The Home Depot's EXPO store on Davis Drive in Alpharetta, near the Ga. 400-Mansell Road interchange, will close as part of the company's decision to exit its EXPO business. This and other cost-cutting measures will cut 7,000 jobs, or 2 percent of its total workforce.
No "orange box" Home Depot stores are closing.
Company officials said the EXPO business has not performed well financially and is not expected to anytime soon. Even during the recent housing boom, it was not a strong business and weakened significantly as the demand for big ticket design and decor products declined with the economy.
The Alpharetta EXPO store will be one of 34 EXPO Design Center stores to close, with five YardBIRDs stores, two Design Center stores and HD Bath, a bath remodeling business with seven locations. Approximately 5,000 workers will be affected at these locations, their support functions and distribution centers.
"Exiting our EXPO business is a difficult decision, particularly given the hard work and dedication of our associates in that business and the support of our loyal customers," said Frank Blake, chairman and CEO. "At the same time, it is a necessary decision that will strengthen our core Home Depot business."
Restructuring support functions, including continuing to shift to a region-and district-based support model and reducing head count in administrative functions in store support centers, will better align Home Depot's cost structure. These support reductions will affect approximately 2,000 associates and will result in a 10 percent reduction in the Company's officer ranks. They will not impact any customer-facing positions in Home Depot stores.
All officers will have a salary freeze. Merit increases to non-officer associates, as well as earned bonuses and the company's existing 401k matching contribution for all associates, including officers, will continue.
The company will offer severance, earned bonuses and other benefits to all impacted associates.
"We're very fortunate that the soundness of our company lets us live our value of taking care of our people, even in this time of unprecedented economic hardship," Blake said. "These changes will make us a stronger company and will allow us to continue to grow associate employment over the long term to benefit our customers."
Labels: Alpharetta, davis drive, home depot, store closings
# posted by
Brian Vanderhoff @ 8:30 PM
