Lowe's announces plans to close more than 50 stores

By February 2019, the end of their 2018 fiscal year, Lowe's Companies Inc. will have shut down 20 branches in the United States, and 31 in neighboring Canada.

The company announced their decision from a North Carolina-based Lowe's yesterday. According to the Lowe's Newsroom, the intended result is to better the health of the store's portfolio. This by closing underperforming stores.

Employees will be offered a chance to "transition to a similar role at a nearby Lowe's store." This is facilitated by the fact that the son to be closed stores are within 10 miles of other Lowe's locations.

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Marvin R. Ellison, the president and CEO, spoke to the public:

"While decisions that impact our associates are never easy, the store closures are a necessary step in our strategic reassessment as we focus on building a stronger business."

He added:

“We believe our people are the foundation of our business and essential to our future growth, and we are making every effort to transition impacted associates to nearby Lowe’s stores.”

To improve the process, the company will hold store closing sales at many of the chosen locations. Others will be closed immediately without sales.

Lowe's is collaborating with Hilco Merchant Services to organize the shutdowns. They aim to minimize any setbacks for customers.

Source: YouTube/ RockstarFlipper

Several other long-running brands saw shutdowns earlier this year. One of them may be making a return.

According to CNN, Toys "R" Us is considering a restart to the business. They first canceled an auction to sell off name rights.

Source: YouTube/ CBC News

Then the owners revealed that they are looking into "a new, operating Toys 'R' Us and Babies 'R' Us branding company."

The international retailer went bankrupt and shut down over 800 stores in June 2018 after being in business for 70 years. Sadly, over 31,000 workers lost their jobs following the move.

Another retailer, Sears, showed plans to shut down more of their stores in June 2018. The American retailer said they would close down 72 stores as a result of online competitors.

After a 12 percent decline in quarterly sales, the company said it would be better to shut down underperforming stores.

Since 2017, Sears has closed down almost 400 stores. They now have 894 compared to the 2,000 figure it was before.