Home Depot to Cut 1,000 Jobs, Close Three Pilot Stores

Home Depot to Cut 1,000 Jobs, Close Three Pilot Stores
January 27, 2010

Atlanta-based The Home Depot announced that it is cutting 1,000 jobs in an aim to centralize its support operations in the United States, according to The Wall Street Journal. The job cuts represent less than 1 percent of the retailer's worldwide workforce, and include about 150 positions at the company's "store support center" in Atlanta. Home Depot said it "expects to create 200 new jobs in Atlanta later as it develops a new retail-staffing group and a new employee 'advice and counsel' group, and some affected employees may be able to apply for those jobs," the paper reported. The company also announced that it will be closing three pilot stores, including a small-format store in Wilson, N.C., a temporary hurricane-recovery outlet in Waveland, Miss., and a clearance store in Austell, Ga. Frank Blake, chairman and CEO of the company, told employees that there were no plans to close locations other than the three pilot stores. "I want to reiterate that this is not a case of the company cutting expenses in reaction to broader economic pressures or our business performance," Blake wrote in a memo.

Last year, Home Depot began plans to centralize its human-resources structure, as well as plans to pool its finance operations and streamline real estate and construction functions, the paper reported. Home Depot also cut 7,000 jobs last year with the shuttering of its Home Expo Design Centers chain, and streamlining at its headquarters.