that are fresh out of our oven. Daily deliveries of fresh produce, meats and flowers for GUARANTEED FRESHNESS. More than 300 NATURAL AND ORGANIC products throughout the entire store. A vast assortment of wines, with over 200 under $10.* Plus, all the GROCERY BRANDS you want at low, low prices!

So stop by one of our convenient locations in Arizona in Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa and Tempe. We can't wait to meet you!

Walmart.com
Founded in 2000, Walmart.com brings the convenience, great merchandise selection, friendly service and Every Day Low Prices of your neighborhood Walmart to the Internet. Walmart.com features more than 1,000,000 products, plus easy-to-use music downloads and digital one-hour photo services. And were adding more great products every day. During the holidays, Walmart.com features many special offers available only online. Its also a convenient place to find out about our exciting in-store holiday specials. With our innovative Site to Store program, you can purchase items at Walmart.com and then have them shipped free to your local store for pickup.

All Walmart Locations

All Stores Walmart

Country
Canada China US

Find a Walmart Store By State:

Alabama California Florida Illinois Alaska Colorado Georgia Indiana Arizona Connecticut Hawaii Iowa Arkansas Delaware Idaho Kansas

Find a Walmart Store By State:

Kentucky Massachusetts Missouri New Hampshire North Carolina Oregon South Carolina Utah West Virginia Louisiana Michigan Montana New Jersey North Dakota Pennsylvania South Dakota Vermont Wisconsin Maine Minnesota Nebraska New Mexico Ohio Puerto Rico Tennessee Virginia Wyoming Maryland Mississippi Nevada New York Oklahoma Rhode Island Texas Washington

Browse Walmart Locations In Major Cities:

Houston Louisville Albuquerque Orlando Columbus Marietta Oklahoma City Springfield Colorado Springs Bentonville Corpus Christi Philadelphia San Antonio Jacksonville Cincinnati Indianapolis Dallas Raleigh Aurora Naples Fort Wayne Tulsa Mobile Reno Phoenix Charlotte Austin El Paso Knoxville Baton Rouge Pensacola Huntsville Nashville Bradenton Milwaukee Tallahassee Las Vegas Tampa Mesa Wichita Columbia Fort Worth Plano Omaha Sacramento Shreveport Lexington Tucson

Major brands
[edit]Sam's

Choice

Main article: Sam's Choice Sam's Choice, originally introduced as Sam's American Choice in 1991, a retail brand in food and selected hard goods. Named for Sam Walton, founder of Walmart, Sam's Choice forms the premium tier of Walmart's two-tiered core corporate grocery branding strategy that also includes the larger Great Value [1] brand of discount-priced staple items. Compared to Great Value products and to other national brands, Sam's Choice is positioned as a premium retail brand and is offered at a price competitive with standard national brands. It typically offers either competitive items in a given product category, or items in categories where the market leader is an "icon" (for example, Coca-Cola in the soft drink category). Most Sam's Choice beverage products (excluding Grapette and Orangette) are manufactured for WalMart by Cott Beverages. Other products in the line, including cookies, snack items, frozen meals, and similar grocery items are made by a variety of agricultural and food manufacturers. Competitive pricing of the Sam's Choice brand and store branded and generic goods is possible because of the minimal expense required to market a retail chain's house brand, compared to advertising and promotional expenses typically incurred by the national brands. Recently, most Sam's Choice-branded products have been replaced by either the relaunched Great Value brand, or the new Marketside brand. [edit]Great

Value

Great Value was launched in 1993 and forms the second tier, or national brand equivalent ("NBE"), of [2] Walmart's grocery branding strategy. Products offered at Walmart through the Great Value brand are claimed to be as good as national brand offerings, but are typically sold at a lower price because of minimal marketing and advertising expense. As a house or generic brand, the Great Value line does not consist of goods produced by Walmart, but is a labeling system for items manufactured and packaged by a number of agricultural and food corporations, such as ConAgra, Sara Lee which, in addition to releasing products under its own brands and exclusively for Walmart, also manufactures and brands foods for a variety of other chain stores. Often this labeling system, to the dismay of consumers, does not list location of manufacture of the product. Wal-Mart contends that all Great Value products are produced in the United States otherwise the country of origin would be listed. As Walmart's most extensively developed retail brand, covering hundreds of household consumable items, the Great Value line includes sliced bread, frozen vegetables, frozen dinners, canned foods, light bulbs, trash bags, buttermilk biscuits, cinnamon rolls, pies and many other traditional grocery store products. The wide range of items marketed under the Great Value banner makes it Walmart's top-selling retail brand.

The Great Value brand can also be seen in Canada, Costa Rica, Mexico, Argentina, Chile and Brazil and some Trust Mart stores in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, China through a partnership with Walmart. Bharti EasyDay retail grocery stores sell Great Value brand products in India as well. By mid-summer 2009, Walmart had redesigned the Great Value labels to be predominantly white. The new redesign also includes over 80 new items including thin crust pizza, fat free caramel swirl ice cream, strawberry yogurt, organic cage-free eggs, double stuffed sandwich cookies, and teriyaki beef jerky. Walmart changed the formulas for 750 items including: breakfast cereal, cookies, yogurt, laundry [3] detergent, and paper towels. The new brand was tested by over 2,700 people. Other retailers are [citation needed] following suit with their private label packaging as well. [edit]Equate Equate is a brand used for consumable pharmacy and health and beauty items, such as shaving cream, skin lotion, over-the-counter medications, and pregnancy tests. Before its takeover by Walmart, the formerly independent Equate brand sold consumer products at both Target and Walmart at lower prices than those of name brands. Equate is an example of the strength of Walmart's private labelstore brand. In a 2006 study, The Hartman Group marketing research firm issued a report which found that "Five of the top 10 "likely to purchase" private label brands are managed by Wal-Mart including: Great Value, Equate, Sam's Choice, Wal-Mart and Member's Mark (Sam's Club), per the study." The report further noted that "...we are struck by the magnitude of mind-share Wal-Mart appears to hold in shoppers' minds [4] when it comes to awareness of private label brands and retailers." In mid-2010, the brand underwent a logo redesign, as well as packaging changes similar to the Great Value brand. [edit]Mainstays Mainstays is a brand marketed by Walmart for its low cost alternative of beddings & ready-to-assemble furniture. [edit]Ol'

Roy

Ol' Roy is Walmart's store brand of dog food. Its namesake comes from Sam Walton's bird dog, and has become the number-one selling brand of dog food in the United States, surpassing Nestl'sPurina. Ol' [5] Roy was created in 1983. Walmart's Ol' Roy brand is a commonly cited example of the success of private label store brands at the expense of traditional ad-driven brands. The brand manager of a competing product said, "Wal-Mart has made a national brand out of Ol' Roy. Nutritionally, it's substantially the same as national brands at [6] significantly less cost." Another commentator said, "It's a dry dog food made especially for Wal-Mart, which is the only place you can buy it, and its attributes have been extolled in not a single TV commercial. Yet Ol' Roy is the top-selling dog food in the US by an annual margin of at least 20 percent, according to [7] Wal-Mart." In 1998, samples of Ol' Roy (together with various other brands) were subject to qualitative analyses for pentobarbital residue by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Center for Veterinary Medicinedue to suspicion that the anesthetizing drug may have found its way into pet foods through euthanized animals, including cats and dogs. DNA test for all the samples failed to detect cat and dog DNA but multiple Ol' Roy samples tested positive for the drug, presumably from rendered cattle. The CVM has said that due to [8][9] the low level of exposure, the risk of adverse effects was low.

[edit]Parent's

Choice

Parent's Choice is the Walmart store brand for baby products, including food, diapers, formula, and accessories. Like other Walmart store brands, its design and packaging was relaunched in 2010. The brand has pages on both Facebook and Twitter, for mothers to interact and share opinions about the brand. [edit]White

Stag

Main article: White Stag (clothing) White Stag is a brand for women's clothing, footwear, and basic jewelry. Originally founded in 1931 as a skiwear manufacturer in Portland, Oregon, the company was purchased by the Warnaco Groupin 1966, which after the company exited bankruptcy, later sold the brand to Walmart in 2003. [edit]George George is a brand of more formal clothing for men, women and children. It also consists of dress shoes, wallets, belts, and neckties. It was created by the British retailer ASDA in 1990, and since Walmart acquired ASDA in 1999, it has maintained and expanded it to other markets, notably the United States, Canada, and Japan. The George brand was named after George Davies, who was its original chief designer. Davies is no longer associated with the brand, although ASDA and Walmart have aimed to remain true to the low price business model that he established. [edit]Additional [edit]Apparel Baby George is a clothing brand for children, organically manufactured for Wal-Mart. The brand is popular because it is organically produced in a chemical free environment. Faded Glory is a brand for basic men's, women's, and children's clothing and footwear. It is Walmart's primary clothing brand. No Boundaries, usually abbreviated as NOBO, is a line of apparel targeted at teenagers and young college students. Simply Basic was previously a brand used for health and beauty items, but is now used primarily for women's sleepwear.

brands

[edit]Homelines Better Homes and Gardens is a product line with designs inspired from the popular magazine of the same name. Canopy is a home product line that features coordinated solutions for rooms and other domestic goods. Some Canopy products are made with organic cotton. Hometrends products include small furniture, tableware and various home decor accessories, such as rugs and faux plants. your zone is a home product line that tailors toward teenagers and college students

[edit]Others @ the Office is a brand used for office supplies and stationery.

Best Occasions is a brand used for party decorations and accessories, such as candles and hats. Clear American is used for carbonated and flavored water. Was previously known as Sam's Choice Clear American. Color Place is the brand used for paint and painting tools. Color Place paint is made by AkzoNobel. Douglas is the brand used for budget priced tires. Models include Xtra-Trac and Touring. Some models are made in a Goodyear plant. EverStart is the brand for automotive and lawn mower batteries. The brand is also used for battery related accessories, such as jumper cables. Fire Side Gourmet is used for pre-cooked burgers and steaks, and was previously under the Sam's Choice label. Gold's Gym is used for athletic and exercise equipment such as weights. Named after and licensed from the chain of fitness centers. Holiday Time is used for Christmas items such as Christmas trees, decorations, and wrapping paper. Kid Connection is used primarily for children's toys, but was also used for children's clothing and shoes. Marketside is a brand of fresh foods usually found in Walmart's deli, produce, and bakery departments, such as salads, soups, breads, and sandwiches. Oak Leaf is a brand of low cost wines produced and bottled for Walmart selling at approximately $3 a [10] bottle. ONN is a brand used for entry-level electronics (mice, speakers, cables, etc.). Ozark Trail is a brand used for outdoor equipment and footwear. (The Walmart Home Office is located in the Ozark mountain region in northern Arkansas.) Protege is a brand consisting of luggage and travel accessories. ReliOn is a brand of diabetes care products including blood glucose and blood pressure monitors. Special Kitty is a brand of cat food and litter. SuperTech is Walmart's brand of motor oil. The brand is also used on other consumable automotive products, such as oil filters, windshield wiper fluid, and transmission fluid. Walmart Family Mobile is Walmart's exclusive cell phone (postpaid) service provided through the T[11] Mobile cellular network. World Table is a brand consisting of foods inspired by international cuisines, such as sauces, snacks, and frozen foods.

History
The first

store opened on January 1st, 1958, in suburban Annecy near a crossroads (carrefour in French). The group was created by Marcel Fournier, Denis Defforey and Jacques Defforey and grew into a chain from this first sales outlet. In 1995 it merged with Promods, known as Continent, one of its major competitors in the French market. Marcel Fournier, Denis Defforey and Jacques Defforey had attended several seminars in the United States led by "The Pope of modern distribution" Bernardo Trujillo, who influenced other famous French executives like douard Leclerc (E.Leclerc), Grard Mulliez (Auchan), Paul Dubrule (Accor), and Grard Plisson (Accor). Their slogan was "No parking, no business." The Carrefour group was the first in Europe to open a hypermarket, a large supermarket and a department store under the same roof. They opened their first hypermarket June 15, 1963 in Sainte[3] Genevive-des-Bois, near Paris in France.

Carrefour's trading logo

In April 1976, Carrefour launched a private label Produits libres (free products libre meaning free in the sense of liberty as opposed to gratis) line of fifty foodstuffs, including oil, biscuits (crackers and cookies), milk, and pasta, sold in unbranded white packages at substantially lower prices. In September 2009, Carrefour updated its logo.
[4]

May 2011: Considering the stagnant growth and has faced increased competition in France from rivals including Casino Guichard-Perrachon SA, Carrefour will expense 1.5 billion-euro ($2.1 billion) to change [ the supermarket with new concept as Carrefour Planet in Western Europe.

Previous Operations
In 2006, Carrefour decided to sell all 16 stores in Korea to E-Land and exited their business in Korea. In 2010, Carrefour decided to leave Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. However, in November 2010, Carrefour decided to sell its Thailand operations, but the Malaysian and Singaporean operation, will [10] retain.

Country

First store

Hypermarkets

Supermarkets

Hard Discounters

Cash & Carry

India

2010

Country

First store

Hypermarkets

Supermarkets

Hard Discounters

Cash & Carry

China

1995

184

Indonesia

1998

84

15

Bahrain

2008

Japan

2000

Jordan

2007

Kuwait

2007

Malaysia

1994

22

Oman

2000

Pakistan

2009

Iran

2009

Qatar

2000

Saudi Arabia

2004

11

Singapore

1997

Country

First store

Hypermarkets

Supermarkets

Hard Discounters

Cash & Carry

Syria

2009

Taiwan

1989

64

United Arab [11] Emirates [edit]Africa Country First store

1995

11

Hypermarkets

Supermarkets

Hard Discounters

Egypt

2002

Morocco

2009

Tunisia

2001

Algeria

2005

Closed

Carrefour has left Algeria in 2009, and opened in Morocco. [edit]Europe Cash & Carry

Country

First store

Hypermarkets

Supermarkets

Hard Discounters

Convenience Stores

Azerbaijan

2010

Belgium

2000

56

280

257

Country

First store

Hypermarkets

Supermarkets

Hard Discounters

Convenience Stores

Cash & Carry

Bulgaria

2009

Cyprus

2006

France

1960

218

1,021

897

3,245

134

Greece

1991

28

210

397

216

Ireland

1972

35

210

398

73

Italy

1993

59

485

1,015

20

Monaco

Poland

1997

72

277

Portugal

1991

365

Romania

2001

24

39

Spain

1973

161

87

2,912

Slovakia

1998

15

12

1,95

Slovenia

1998

15

12

1,98

Country

First store

Hypermarkets

Supermarkets

Hard Discounters

Convenience Stores

Cash & Carry

Turkey

1993

19

99

519

United Kingdom

1972

38

10

400

90

Carrefour has 161 hypermarkets in Spain, is the second most important country of the Carrefour's group, also they have arround 2000 supermarkets

On October 15, 2009, Carrefour announced plans to sell its Russian business, citing "absence of [12] sufficient organic growth and acquisition opportunities". [edit]Americas Carrefour has a presence in 4 countries in the Americas: Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic. Carrefour is active in 3 types of retail distribution: hypermarkets, supermarkets and hard discounters, and entered the Cash & Carry market in Brazil, after the purchase of [13] Atacado. Carrefour was also active in Mexico between 1995 and 2005, when the 29 hypermarkets opened at the moment were sold to Chedraui. Cash & Carry

Country

First store

Hypermarkets

Supermarkets

Hard Discounters

Convenience Stores

Argentina

1982

59

103

395

Country

First store

Hypermarkets

Supermarkets

Hard Discounters

Convenience Stores

Cash & Carry

Brazil

1975

150

38

300

34

Colombia

1998

70

12

Dominican Republic [edit]Store

2000

10

20

85

brands

Kroger
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Kroger (disambiguation).

The Kroger Co.

Type

Public

Traded as

NYSE: KR

Industry

Retail

Founded

1883

Founder(s)

Bernard Kroger

Headquarters

Cincinnati, Ohio, United States

Area served

United States

Key people

David Dillon, CEO & Chairman

Products

Bakery, banking, beer, dairy, deli, frozen foods, gasoline (select locations), general merchandise, liquor (select locations), meat, pharmacy, produce, seafood, wine

Revenue

US$76.7 Billion (FY 2009)[1]

Operating income

US$2.45 Billion (FY 2009)[1]

Net income

US$1.25 Billion (FY 2009)[1]

Total assets

US$23.2 Billion (FY 2009)[2]

Total equity

US$5.18 Billion (FY 2009)[2]

Employees

338,000

Divisions

Inter-American Products various chains

Website

Kroger corporate website

Kroger website

Kroger headquarters in DowntownCincinnati, Ohio.

A typical Kroger storefront, Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Kroger of the Villages in Hedwig Village, Texas, in Greater Houston

Kroger in Neartown Houston

Kroger sign North High Street and West North Broadway, in Clintonville, Columbus, Ohio

A young girl and her mother shop at King Soopers in Breckenridge, Colorado

The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR ) is an American supermarket chain founded by Bernard Kroger in 1883 in Cincinnati, Ohio. It reported US$ 76.7 billion in sales during fiscal year 2009. It is the country's largest grocery store chain[3] and its second-largest grocery retailer by volume[4] and second-place general retailer in

the country, with Walmart being the largest.[5] As of 2010, Kroger operated, either directly or through its subsidiaries, 3,619 stores.[6] Kroger's headquarters are centralized in downtown Cincinnati,[7] but it spans many states with store formats that include supermarkets, hypermarkets,department stores, convenience stores and mall jewelry stores. Kroger-branded grocery stores are located throughout the Midwestern and Southern United States.

Contents
[hide]

1 History

o o

1.1 Beginning 1.2 Expansion

2 Chains

2.1 Former chains

3 Kroger Marketplace 4 Manufacturing

4.1 Manufacturing Plants

4.1.1 Dairies 4.1.2 Bakeries/Delis 4.1.3 Meat Plants 4.1.4 Grocery Items

5 Private Brands

o o o o o o

5.1 Kroger Value 5.2 Banner Brands 5.3 Private Selection 5.4 Other private label brands 5.5 i-wireless (Wireless Services) 5.6 Disney Magic Selections

6 Pharmacy Group 7 Supermarket Petroleum Group 8 Movie rentals 9 Distribution/Logistics 10 Financial Services 11 Market Entries and Withdrawals

o o

11.1 Pittsburgh 11.2 Other markets

12 Advertisements 13 Environmental record 14 Notable stores and events

15 References and footnotes 16 External links

[edit]History [edit]Beginning
In 1883, Bernard "Barney" Kroger invested his life savings of $372 (equal to $8,739.34 today) to open a grocery store in the Mount Airy neighborhood of Cincinnati. Kroger was the son of a merchant, and his slogan was simple: Be particular. Never sell anything you would not want yourself. Kroger tried many ways to satisfy customers. He tried to make his own products, such as bread, so that customers would not need to go to a separate bakery. In the 1930s, Kroger was the first grocery chain to monitor product quality and test foods offered to customers, and also the first to have a store surrounded on all four sides by parking lots. In 1955, Kroger acquired Henke & Pillot. Kroger rebranded that chain as Kroger in 1966. In the 1970s, Kroger became the first grocer in America to test an electronic scanner, and the first to formalize consumer research.

[edit]Expansion
In 1983, The Kroger Company acquired Dillon Companies[8] grocery chain in Kansas along with its subsidiaries, King Soopers, City Market, Fry's, Gerbes, and the convenience store chain Kwik Shop. David Dillon, a fourth-generation descendant of J.S. Dillon, the founder of Dillon Companies, is now the CEO of Kroger. In the late 1990s, Kroger acquired Pay Less Food Markets, Owen's Market, JayC Food Stores, and Hilander Foods. In 1997, Kroger merged with fifth-largest grocery company Fred Meyer along with its subsidiaries, Ralphs, QFC, and Smith's. In 2001, Kroger acquired Baker's from Fleming Companies, Inc. In 2007, Kroger acquired Scott's Food & Pharmacy from SuperValu Inc. In 2011, Kroger sold its Hilander chain to Schnucks.

[edit]Chains

Baker's (Nebraska) Bell Markets (California) Cala Foods (California) City Market (Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico) Dillons (Kansas, Missouri)

Dillons Marketplace

Food 4 Less (Southern California; Las Vegas, Nevada; Portland, Oregon; Chicago, Illinois; NW Indiana, and they have a former location in Allentown Pennsylvania)

Foods Co. (Northern California)

Fred Meyer (Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, Washington)

Fred Meyer Marketplace Fred Meyer Northwest Best

Fred Meyer Jewelers (Illinois, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Utah, Washington, Nebraska, Oregon, Colorado, Texas, Idaho, Arizona)

Barclay Jewelers Fox's Jewelers Littman Jewelers

Fry's Food and Drug (Arizona)

Fry's Marketplace Fry's Mercado Fry's Signature

Gerbes (Missouri) JayC Food Stores (Indiana) King Soopers (Colorado, Wyoming)

King Soopers Fresh Fare King Soopers Marketplace

Kroger Food and Drug (Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana)

Kroger Fresh Fare Kroger Marketplace Kroger Signature

Kwik Shop (Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska) Loaf 'N Jug (Colorado, Nebraska, North Dakota, Wyoming) Owen's Market (Indiana) Pay Less Food Markets (Indiana) Quality Food Centers (Oregon, Washington)

QFC Fresh Fare

Quik Stop (California, Nevada) Ralphs (California)

Ralphs Fresh Fare Ralphs Marketplace

Scott's Food & Pharmacy (Indiana)

Smith's Express (Utah) Smith's Food and Drug (Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming)

Smith's Fresh Fare Smith's Marketplace

Tom Thumb Food Stores (Alabama, Florida) Turkey Hill Minit Markets (Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana)

[edit]Former

chains

Henke & Pillot (Texas) Acquired May 1955, name phased out in 1966 [9] Hilander Foods (Illinois) Acquired 1998, sold to Schnucks in 2011

[edit]Kroger

Marketplace

Kroger Marketplace is a chain of hypermarkets. The brand was introduced in 2004 in the Columbus, Ohio, area, which lost the Big Bear and Big Bear Plus chains in Penn Traffic's Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The Kroger Marketplace format is based on the Fry's Marketplace stores that the Arizona division of Kroger is currently operating. Similar to rival chains Meijer, Sears Grand, Super Kmart, Walmart Supercenter, and Albertsons, and modeled after Kroger-owned Fred Meyer, these stores contain multiple departments. In addition to the grocery department, they contain a Fred Meyer Jewelers, Starbucks, Donatos Pizza, and an in-store bank, as well as sections for toys, appliances, home furnishings, and bed and bath, something that Big Bear once had in their stores in the Columbus area. In 2005, the company began renovating many Kroger Food & Drug stores in Ohio to give out an expanded and remodeled look, converting them to the Kroger Marketplace format. In February 2006, Kroger announced plans for two new Kroger Marketplace stores to open by the end of the summer in Cincinnati suburbs Lebanon and Liberty Township.[10] The store in Liberty Township opened in July 2006.[11] On October 5, 2006, a new Kroger Marketplace opened in Gahanna. With the Gahanna opening, the number of Kroger Marketplace stores is six, four in the Columbus area and two in the Cincinnati area. Two more stores were planned in 2007, one in Middletown(which opened in 2008, and the old store was razed and made part of the current parking lot) and one in Englewood.[12] In late 2011, a new marketplace to replace the current centerville store is slated to open where the current Elder Beermans is located which has been torn down in the same shopping center. Two more stores have opened in the Cincinnati area, in the Northern Kentucky suburbs of Hebron and Walton which were completed in November 2008. A Kroger Marketplace store has opened inNewport, Kentucky on December 10, 2009. Another renovated store has recently opened in Blue Ash, and two more opened in Lexington, KY in 2009. Another store is being planned for Beavercreek, Ohio and Mt. Orab

Ohio is planned to open in the spring of 2010.[13] Kroger opened a new 60,000 sq ft (5,600 m2) store in North Augusta, SC. The store includes a fuel center.

Kroger Marketplace in Frisco, Texasopened in 2010.

The first Kroger Marketplace store in Texas opened October 9, 2009 in the Waterside Marketplace in Richmond, Texas.[14] The second Kroger Marketplace store in Rosenberg, Texas opened December 4, 2009.[15] The third opened in Frisco, Texas in early 2010.[16] The fourth Kroger Marketplace in Willis, Texas opened August 11, 2011.[17] The next Kroger Marketplace stores in Texas are: in Little Elm, Texas; Fort Worth's Alliance Town Center and Mansfield.[16] The first Kroger Marketplace store in Tennessee opened in Farragut, TN (a small suburb outside of Knoxville) at the end of 2008, and a second store inThompson's Station, TN (about 20 miles (32 km) south of Nashville) in early 2009. A third location opened in Gallatin, TN on March 11, 2010. On February 11, 2010, Kroger sold 4 Brookshire's stores in Jackson, Mississippi which were Albertsons. The first Kroger Marketplace in Arkansas opened in August 2010 on Chenal Parkway in West Little Rock. The first Kroger Marketplace in Virginia is planned to open on Midlothian Turnpike in Richmond, VA, on the site of the former Cloverleaf Mall.[18] The progress of construction has been slow. The mall has yet to be razed, despite numerous announcements dating as far back as 2003. In fact, events continue to be planned inside the mall (as of Sept. 2011). [19] The first Kroger Marketplace in Indiana opened on September 29, 2011 on Dupont Road on Fort Wayne's northwest side. This store is a rebuilt Kroger Food & Drug. A second Kroger Marketplace will open from a rebuilt Scott's Food and Pharmacy in the Village at Coventry on the southwest side of Fort Wayne. Construction on this store is underway, with plans for a 2012 opening. These two stores are part of a $100 million expansion project in the Fort Wayne area.

[edit]Manufacturing
As well as stocking a variety of regional brand products, The Kroger Co. also employs one of the largest networks of private label manufacturing in the country. Forty plants (either wholly owned or used with operating

agreements) in seventeen states create about half of Kroger's nearly 20,000 private label products. Similar to most major supermarket retailers, Kroger uses a three-tiered private labelmarketing strategy.

[edit]Manufacturing

Plants

Kroger operates 40 manufacturing plants, and packages and sells items for other retailers under the InterAmerican Products Company name.[20][21]

[edit]Dairies
Kroger operates 15 dairies and three ice cream plants

Centennial Farms Dairy - Atlanta, Georgia Compton Creamery - Compton, California Crossroad Farms Dairy - Indianapolis, Indiana Heritage Farms Dairy - Murfreesboro, Tennessee Jackson Dairy - Hutchinson, Kansas Jackson Ice Cream - Denver, Colorado King Soopers Dairy - Denver, Colorado Layton Dairy - Layton, Utah Michigan Dairy - Livonia, Michigan Pace Dairy of Indiana - Crawfordsville, Indiana Pace Dairy of Minnesota - Rochester, Minnesota Riverside Creamery - Riverside, California Southern Ice Cream Specialties - Marietta, Georgia Swan Island Dairy - Portland, Oregon Tamarack Farms Dairy - Newark, Ohio Tolleson Dairy - Tolleson, Arizona Turkey Hill Dairy - Conestoga, Pennsylvania Vandervoort Dairy - Fort Worth, Texas Westover Dairy - Lynchburg, Virginia Winchester Farms Dairy - Winchester, Kentucky

[edit]Bakeries/Delis
Anderson Bakery - Anderson, South Carolina Clackamas Bakery - Clackamas, Oregon Columbus Bakery - Columbus, Ohio

Country Oven Bakery - Bowling Green, Kentucky Dillons Bakery - Hutchinson, Kansas Indianapolis Bakery - Indianapolis, Indiana KB Specialty Foods - Greensburg, Indiana King Soopers Bakery - Denver, Colorado La Habra Bakery - La Habra, California Layton Dough Plant - Layton, Utah

[edit]Meat Plants
King Soopers Meat - Denver, Colorado Vernon Meat - Vernon, California

[edit]Grocery Items
America's Beverage Co. - Irving, Texas - soft drinks, waters Bluefield Beverage Co. - Bluefield, Virginia - soft drinks, waters Delight Products Co. - Springfield, Tennessee - dry dog and cat foods Kenlake Foods - Murray, Kentucky - nuts, hot cereal, cornmeal, powdered drinks Pontiac Foods - Columbia, South Carolina - coffee, seasonings, spices, rice, noodles, sauces Springdale Ice Cream & Beverage - Cincinnati, Ohio - soft drinks, waters, ice cream State Avenue - Cincinnati, Ohio - salad dressings, red sauces, syrups, broths, jams and jellies Tara Foods - Albany, Georgia - peanut butter, flavorings, steak sauces, vinegar, cooking wines, lemon juice, soy sauce
[22]

[edit]Private [edit]Kroger

Brands
Value

The Kroger Value line of products was introduced in 1981 by the name of Cost Cutter and was known for its near-generic product labeling. It was then succeeded by FMV, which was a backronym to mean For Maximum Value, originally meaning Fred Meyer Value. It offered staple products such as sugar, flour, bread, and canned goods at the lowest price for that particular product in the store. Though some FMV products (such as their cheese made with water and partially hydrogenated soybean oil) use a lower-quality manufacturing process, other products appear to be indistinguishable from their banner brand equivalent (FMV sugar and Kroger sugar, for example) other than the price.

In early 2007, Kroger replaced FMV with the new Kroger Value brand. This has led to a situation where Kroger brand and Kroger Value brand products are sold side-by-side with little to distinguish them except for packaging and price. The brand change departed from the typical orange-fade-to-yellow labels and is now simply white with blue and red. Since then Kroger has expanded the line to many other items, for example: frozen food, butter, dog and cat food, ice cream, paper towels, bleach, and other food and household items. Most Kroger Value brand items are labeled bilingually (English and Spanish).

[edit]Banner

Brands

Banner Brands, goods that bear the name of Kroger or its subsidiaries (i.e., Ralphs, King Soopers, etc.) or make reference to them (i.e., Big K) are offered with a "Try it, Like it, or Get the National Brand Free" guarantee, where if the customer does not believe the Kroger brand product is as good as the national brand, they can exchange the unused portion of the product with their receipt for the equivalent national brand for free. Many of Kroger's health and beauty goods, one of the company's fastest-growing private label categories, are manufactured by third-party providers; these products include goods like ibuprofen and contact lens solution.

[edit]Private

Selection

Products marked Private Selection are offered to compare with gourmet brands or regional brands that may be considered more upscale than the standard Kroger brand products. While the Private Selection name includes many products, two of the most popular Private Selection items are ice cream and deli meat.

[edit]Other

private label brands

As well as the major grocery brands, Kroger's manufacturing creates a variety of general merchandise brands. These are featured especially in Fred Meyer stores, where more than half the goods sold are non-food, or in the smaller Fred Meyer-based Marketplace stores. The following brands might be found in various Krogerowned stores: Bread

SuperKids - IronKids bread competitor

Dairy

Springdale - milk by the gallon Mountain Dairy - milk by the gallon (Fred Meyer, Smith's, Fry's and Ralphs) Sungold - sweet and unsweet gallon jug tea Thirst Rockers - imitation juice (water, high fructose corn syrup, 0% juice) Country Club - butter

Deli

Wholesome @ Home - new name to include all private label products(pizza, pasta, sides, etc.) Your Deli Selection - baked beans, coleslaw, potato salad

Drug & General Merchandise

HD Designs upscale home goods MotoTech automotive supplies Office Works stationery and office supplies Splash Sport, Splash Spa, and Bath & Body Therapies bath and body supplies Comforts For Baby - baby and infant supplies, diapers

Frozen Food

Country Club - real butter sticks, half-gallon ice cream/frozen yogurt (Discontinued in Scotts Food and Pharmacy stores)

Old Fashioned - gallon tub ice cream/frozen yogurt

Grocery and General Merchandise

aromaFUSIONS - air freshener supplies, scented candles Big K - soda, cooler drinks, sparkling water Crystal Clear - flavored sparkling water Disney's Old Yeller - dry dog food Everyday Living kitchen gadgets & cleaning supplies, furniture On the House - margarita and other drink mixes Pet Pride - dry dog and cat food, cat litter Tempo - laundry detergent and fabric softener

Whole Health (Nutrition)

Naturally Preferred organic and natural foods

[edit]i-wireless

(Wireless Services)

i-wireless is a national wireless service provider sold in over 2,200 retail locations within the Kroger family of stores across 31 states. i-wireless allows customers to accrue minutes on their i-wireless phone in exchange for using their shopper's card on qualifying purchases. The i-wireless service functions over the Nationwide

Sprint Network. Customers can choose from monthly, unlimited, or pay-per-use plans that do not have contracts, activation fees, or roaming charges.

[edit]Disney

Magic Selections

In 2006, Kroger partnered with the consumer products division of The Walt Disney Company to add the Disney Magic Selections line to its private label offerings.[23] In reality, many of these products have been substituted in place of Kroger's Signature brand equivalents on the shelf, often with an increase in price. With packaging featuring animated Disney and Pixar characters, such as Mickey Mouse as Chef Mickey, these products are marketed to help promote healthy eating among children. Most of the approximately one hundred initial products contain zero grams of trans fat and include food offerings such as yogurt, breakfast foods, and small fresh fruit cups.[citation needed] This product offering is currently in a phase out process and being re-replaced with Kroger Brand product. They no longer offer this brand.

[edit]Pharmacy

Group

Kroger previously owned and operated the SupeRx drug store chain. In 1985, Kroger outbid Rite Aid for the Hook's Drug Stores chain, based in Indianapolis, IN, and combined it with SupeRx to become Hook'sSupeRx. In 1994, Kroger decided to get out of the stand-alone drug-store business, and sold its SupeRx stores to Revco, which later was sold to CVS.[24] Today, Kroger operates more than 1,900 pharmacies. Most of them are located inside its supermarkets. The Kroger Pharmacies continue as a profitable portion of the business, and have been expanding to now include pharmacies in City Market, Dillons, Fred Meyer, Frys, King Soopers, QFC, Ralphs, Smiths Food and Drug, and Kroger Supermarkets.[25]

[edit]Supermarket

Petroleum Group

Since 1998, Kroger has added fuel centers in the parking lots of its supermarkets, and as of the first quarter of 2010, Kroger operated 909 of them.[26]

[edit]Movie

rentals

Most Kroger locations now feature Redbox movie rental kiosks, except for locations in the Columbus, Ohio market which feature kiosks from rival DVDPlay. Previously, some Kroger locations featured kiosks from The New Release (aka Moviecube); most of these kiosks have since been replaced by Redbox kiosks.

[edit]Distribution/Logistics
Kroger has a 3-tiered distribution system. The 2nd and 3rd tiers, internally known as "Peyton's", service retail stores and provide promotional and seasonal products. Kroger operates five "Peyton's" which include: [27]

Peytons Northern - Bluffton and Fort Wayne, Indiana Peytons Midsouth - Portland, Tennessee Peytons Southeastern - Cleveland, Tennessee Peytons Phoenix - Phoenix, Arizona Peytons GHC

Kroger operates its own fleet of trucks and trailers to distribute products to its various stores, in addition to a contract with the trucking company, First Fleet. Food distribution and buying takes place under various subsidiaries and divisions. These include:

Inter-American Products - private label goods Wesco Foods - produce buying[28]

[edit]Financial

Services

Kroger Personal Finance was introduced in 2007 to offer various stores' branded MasterCards; mortgages; home equity loans; pet, renter's and home insurance and identity theft protection.[29]

[edit]Market

Entries and Withdrawals

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2009) [edit]Pittsburgh
Kroger had a number of stores in the Western Pennsylvania region, encompassing Pittsburgh and surrounding areas until the early 1980s, when the U.S. began experiencing a severe economicrecession. The recession had two significant and related effects on Kroger's operations in the region. First, the highly-cyclical manufacturing-based economy of the region declined in greater proportion than the rest of the U.S., which undercut demand for the higher-end products and services offered by Kroger. The second effect of the economic recession was to worsen labor-management relations which led to a protracted labor strike in 1983 and 1984. During the strike, Kroger withdrew all of its stores from the Western Pennsylvania market, including some recently opened "superstores" and "greenhouses". The new superstores in Western Pennsylvania, which included at least the one at North Huntingdon Township (Irwin, PA) and another at Cranberry Township, were Kroger's state-of-the-art facilities. They were equipped with optical (bar-code) check-out scanners that were new to the industry, and especially to the region. In addition to the usual meat/dairy/produce departments, they contained a separate bakery, deli, cheese shop, and seafood counter, amenities that have come to define the modern suburban grocery store. In an innovation that did not define future trends, the new superstores also included extensive non-foods departments that sold among other things, televisions, and other

electronics.[30] Hence, the closure of these newly opened, trend-setting facilities represented an abrupt retreat in the region. Kroger's exit ceded the market to lower-cost, locally owned rivals, most notably Giant Eagle and the Supervalusupplied Shop 'n Save and FoodLand chains. (Ironically, Kroger bought Eagle Grocery company, whose founders went on to create Giant Eagle.) There has been recent speculation that Kroger may be re-entering the market since Giant Eagle and Wal-Mart (through the numeroussupercenters Wal-Mart has opened in the Pittsburgh area in recent years) have since formed a de facto monopoly in the market as a result of Supervalu's inability to compete, as well as the launch of Kroger's Turkey Hill dairy brand in the area in 2005. Kroger still maintains a presence in the nearby Morgantown, West Virginia, Wheeling, West Virginia, and Weirton, West Virginia/Steubenville, Ohioareas where Giant Eagle has a much smaller presence and the Supervalu-supplied stores are virtually nonexistent, though in all of these cases Wal-Mart remains a major competitor and Aldi is the only other supermarket with any market overlap.

Metro AG
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Metro AG

Type

Aktiengesellschaft

Traded as

FWB: MEO

Industry

Retail

Founded

1964; Metro AG formed in 1996

Headquarters

Dsseldorf, Germany

Area served

Europe, Asia, Africa

Key people

Eckhard Cordes (CEO and Chairman of the executive board), Jrgen Kluge (Chairman of thesupervisory board), Olaf Koch(CFO)

Services

Supermarkets, hypermarkets,consumer electronics and appliance retail, department stores

Revenue

67.26 billion (2010)[1]

Operating income

2.211 billion (2010)[1]

Profit

850 million (2010)[1]

Total assets

35.07 billion (end 2010)[1]

Total equity

6.460 billion (end 2010)[1]

Employees

283,280 (average, 2010)[1]

Divisions

Metro Cash and Carry, Real,Media Markt, Saturn, Galeria Kaufhof

Website

www.metrogroup.de

Metro AG is a diversified retail and wholesale/cash and carry group based in Dsseldorf, Germany. It has the largest market share in its home market, and is one of the most globalised retail and wholesale corporations. It is the fourth-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues (after Wal-Mart, Carrefourand Tesco).[2] In English it often refers to itself as Metro Group. It was established in 1964 by Otto Beisheim.

Contents
[hide]

1 Sales divisions 2 International presence 3 Financial performance 4 Future plans 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

[edit]Sales

divisions

The company operates the following sales divisions:

Metro and Makro Cash and Carry (Makro stores in the United Kingdom and elsewhere in Europe were acquired from SHV Holdings in 1998): This division accounts for nearly half of group sales as of 2004, and is by far the most internationalised division, with stores in almost every country in which the group operates.

Real: A hypermarket operator. 265 stores in Germany and 34 elsewhere as of early 2005. Media Markt and Saturn: Media Markt is a consumer electronics company with stores in Germany and several other European countries. Saturn is an electronic media chain, also with stores in Germany and some other European countries.

Galeria Kaufhof: A department store chain with locations in Germany and Belgium ("Inno").

As of 2007 it has added the former Wal-Mart Germany stores to the Real chain.

[edit]International

presence

Metro Group around the world

As of 1 Jan 2007, the Metro Group operated stores in the following countries: Europe

Austria Azerbaijan Belgium Bulgaria Croatia Czech Republic Denmark France Germany Greece Hungary Italy Luxembourg Moldova Netherlands Poland Portugal Romania Russia Serbia Slovakia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom

Asia

China India Japan Kazakhstan Pakistan Thailand Vietnam

Africa

Egypt Morocco

Canada's Metro Inc. is not affiliated.

[edit]Financial

performance

In the 2003 calendar year, Metro Group had sales of 53,965 million. Profit before tax was 817 million, and group net profit was 496 million. In the early years of the 21st century, Metro had at that moment a lower growth rate than many of its global competitors.

[edit]Future

plans

The Metro group is looking towards expansion in Asia and Europe. The Metro group has announced plans to expand its operations in Algeria, Pakistan, Sweden, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Egypt. The Metro Group may also be commissioned by the German government to expand operations into Afghanistan's economically stable north, the region patrolled by German ISAF forces. They also split off and floated their *Praktiker division in December 2006, a DIY/home improvement chain with stores in several countries. In June 2009 it was reported that the company was looking to purchase some of the assets of Arcandor, after the firm filed for bankruptcy.[3]

The Home Depot

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Home Depot, Inc.

Type

Public

Traded as

NYSE: HD Dow Jones Industrial Average Component

Industry

Retail

Founded

Marietta, Georgia, U.S. (1978)

Headquarters

Cobb County, Georgia, U.S.

Number of locations

2,248 (January 2011)[1]

Area served

United States Canada Mexico China

Key people

Frank Blake
(Chairman and CEO)

Products

Home appliances, tools,hardware, lumber, building materials, paint, plumbing, flooring, garden supplies & plants

Revenue

US$ 67.997 billion (FY 2011)[1]

Operating income

US$ 5.839 billion (FY 2011)[1]

Net income

US$ 3.338 billion (FY 2011)[1]

Total assets

US$ 40.125 billion (FY 2011)[1]

Total equity

US$ 18.889 billion (FY 2011)[1]

Employees

321,000 (January 2011)[1]

Website

HomeDepot.com

The Home Depot in Knightdale, North Carolina

The Home Depot (or simply Home Depot) (NYSE: HD) is an American retailer of home improvement and construction products and services. The Home Depot operates 2,248 big-box format stores across the United States (including all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Guam), Canada (all ten provinces), Mexico and China,[2] with a 12-store chain. The Home Depot is headquartered at the Atlanta Store Support Center in Cobb County, Georgia, in Greater Atlanta.[3][4][5] In terms of overall revenue reported to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, The Home Depot is the largest home improvement retailer in the United States, ahead of rival Lowe's, and the fourth largest general retailer.[6] The store operates out of large warehouse style buildings averaging 105,000 ft (9,755 m) with

megastores operating in larger facilities (the company's largest store, located in Union, New Jersey is 225,000 ft).[7]
Contents
[hide]

1 History 2 The Home Depot today

o o o o o

2.1 Board of directors 2.2 Marketing 2.3 Online 2.4 Exclusive brands 2.5 Fuel centers

3 Philanthropy 4 Environmental record 5 Major sponsorships 6 The Home Depot internationally

o o o o o

6.1 Canada 6.2 Mexico 6.3 China 6.4 United Kingdom 6.5 South America

7 Labor union policies 8 Controversy

o o o

8.1 Whistleblower case 8.2 Support for LGBT causes 8.3 Tilt up construction design of stores

9 References 10 External links

[edit]History
The Home Depot was founded in 1978 by Bernie Marcus, Arthur Blank, Ron Brill, and Pat Farrah.[8] The Home Depot's proposition was to build home-improvement warehouses, larger than any of their competitors' facilities. Investment banker Ken Langone helped Marcus and Blank to secure the necessary capital.

"Bernie and I founded The Home Depot with a special vision -- to create a company that would keep alive the values that were important to us. Values like respect among all people, excellent customer service and giving back to communities and society."[9]

Arthur Blank

In 1979, the first two stores, built in spaces leased from J. C. Penney that were originally Treasure Island "hypermarket" (discount department and grocery) stores, opened in metro Atlanta on June 21. Two more opened not long after, and all four shared the space under the "squiggly" zig-zag roof with Zayre on its right side. The first headquarters was on Terrell Mill Road on the southeast side of Marietta, Georgia, just down from one of the stores at the corner ofCobb Parkway. (That store 33.9065N 84.4872W, in the Marietta

Plaza strip mall, became Value City, changing to Burlington Coat Factory in 2008; part was also a shortlived Little Bucks, in which Brill had a stake.) Since the 1990s, its current headquarters ( 33.865N 84.482W) is a complex of high-rise buildings

on Paces Ferry Road, on the western edge of theCumberland/Galleria edge city in unincorporated Cobb County, Georgia, across Interstate 285 from the town of Vinings, and served by mail from Atlanta. The tallest is approximately 85 metres (279 ft) high, the fourth-tallest in the Vinings area.[10] In 2000, after the retirement of Marcus and Blank, Robert Nardelli was appointed chairman, president, and CEO. Nardelli was replaced in January 2007 by Frank Blake. [11] In 2007 the Home Depot sold its USD $13 billion revenue wholesale (trade) division, HD Supply, to a consortium of three private equity firms, The Carlyle Group, Bain Capital and Clayton, Dubilier and Rice (with each agreeing to buy a one-third stake in the division). Home Depot sold their wholesale construction supply business to fund a stock repurchase estimated at $40 billion.[citation needed]

[edit]The

Home Depot today

Map of Home Depot stores in the U.S., as of August 2011.

The Home Depot in Durham, North Carolina

Home Depot stores average 105,000 ft (9,755 m) in size and are organized warehouse-style, stocking a large range of supplies. Home Depot's largest store is located in Anaheim, California.[12] It is also the second and eighth largest employer in Signal Hill, CA.[13] The company color is a bright orange (PMS 165, CMYK 60M100Y), on signs, equipment and employee aprons. Its 2005 sales totaled US$91.8 billion (US$77.0 billion in retail sales). Despite the 10% increase in revenue, it dropped three spots to #17 on the 2007 FORTUNE magazine's FORTUNE 500 list (it was #13 in 2005 and #14 in 2006). The Home Depot owned EXPO Design Center, a chain of home decorating and appliance stores, but closed the chain in 2009.[14] In 2006, the Home Depot acquiredHughes Supply which was assimilated into HD Supply serving contractors, which it eventually sold in June 2007. In September 2005, Home Depot Direct launched its online home-furnishings store, 10 Crescent Lane, shortly followed by the launch of Paces Trading Company, its online lighting store. In mid 2006, the Home Depot acquired Home Decorators Collection which was placed as an additional brand under its Home Depot Direct Division. Home Depot Landscape Supply, with only a few stores each in metro Atlanta and Dallas/Fort Worth, was founded in 2002 and closed in late 2007. On January 2, 2007, the Home Depot and Robert Nardelli mutually agreed on Nardelli's resignation as CEO after a six-year tenure. Nardelli resigned amid complaints over his heavy-handed management and whether his pay package of $123.7 million, excluding stock option grants, over the past 5 years was excessive considering the stock's poor performance versus its competitor Lowe's. His severance package of $210 million has been criticized because when the stock went down his pay went up.[11][15] His successor is Frank Blake, who previously served as the company's vice chairman of the board and executive vice president. Blake agreed to a much more conservative compensation package than his predecessor that is very heavily dependent upon the success of the company.

In 2008 and 2009, with the downturn in the housing market, The Home Depot announced the layoff of several thousand associates, as well as the closing of 54 stores nationwide, including the entire EXPO Design Center chain.[16][17] In the year to February 2009 sales totaled $71.288 billion, more than $20 billion down from the peak of two years earlier due to the sale of HD Supply and falling revenue at the retained business.

[edit]Board

of directors

Current members of the board of directors of the Home Depot are: F. Duane Ackerman, David H. Batchelder, Frank Blake, Ari Bousbib, Gregory D. Brenneman, Albert P. Carey, Armando Codina, Bonnie G. Hill, and Karen Katen.[18] The Home Depot's board consists of 9 members, with 8 of them being independent directors.

[edit]Marketing
The slogan "More saving. More doing." was introduced by The Home Depot in the March 18, 2009 circular, replacing "You can do it. We can help." which had been used since 2003. Other slogans used in the past 25 years include "The Home Depot, Low prices are just the beginning" in the early 1990s and "When you're at the Home Depot, You'll feel right at home" in the late 1990s and "The Home Depot: First In Home Improvement!" from 1999-2003.

[edit]Online
The domain homedepot.com attracted at least 120 million visitors annually by 2008 according to a Compete.com survey.

[edit]Exclusive

brands

The Home Depot exclusively carries several major brands, including:

BEHR Paint Chem-Dry (carpet cleaning, upholstery cleaning, tile and grout services) G.E. (water heaters) Homelite (outdoor and power tools) Martha Stewart Living (outdoor furniture, indoor organization and decor products) Ryobi (power tools) Sur La Table Thomasville cabinetry Hampton Bay (Ceiling Fans and Lighting)

Additionally, the retailer has its own house brands:

Husky (tools) Workforce (tools,shelving, storage cabinets, extension cords, worklights, tarps, paintbrushes)

[edit]Fuel

centers

Starting in 2006, the Home Depot has started testing with fuel centers at some of its stores. The first such "Home Depot Fuel" convenience store (C-Store) was located in Brentwood, Tennesseefollowed a month later by a center about 20 miles (32 km) away in Hermitage, both suburbs of Nashville. Four additional prototype stores were built within the year at Acworth, Georgia; Smyrna, Tennessee ; Greensboro, Georgia; and then Winchester, Tennessee in that order. The centers are expected to earn $5$7 million per year, though the actual number is reported to be much higher. The fuel centers sell beer, hot food, snacks along with providing diesel at a separate island. This allows contractors with large trucks to be able to fill their vehicles. The fuel centers offer car washes, which are large enough to accommodate full-size pickup trucks.[19]

[edit]Philanthropy
The Home Depot Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the company created in 2002. It has contributed over $200 million in time, labor, money, and supplies to a number of causes, including Habitat for Humanity, California-based City of Hope National Medical Center, and playground construction organization KaBOOM! [20] Home Depot has partnered with the Georgia Emergency Management Agency's Ready Georgia campaign, leading both supplies and facility use to this statewide effort to increase emergency preparedness among Georgia's children.[21] The company also provided ready kits and other prizes for an art and essay contest for Georgia elementary school students.[22] In 2005, Home Depot was among 53 entities that contributed the maximum of $250,000 to the second inauguration of President George W. Bush.[23][24][25]

[edit]Environmental

record

The Home Depot has stated on their website that they have a commitment "to the environment and pledge to continue to be an industry leader in looking for products and services that are respectful of our world." [26] The Home Depot introduced a label on nearly 3,000 products in 2007. The label promotes energy conservation, sustainable forestry and clean water. Home Depot executives said that as the worlds largest buyer of construction material, their company had the power to persuade thousands of suppliers, homebuilders and consumers to follow its lead on environment sustainability. Who in the world has a chance to have a bigger impact on this sector than Home Depot? said Ron Jarvis, who is the vice president for environmental innovation at Home Depot.[27] This program is following Home Depots promise in late 1990s to eliminate the number of sales of lumber from endangered forests in countries including Chile and Indonesia.[28] Home Depot has since worked with environmental groups to create a variety of green programs. For example, Home Depot planted thousands of trees at its headquarters in Atlanta to offset carbon emissions. In 2007, The Home Depot Foundation (the company's charitable foundation) committed to investing $100 million over the next decade to build over 100,000 green affordable homes and plant three million trees.

Additionally, The Home Depot promotes compact fluorescent light bulbs in their stores. As part of this effort, the company has created the largest recycling program in the United States for the bulbs.[29] Barack Obama visited a Home Depot store in Arlington County, Virginia on December 15, 2009 to discuss how businesses and home owners can both benefit financially from energy efficiency home renovation projects. Obama supports home retrofitting projects that, he believes, will create jobs for construction workers many of whom were out of work due to down turn in the housing market, and will also decrease our energy consumption.[30]

[edit]Major

sponsorships

Since 1991, the company has become a large supporter of athletics, sponsoring the United States and Canadian Olympic teams, and launching a program which offered employment to athletes that accommodates their training and competition schedules. While remaining supportive of Canadian Olympians, the Home Depot ceased to be a sponsor of the Canadian Olympic Team in 2005. Company co-founder Blank also purchased the Atlanta Falcons franchise of the National Football League in February 2002. The Home Depot is also the primary sponsor of NASCAR Sprint Cup 2009 Rookie Of The Year Winner Joey Logano of Joe Gibbs Racing in a Toyota Camry. Before Joey, it was the sponsor of 2-time Cup Champion Tony Stewart since his rookie year; in 2009 Tony left Joe Gibbs Racing to own half of Stewart Haas Racing. The Home Depot is also the title sponsor of The Home Depot Center in Carson, California, home to both the Los Angeles Galaxy and Chivas USA of (Major League Soccer), and Los Angeles Riptide (Major League Lacrosse), and many past major sporting events. In 2006, The Home Depot partnered with Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering to create "The Home Depot Smart Home." The smart home is a live-in laboratory for 10 upper-class engineering students that allows them to immerse themselves in the work. The goal of the project is to help provide innovative solutions for the home in areas such as security and home monitoring, communications, energy efficiency, entertainment, environment and health.[31] In January 2007, the Home Depot became the official Home Improvement sponsor of the National Football League.[32] Seventy-three percent of the Home Depot's campaign contributions went to Republican candidates in the 20052006 US elections. "Home Depot's PAC gives money based on a candidate's voting record, committee assignment and leadership position," said company spokesman Jerry Shields.[33] The CEO in this period was Bob Nardelli, a friend of U.S. President George W. Bush.[34] Nardelli hosted a garden reception/fundraiser for Bush at his Atlanta home on May 20, 2004.[35]

[edit]The

Home Depot internationally

[edit]Canada
Home Depot Canada is the Canadian unit of the Home Depot and one of Canada's top home improvement retailers. The Canadian operation consists of nearly 180 stores and employs over 35,000 people in Canada. Home Depot Canada has stores in all ten Canadian provinces and serves territorial Nunavut, Northwest Territories, and Yukon through electronic means (Online sales). The Canadian unit was created with the purchase of Aikenhead's Hardware. Home Depot management has an ambitious plan to overtake its biggest competitor, RONA, which has about four times as many stores. However, some of RONA's stores are smaller than the typical Home Depot store. In terms of big box stores, the Home Depot has more stores than RONA, (not including other Rona banners such as Rno Dpt or Cashway). As of 2007, RONA pulled ahead of The Home Depot in total retail sales, due to aggressive consolidation efforts by RONA, combined with the loss of The Home Depot's industrial supply division, HD Supply, in July 2007. The Home Depot now faces competition from Lowe's as they have moved into the Canadian market effective the end of 2007; Lowe's first sixteen Canadian outlets are all located in Ontario. The Home Depot banner in Quebec, where it has 22 stores, reads "Home Depot" without the definite article "the" in order to ensure a more cross-compatible proper name (that does not read like an English sentence) between both the French and English languages. However, Depot is still in English and not in French, which would be Dpt.

[edit]Mexico

The Home Depot store in Mexico City, Mexico

The Home Depot, the world's largest home improvement retailer, currently operates more than 85 stores in Mexico and has become one of the largest retailers in Mexico since it entered the market in 2001. The Home Depot increased its presence in Mexico in 2004, with the acquisition of Home Mart, the second largest Mexican home improvement retailer.

The Home Depot Mexico employs more than 7,100 associates throughout the country and has an annual growth rate of 10 percent.[36]

[edit]China
In December 2006, the Home Depot announced its acquisition of the Chinese home improvement retailer The Home Way.[37] The acquisition gave the Home Depot an immediate presence in China, with 12 stores in six cities. Beginning of April, 2011, Home Depot recently shut its last Beijing store, the fifth Home Depot to close in China in the past two years.

[edit]United

Kingdom

There have been reports that the Home Depot is interested in acquiring B&Q, the largest DIY retailer in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland and China. Speculation of a takeover began in 1999 when the retailer Asda was purchased by Wal-Mart. The Home Depot will have to acquire Kingfisher plc, B&Q's parent company, to acquire B&Q. Kingfisher consists of several European DIY chains, however the Home Depot is only interested in B&Q operations and says that it will dispose of the Castorama chain which operates in France, Italy, Poland andRussia. Several talks have not yet resulted in a takeover deal.[38][39][40][41]

[edit]South

America

In 1997, Home Depot entered the Chilean and Argentine markets. While the venture was viewed with great optimism by founders Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank,[42] it eventually proved unprofitable. In October 2001, Chilean partners Falabella bought out Home Depot's share of the five Chilean Home Center stores and rebranded them Sodimac. The company has since expanded across South America very profitably and successfully. Argentina's Home Depots were bought out by Chilean company Hipermercados Jumbo and rebranded Easy stores, a company that has also expanded across South America.

[edit]Labor

union policies

In 2004, Home Depot workers at a suburban Detroit store in Harper Woods, Michigan, rejected a bid to be represented by a labor union, voting 115 to 42 against joining the United Food and Commercial Workers. If the union had won, the Michigan store would have been the first Home Depot to have union representation. [43] In October 2008 (although he no longer has anything to do with the company), co-founder Bernie Marcus called the Employee Free Choice Act "the demise of a civilization".[44]

[edit]Controversy [edit]Whistleblower

case

The Home Depot was embroiled in whistleblower litigation brought under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) law. In July 2005, former employee Michael Davis, represented by attorney Mark D. Schwartzfiled a whistleblower

lawsuit against the Home Depot, alleging that his discharge was in retaliation for refusing to make unwarranted backcharges against vendors. Davis alleges that the Home Depot forced its employees to meet a set quota of backcharges to cover damaged or defective merchandise, forcing employees to make chargebacks to vendors for merchandise that was undamaged and not defective. The Home Depot alleges that it fired Davis for repeatedly failing to show up for work. The trial initially was concluded in June 2006, but in April 2007, U.S. Department of Labor Judge Pamela Lakes Wood ordered the case reopened after the Home Depot's law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld revealed that the retail giant's in-house counsel had told them that two Home Depot employees who testified at the trial had lied. Akin Gump sent Wood a letter on September 29, 2006, in which the law firm requested that the testimony be stricken. In response to Akin Gump's revelation, Davis' attorney Mark D. Schwartz asked for the case to be reopened to permit further questioning of the witnesses. On April 6, 2007, Wood ordered the case to be reopened. Schwartz was quoted by the New York Post as saying, "I have reason to believe these witnesses were intimidated into giving false testimony." The Home Depot called Schwartz's allegations "meritless."[45] Home Depot has settled the dispute in a stipulation of settlement dated March 28, 2008. In the settlement, Home Depot changed some of its corporate governance provisions. Home Depot also agreed to pay the plaintiff's counsel $6 million in cash and $8.5 million in common stock.[46]

[edit]Support

for LGBT causes

Home Depot has been the subject of an American Family Association-led boycott because it has sponsored gay pride festivals.[47] AFA director of special projects Randy Sharp said, "Home Depot should be like a lot of Fortune 500 companies and simply remain neutral in the culture war -- don't give money, don't give vehicles, don't lend employee support to homosexual activities on Main Street USA."[48] The Human Rights Campaign thanked "a group of dedicated HRC Partners", including Home Depot, for providing the resources necessary to help pass the New York State gay marriage bill. The Home Depot says on its web site that they are "honored to say we support" HRC and other LGBT advocacy groups.[49]

[edit]Tilt

up construction design of stores

In the wake of the 2011 Joplin tornado in which the walls of a Home Depot collapsed in Joplin after being hit by an EF5 tornado, The Kansas City Star citing engineers criticized Home Depot's practice of using tilt up construction in hundreds of its big box stores (other nearby big box stores in Joplin including a Walmart and Academy Sports which had a different concrete block construction lost their roofs but the walls remained intact). In tilt up construction the concrete is poured on site and lifted into place and then attached to the roof. The engineers told the Star that the practice while normally safe and efficient is dangerous in major storms because once the roof is lifted (as happened in Joplin) the walls collapse in a domino effect. Seven

people were killed in the front of the store when the 100,000 pound walls collapsed on them while 28 people in the back of the store survived when those walls collapsed outward. Only two of the slab walls in the Home Depot survived. In contrast 3 people died in the Walmart but 200 survived. Engineers noted that when concrete blocks construction fail, it breaks in pieces and usually not in huge slabs. Home Depot said it fundamentally disagreed with the Star engineers and said it would use tilt up construction when it rebuilds the Joplin store. [50]

[edit]References

The Home Depot

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Home Depot, Inc.

Type

Public

Traded as

NYSE: HD Dow Jones Industrial Average Component

Industry

Retail

Founded

Marietta, Georgia, U.S. (1978)

Headquarters

Cobb County, Georgia, U.S.

Number of locations

2,248 (January 2011)[1]

Area served

United States Canada Mexico China

Key people

Frank Blake
(Chairman and CEO)

Products

Home appliances, tools,hardware, lumber, building materials, paint, plumbing, flooring, garden supplies & plants

Revenue

US$ 67.997 billion (FY 2011)[1]

Operating income

US$ 5.839 billion (FY 2011)[1]

Net income

US$ 3.338 billion (FY 2011)[1]

Total assets

US$ 40.125 billion (FY 2011)[1]

Total equity

US$ 18.889 billion (FY 2011)[1]

Employees

321,000 (January 2011)[1]

Website

HomeDepot.com

The Home Depot in Knightdale, North Carolina

The Home Depot (or simply Home Depot) (NYSE: HD) is an American retailer of home improvement and construction products and services. The Home Depot operates 2,248 big-box format stores across the United States (including all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Guam), Canada (all ten provinces), Mexico and China,[2] with a 12-store chain. The Home Depot is headquartered at the Atlanta Store Support Center in Cobb County, Georgia, in Greater Atlanta.[3][4][5] In terms of overall revenue reported to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, The Home Depot is the largest home improvement retailer in the United States, ahead of rival Lowe's, and the fourth largest general retailer.[6] The store operates out of large warehouse style buildings averaging 105,000 ft (9,755 m) with megastores operating in larger facilities (the company's largest store, located in Union, New Jersey is 225,000 ft).[7]

Contents
[hide]

1 History 2 The Home Depot today

o o o o o

2.1 Board of directors 2.2 Marketing 2.3 Online 2.4 Exclusive brands 2.5 Fuel centers

3 Philanthropy 4 Environmental record 5 Major sponsorships 6 The Home Depot internationally

o o o o o

6.1 Canada 6.2 Mexico 6.3 China 6.4 United Kingdom 6.5 South America

7 Labor union policies 8 Controversy

o o o

8.1 Whistleblower case 8.2 Support for LGBT causes 8.3 Tilt up construction design of stores

9 References 10 External links

[edit]History
The Home Depot was founded in 1978 by Bernie Marcus, Arthur Blank, Ron Brill, and Pat Farrah.[8] The Home Depot's proposition was to build home-improvement warehouses, larger than any of their competitors' facilities. Investment banker Ken Langone helped Marcus and Blank to secure the necessary capital.

"Bernie and I founded The Home Depot with a special vision -- to create a company that would keep alive the values that were important to us. Values like respect among all people, excellent customer service and giving back to communities and society."[9]

Arthur Blank

In 1979, the first two stores, built in spaces leased from J. C. Penney that were originally Treasure Island "hypermarket" (discount department and grocery) stores, opened in metro Atlanta on June 21. Two more opened not long after, and all four shared the space under the "squiggly" zig-zag roof with Zayre on its right side. The first headquarters was on Terrell Mill Road on the southeast side of Marietta, Georgia, just down from one of the stores at the corner ofCobb Parkway. (That store 33.9065N 84.4872W, in the Marietta

Plaza strip mall, became Value City, changing to Burlington Coat Factory in 2008; part was also a shortlived Little Bucks, in which Brill had a stake.) Since the 1990s, its current headquarters ( 33.865N 84.482W) is a complex of high-rise buildings

on Paces Ferry Road, on the western edge of theCumberland/Galleria edge city in unincorporated Cobb County, Georgia, across Interstate 285 from the town of Vinings, and served by mail from Atlanta. The tallest is approximately 85 metres (279 ft) high, the fourth-tallest in the Vinings area.[10] In 2000, after the retirement of Marcus and Blank, Robert Nardelli was appointed chairman, president, and CEO. Nardelli was replaced in January 2007 by Frank Blake. [11] In 2007 the Home Depot sold its USD $13 billion revenue wholesale (trade) division, HD Supply, to a consortium of three private equity firms, The Carlyle Group, Bain Capital and Clayton, Dubilier and Rice (with each agreeing to buy a one-third stake in the division). Home Depot sold their wholesale construction supply business to fund a stock repurchase estimated at $40 billion.[citation needed]

[edit]The

Home Depot today

Map of Home Depot stores in the U.S., as of August 2011.

The Home Depot in Durham, North Carolina

Home Depot stores average 105,000 ft (9,755 m) in size and are organized warehouse-style, stocking a large range of supplies. Home Depot's largest store is located in Anaheim, California.[12] It is also the second and eighth largest employer in Signal Hill, CA.[13] The company color is a bright orange (PMS 165, CMYK 60M100Y), on signs, equipment and employee aprons. Its 2005 sales totaled US$91.8 billion (US$77.0 billion in retail sales). Despite the 10% increase in revenue, it dropped three spots to #17 on the 2007 FORTUNE magazine's FORTUNE 500 list (it was #13 in 2005 and #14 in 2006). The Home Depot owned EXPO Design Center, a chain of home decorating and appliance stores, but closed the chain in 2009.[14] In 2006, the Home Depot acquiredHughes Supply which was assimilated into HD Supply serving contractors, which it eventually sold in June 2007. In September 2005, Home Depot Direct launched its online home-furnishings store, 10 Crescent Lane, shortly followed by the launch of Paces Trading Company, its online lighting store. In mid 2006, the Home Depot acquired Home Decorators Collection which was placed as an additional brand under its Home Depot Direct Division. Home Depot Landscape Supply, with only a few stores each in metro Atlanta and Dallas/Fort Worth, was founded in 2002 and closed in late 2007. On January 2, 2007, the Home Depot and Robert Nardelli mutually agreed on Nardelli's resignation as CEO after a six-year tenure. Nardelli resigned amid complaints over his heavy-handed management and whether his pay package of $123.7 million, excluding stock option grants, over the past 5 years was excessive considering the stock's poor performance versus its competitor Lowe's. His severance package of $210 million has been criticized because when the stock went down his pay went up.[11][15] His successor is Frank Blake, who previously served as the company's vice chairman of the board and executive vice president. Blake agreed to a much more conservative compensation package than his predecessor that is very heavily dependent upon the success of the company. In 2008 and 2009, with the downturn in the housing market, The Home Depot announced the layoff of several thousand associates, as well as the closing of 54 stores nationwide, including the entire EXPO Design Center

chain.[16][17] In the year to February 2009 sales totaled $71.288 billion, more than $20 billion down from the peak of two years earlier due to the sale of HD Supply and falling revenue at the retained business.

[edit]Board

of directors

Current members of the board of directors of the Home Depot are: F. Duane Ackerman, David H. Batchelder, Frank Blake, Ari Bousbib, Gregory D. Brenneman, Albert P. Carey, Armando Codina, Bonnie G. Hill, and Karen Katen.[18] The Home Depot's board consists of 9 members, with 8 of them being independent directors.

[edit]Marketing
The slogan "More saving. More doing." was introduced by The Home Depot in the March 18, 2009 circular, replacing "You can do it. We can help." which had been used since 2003. Other slogans used in the past 25 years include "The Home Depot, Low prices are just the beginning" in the early 1990s and "When you're at the Home Depot, You'll feel right at home" in the late 1990s and "The Home Depot: First In Home Improvement!" from 1999-2003.

[edit]Online
The domain homedepot.com attracted at least 120 million visitors annually by 2008 according to a Compete.com survey.

[edit]Exclusive

brands

The Home Depot exclusively carries several major brands, including:

BEHR Paint Chem-Dry (carpet cleaning, upholstery cleaning, tile and grout services) G.E. (water heaters) Homelite (outdoor and power tools) Martha Stewart Living (outdoor furniture, indoor organization and decor products) Ryobi (power tools) Sur La Table Thomasville cabinetry Hampton Bay (Ceiling Fans and Lighting)

Additionally, the retailer has its own house brands:

Husky (tools) Workforce (tools,shelving, storage cabinets, extension cords, worklights, tarps, paintbrushes)

[edit]Fuel

centers

Starting in 2006, the Home Depot has started testing with fuel centers at some of its stores. The first such "Home Depot Fuel" convenience store (C-Store) was located in Brentwood, Tennesseefollowed a month later by a center about 20 miles (32 km) away in Hermitage, both suburbs of Nashville. Four additional prototype stores were built within the year at Acworth, Georgia; Smyrna, Tennessee ; Greensboro, Georgia; and then Winchester, Tennessee in that order. The centers are expected to earn $5$7 million per year, though the actual number is reported to be much higher. The fuel centers sell beer, hot food, snacks along with providing diesel at a separate island. This allows contractors with large trucks to be able to fill their vehicles. The fuel centers offer car washes, which are large enough to accommodate full-size pickup trucks.[19]

[edit]Philanthropy
The Home Depot Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the company created in 2002. It has contributed over $200 million in time, labor, money, and supplies to a number of causes, including Habitat for Humanity, California-based City of Hope National Medical Center, and playground construction organization KaBOOM! [20] Home Depot has partnered with the Georgia Emergency Management Agency's Ready Georgia campaign, leading both supplies and facility use to this statewide effort to increase emergency preparedness among Georgia's children.[21] The company also provided ready kits and other prizes for an art and essay contest for Georgia elementary school students.[22] In 2005, Home Depot was among 53 entities that contributed the maximum of $250,000 to the second inauguration of President George W. Bush.[23][24][25]

[edit]Environmental

record

The Home Depot has stated on their website that they have a commitment "to the environment and pledge to continue to be an industry leader in looking for products and services that are respectful of our world." [26] The Home Depot introduced a label on nearly 3,000 products in 2007. The label promotes energy conservation, sustainable forestry and clean water. Home Depot executives said that as the worlds largest buyer of construction material, their company had the power to persuade thousands of suppliers, homebuilders and consumers to follow its lead on environment sustainability. Who in the world has a chance to have a bigger impact on this sector than Home Depot? said Ron Jarvis, who is the vice president for environmental innovation at Home Depot.[27] This program is following Home Depots promise in late 1990s to eliminate the number of sales of lumber from endangered forests in countries including Chile and Indonesia.[28] Home Depot has since worked with environmental groups to create a variety of green programs. For example, Home Depot planted thousands of trees at its headquarters in Atlanta to offset carbon emissions. In 2007, The Home Depot Foundation (the company's charitable foundation) committed to investing $100 million over the next decade to build over 100,000 green affordable homes and plant three million trees.

Additionally, The Home Depot promotes compact fluorescent light bulbs in their stores. As part of this effort, the company has created the largest recycling program in the United States for the bulbs.[29] Barack Obama visited a Home Depot store in Arlington County, Virginia on December 15, 2009 to discuss how businesses and home owners can both benefit financially from energy efficiency home renovation projects. Obama supports home retrofitting projects that, he believes, will create jobs for construction workers many of whom were out of work due to down turn in the housing market, and will also decrease our energy consumption.[30]

[edit]Major

sponsorships

Since 1991, the company has become a large supporter of athletics, sponsoring the United States and Canadian Olympic teams, and launching a program which offered employment to athletes that accommodates their training and competition schedules. While remaining supportive of Canadian Olympians, the Home Depot ceased to be a sponsor of the Canadian Olympic Team in 2005. Company co-founder Blank also purchased the Atlanta Falcons franchise of the National Football League in February 2002. The Home Depot is also the primary sponsor of NASCAR Sprint Cup 2009 Rookie Of The Year Winner Joey Logano of Joe Gibbs Racing in a Toyota Camry. Before Joey, it was the sponsor of 2-time Cup Champion Tony Stewart since his rookie year; in 2009 Tony left Joe Gibbs Racing to own half of Stewart Haas Racing. The Home Depot is also the title sponsor of The Home Depot Center in Carson, California, home to both the Los Angeles Galaxy and Chivas USA of (Major League Soccer), and Los Angeles Riptide (Major League Lacrosse), and many past major sporting events. In 2006, The Home Depot partnered with Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering to create "The Home Depot Smart Home." The smart home is a live-in laboratory for 10 upper-class engineering students that allows them to immerse themselves in the work. The goal of the project is to help provide innovative solutions for the home in areas such as security and home monitoring, communications, energy efficiency, entertainment, environment and health.[31] In January 2007, the Home Depot became the official Home Improvement sponsor of the National Football League.[32] Seventy-three percent of the Home Depot's campaign contributions went to Republican candidates in the 20052006 US elections. "Home Depot's PAC gives money based on a candidate's voting record, committee assignment and leadership position," said company spokesman Jerry Shields.[33] The CEO in this period was Bob Nardelli, a friend of U.S. President George W. Bush.[34] Nardelli hosted a garden reception/fundraiser for Bush at his Atlanta home on May 20, 2004.[35]

[edit]The

Home Depot internationally

[edit]Canada
Home Depot Canada is the Canadian unit of the Home Depot and one of Canada's top home improvement retailers. The Canadian operation consists of nearly 180 stores and employs over 35,000 people in Canada. Home Depot Canada has stores in all ten Canadian provinces and serves territorial Nunavut, Northwest Territories, and Yukon through electronic means (Online sales). The Canadian unit was created with the purchase of Aikenhead's Hardware. Home Depot management has an ambitious plan to overtake its biggest competitor, RONA, which has about four times as many stores. However, some of RONA's stores are smaller than the typical Home Depot store. In terms of big box stores, the Home Depot has more stores than RONA, (not including other Rona banners such as Rno Dpt or Cashway). As of 2007, RONA pulled ahead of The Home Depot in total retail sales, due to aggressive consolidation efforts by RONA, combined with the loss of The Home Depot's industrial supply division, HD Supply, in July 2007. The Home Depot now faces competition from Lowe's as they have moved into the Canadian market effective the end of 2007; Lowe's first sixteen Canadian outlets are all located in Ontario. The Home Depot banner in Quebec, where it has 22 stores, reads "Home Depot" without the definite article "the" in order to ensure a more cross-compatible proper name (that does not read like an English sentence) between both the French and English languages. However, Depot is still in English and not in French, which would be Dpt.

[edit]Mexico

The Home Depot store in Mexico City, Mexico

The Home Depot, the world's largest home improvement retailer, currently operates more than 85 stores in Mexico and has become one of the largest retailers in Mexico since it entered the market in 2001. The Home Depot increased its presence in Mexico in 2004, with the acquisition of Home Mart, the second largest Mexican home improvement retailer.

The Home Depot Mexico employs more than 7,100 associates throughout the country and has an annual growth rate of 10 percent.[36]

[edit]China
In December 2006, the Home Depot announced its acquisition of the Chinese home improvement retailer The Home Way.[37] The acquisition gave the Home Depot an immediate presence in China, with 12 stores in six cities. Beginning of April, 2011, Home Depot recently shut its last Beijing store, the fifth Home Depot to close in China in the past two years.

[edit]United

Kingdom

There have been reports that the Home Depot is interested in acquiring B&Q, the largest DIY retailer in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland and China. Speculation of a takeover began in 1999 when the retailer Asda was purchased by Wal-Mart. The Home Depot will have to acquire Kingfisher plc, B&Q's parent company, to acquire B&Q. Kingfisher consists of several European DIY chains, however the Home Depot is only interested in B&Q operations and says that it will dispose of the Castorama chain which operates in France, Italy, Poland andRussia. Several talks have not yet resulted in a takeover deal.[38][39][40][41]

[edit]South

America

In 1997, Home Depot entered the Chilean and Argentine markets. While the venture was viewed with great optimism by founders Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank,[42] it eventually proved unprofitable. In October 2001, Chilean partners Falabella bought out Home Depot's share of the five Chilean Home Center stores and rebranded them Sodimac. The company has since expanded across South America very profitably and successfully. Argentina's Home Depots were bought out by Chilean company Hipermercados Jumbo and rebranded Easy stores, a company that has also expanded across South America.

[edit]Labor

union policies

In 2004, Home Depot workers at a suburban Detroit store in Harper Woods, Michigan, rejected a bid to be represented by a labor union, voting 115 to 42 against joining the United Food and Commercial Workers. If the union had won, the Michigan store would have been the first Home Depot to have union representation. [43] In October 2008 (although he no longer has anything to do with the company), co-founder Bernie Marcus called the Employee Free Choice Act "the demise of a civilization".[44]

[edit]Controversy [edit]Whistleblower

case

The Home Depot was embroiled in whistleblower litigation brought under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) law. In July 2005, former employee Michael Davis, represented by attorney Mark D. Schwartzfiled a whistleblower

lawsuit against the Home Depot, alleging that his discharge was in retaliation for refusing to make unwarranted backcharges against vendors. Davis alleges that the Home Depot forced its employees to meet a set quota of backcharges to cover damaged or defective merchandise, forcing employees to make chargebacks to vendors for merchandise that was undamaged and not defective. The Home Depot alleges that it fired Davis for repeatedly failing to show up for work. The trial initially was concluded in June 2006, but in April 2007, U.S. Department of Labor Judge Pamela Lakes Wood ordered the case reopened after the Home Depot's law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld revealed that the retail giant's in-house counsel had told them that two Home Depot employees who testified at the trial had lied. Akin Gump sent Wood a letter on September 29, 2006, in which the law firm requested that the testimony be stricken. In response to Akin Gump's revelation, Davis' attorney Mark D. Schwartz asked for the case to be reopened to permit further questioning of the witnesses. On April 6, 2007, Wood ordered the case to be reopened. Schwartz was quoted by the New York Post as saying, "I have reason to believe these witnesses were intimidated into giving false testimony." The Home Depot called Schwartz's allegations "meritless."[45] Home Depot has settled the dispute in a stipulation of settlement dated March 28, 2008. In the settlement, Home Depot changed some of its corporate governance provisions. Home Depot also agreed to pay the plaintiff's counsel $6 million in cash and $8.5 million in common stock.[46]

[edit]Support

for LGBT causes

Home Depot has been the subject of an American Family Association-led boycott because it has sponsored gay pride festivals.[47] AFA director of special projects Randy Sharp said, "Home Depot should be like a lot of Fortune 500 companies and simply remain neutral in the culture war -- don't give money, don't give vehicles, don't lend employee support to homosexual activities on Main Street USA."[48] The Human Rights Campaign thanked "a group of dedicated HRC Partners", including Home Depot, for providing the resources necessary to help pass the New York State gay marriage bill. The Home Depot says on its web site that they are "honored to say we support" HRC and other LGBT advocacy groups.[49]

[edit]Tilt

up construction design of stores

In the wake of the 2011 Joplin tornado in which the walls of a Home Depot collapsed in Joplin after being hit by an EF5 tornado, The Kansas City Star citing engineers criticized Home Depot's practice of using tilt up construction in hundreds of its big box stores (other nearby big box stores in Joplin including a Walmart and Academy Sports which had a different concrete block construction lost their roofs but the walls remained intact). In tilt up construction the concrete is poured on site and lifted into place and then attached to the roof. The engineers told the Star that the practice while normally safe and efficient is dangerous in major storms because once the roof is lifted (as happened in Joplin) the walls collapse in a domino effect. Seven

people were killed in the front of the store when the 100,000 pound walls collapsed on them while 28 people in the back of the store survived when those walls collapsed outward. Only two of the slab walls in the Home Depot survived. In contrast 3 people died in the Walmart but 200 survived. Engineers noted that when concrete blocks construction fail, it breaks in pieces and usually not in huge slabs. Home Depot said it fundamentally disagreed with the Star engineers and said it would use tilt up construction when it rebuilds the Joplin store. [50]

[edit]References