Thanks, Ben! For posting my tip

Let's just hope they're better than CompUSA's.

Wow, I just sent a complaint to HD about an Indiana store yesterday. I didn't realize I had such clout.

I hope it isn't my HD though, I don't want those customer-avoiding, slack-jawed, layabouts popping up in other places I haven't boycotted yet.

Anyone have an idea of which Minnesota location is closing?

The Home Depot will close 15 underperforming U.S. stores that do not meet the

Company's targeted returns. The store locations are as follows:

-- #2015 East Fort Wayne, Indiana
-- #2032 Marion, Indiana
-- #2310 Frankfort, Kentucky
-- #379 Opelousas, Louisiana
-- #2819 Cottage Grove, Minnesota
-- #6901 East Brunswick, New Jersey
-- #6904 Saddle Brook, New Jersey
-- #6171 Rome, New York
-- #3702 Bismarck, North Dakota
-- #3874 Findlay, Ohio
-- #3865 Lima, Ohio
-- #4552 Brattleboro, Vermont
-- #4932 Beaver Dam, Wisconsin
-- #4933 Fond du Lac, Wisconsin
-- #4913 NW Milwaukee, Wisconsin

The Home Depot will close 15 underperforming U.S. stores that do not meet the

Company's targeted returns. The store locations are as follows:

-- #2015 East Fort Wayne, Indiana
-- #2032 Marion, Indiana
-- #2310 Frankfort, Kentucky
-- #379 Opelousas, Louisiana
-- #2819 Cottage Grove, Minnesota
-- #6901 East Brunswick, New Jersey
-- #6904 Saddle Brook, New Jersey
-- #6171 Rome, New York
-- #3702 Bismarck, North Dakota
-- #3874 Findlay, Ohio
-- #3865 Lima, Ohio
-- #4552 Brattleboro, Vermont
-- #4932 Beaver Dam, Wisconsin
-- #4933 Fond du Lac, Wisconsin
-- #4913 NW Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Wow, but guess I am not that surprised Home Depot is doing so poorly. In some areas, daytime contractors and weekend DIYers aren't enough to profitably cover the overhead costs to operate such a large store. From my experience, Home Depots are fairly dead on most weeknights.

@Jim: My complaint sadly did not close my store. :(

Great - a bunch of empty giant warehouse stores surrounded by weed growing ugly black parking lots.

Wonderful for urban environments - hopefully a huge 99 cent store or something will move in

james [www.futuregringo.com]

Sadly, consumers will not be able to take advantage of store-closing sales because no registers will be open, only one self-checkoutlane with a malfuctioning terminal.

Approximately 9 HD associates will be nearby talking among themselves.

Frankly, I wouldn't dare to treat shoppers the way HD does, not with dangerous power tools within easy reach.

@dmolavi: Cottage Grove, alright!

That one was just put up a few years ago and they're already tearing it down? It's only 2 miles away from my house so I'll have to stop by there.

They're closing one in Brooklyn, NY shortly as well. A Lowes is springing up literally next door. Needless to say my home improvements will wait until Lowes opens and Home Depot is a pile of rubble.

@jamesdenver: When all the Hechinger's (home improvement store) went out of business, the one near me was turned into a Kohls. Buildings can be reused.

Aw, come on...Vermont only has like 2 Home Depots in it anyway!

Will have to tell my mother - she is obsessed with the Home Depot and we live fairly close to Brattleboro.

@SkokieGuy:
Which do you think is worse?
Evanston, Niles or Devon/McCormick?

Although none of them is as bad as 49th & Western.

Good thing none of them are on the south, I mean where oh where would I pick up my Mexicans?!!

Searching in my zip code on Google maps brings up 10 7-11s and 10 Home Depots in my general area. In other words, there are way too many Home Depots!!!

@Invisobel, you're so wrong!..laughing.

@Greasy Thumb Guzik, I would say that the Devin/McCormick location is worse.

Wow. I must have gone to the Home Depot last week five days - bought some huge flower pots one day - pet cactus for my oldest the next, bought two parts for a toilet, the next day was some flowers and the next day was some weed killer. So, these closures, thankfully will NOT affect me.

The soon-to-be ex-employees of these closing stores are urged to fill out applications at their local "Homeless Depot".

According to HD, this will impact 1300 workers, somewhere around 90 per store. shit, i'm lucky if i can find one person in my home depot (there are 4 in my area). where the hell are the other 89?

@dmolavi:
Right here: [latarian.ytmnd.com]

They are putting the finishing touches on a Home Depot here in State College, PA. It's right across the street (literally) from a Lowes that was completed over a year ago. Funny thing is, the Lowes used to be located down the street, but when they discovered that a Home Depot was opening in the area (the next closest is 45 minutes away), they abandoned their current site and built the new store so that it would (hopefully, probably) lure people away from the Home Depot.

Now, because Home Depot lallygagged so damn much and couldn't get their shit together, Lowes has now established themselves in their new location and I think the Depot is screwed.

As a former merchandiser in HD, I saw this coming from day one for NW Milwaukee and Beaver Dam. Both are very new stores (less than 3 years.) Fond du Lac isn't surprising either(Menards is kicking their butts all around.) I doubt there will be much in the way of closing sales, most product will be shipped to surrounding stores (at least that's my guess)
Store #4913 was a moronic store to open from the get go. It has never been profitable. That store didn't have a rental attached which would have brought in much more business. Add to that, the former manager was horrible and their associates had pathetic customer service skills, and you get a pretty clear picture as to why this store was never profitable. Hell, I'd go in and customers would ask ME for help and I didn't even work there...
Next will be Lowes right down the street from #4913. It's dead all the time and their prices suck!

I live in Lima, OH and that location is definately near brand new. It is not older than 5 or 6 years, maybe even shorter. We have a Lowe's and a Menard's within a mile of the Home Depot that were already built and well established before they even thought of opening a Home Depot. We are only a town of 50,000 or so, how could they possibly spend so much money on a store where there are already 2 dominant competitors in such a small market?

@Raziya:
Not to worry. She can just go over to Keene like everyone else. That's probably what happened to the Brat HD anyway. Everyone goes there and asks a million questions, then heads over to NH for the same merchandise without the sales tax. That's the ones who weren't shopping the downtown hardware stores out of principle. Brown and Roberts FTW!

I am surprised there are not more than 15 closed.

How many folks really use the (mostly disabled) auto-checkouts?

How many HDs are within 15 miles of you and have completely-different floorplans?

How many times have you returned to find the item you bought within last 6-12 months is no longer stocked (Buyer went with different supplier/vendor)?

I've actually preferred Lowes over HD.
Their staff are nicer. The stores are brighter and cleaner. I've gotten better prices.
But for lumber, I go to a "lumberyard" as the quality is 150% better than HD or Lowes.

(Hey, housing sales down..so let's see some more Home Warehouses close...)

I don't see why there would be great sales. They can only mark stuff down so much before it would be more cost effective to transport the merchandise to a nearby location that is remaining open.

Never forget that the guy that started Home Depot's long slide is gone and currently fucking up Chrysler Corp. - Bob Nardelli. It was this douchenozzle that fired all of the good ,mature knowledgeable help after he took over and replaced them with the current tattoed,nose ringed, slacker zombies. Sales ebbed and have not recovered,so these folks will pay with their jobs. More to come, so get ready. At the HD in my hometown, there are never more than a dozen customers in the store while the Lowe's next door is bustling.The HD just seems to catch the overflow and even then , the customers become unpaid employees when they have to do self check out because no one will help them. (Another Nardelli brainstorm).

BTW-Nardelli took over $600 million dollars from that company from the day he was hired until the day he left.

Comment on Home Depot Closing 15 Stores It's their own fault. Lousy and abysmal customer service and overbuilding of stores hurt them. I won't be surprised if more stores follow suit.

Gil

The last time I was in Home Depot, (buying plants nonetheless), "Big Yellow Taxi" by Joni Mitchell came on over the speakers.
Oh the irony.
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot. probably not the best song to play in a home depot.

I'm surprised they're not closing any Michigan stores, especially in SE Michigan. You know, with all the foreclosed houses, negative equity, and that, who's remodeling here?

I agree on the dropping products after you buy them. My keypad died on a Genie Garage door opener and whoops they no longer carry it! I need that wired keypad!

Not to mention, why is all the wood crap? You should never by a case of it as some will always be cracked or busted.. I wanted a door and I had to go through 6 sets to find an undamaged one.

Dont even try to find help or get something cut.

The East Brunswick NJ one was killed by Lowes when they moved in over a year ago. It serves them right, they were a tiny location with little inventory and the same Home Depot customer service treatment.

@SigmundTheSeaMonster:
Lowe's charges way more for the same thing.
Last week the exact same item was $11.97 at Low's & $8.97 at Menard's. Both were sale prices.

Great. So now we only have 3ee10^5 stores left in NJ.

Seriously, I have like 10 in a 20 mile area around me.

I went to a HD store closing in Texas a few years ago. What they left out for sale (in a big open area - all the shelving was gone) looked like a scratch 'n dent sale. Obviously the stuff they didn't want to transfer to another store. Not to mention several dozen people standing in line to checkout.

When they closed the HD Landscape Supply stores, there were some decent deals to be had.

I thought Home Depot was on a hiring spree over the last year.

Over the last several years the Aces,True Values and third chain Do It Best have come into our area.Most are tired of having to deal with Home Depot.I still go there but I noticed their prices aren't that cheap.And they are often void of help.

And the newest Home Depot in our area all but forces you into the self check-out line:unless I get a discount why should I have to go through it.

::happy dance::

I hate Home Depot. They'd announced a new building in the town where I live, and after two years of waiting, they just now announced that they had 're-thought' the opening and would not be coming to town.

Yay! I much prefer local mom & pops.

It is scarey though.15 stores worth of employees loosing their jobs.

The week-ends are the only time our local Home Depot seems to be busy.I've even gone EARLY in the morning on a week day and it was dead.Even nights are slow,they're people thetr but it;s not like a few years ago.

So what happened to my boycott Lowes post?!? Man I hate censorship!

Lowes is building on protected Everglades wetlands, and the Consumerist doesn't care?... Nice...

There are two HD and Lowes in my town.

I drive past HD to visit Lowes.

BOTH stores.

Both of the HD have really sucky entrances. I hate having to drive through Waffle House to get to a lumber yard.

@Greasy Thumb Guzik: Yup. Lowes is WAY over priced.
Maybe it has to do with the region, but in WI, Lowes are often empty. They offer nothing over HD or Menards. I had high for them, but other than slightly better lighting and a cleaner store, they are identical to HD.

Lowes is higher but I notice their advertising has always been stronger.For a while Lowes here always had the cheapest mortar mix-at least at the low end.

In a bad economy Lowes will be in trouble unless they adjust.HD over the last 18 months has not been that competitve on price either.Very few sales at HD-just advertising.

@laserjobs: Mine actually resulted in an email reply, and a call from the store manager last night. A $25 gift card from the email, and a $25 gift card from the phone call, plus a new Tony Stewart hat (I mentioned in my complaint that I was actively in search of a new NASCAR driver to be a fan of so as to avoid advertising for HD - too bad I hate Jimmy Johnson, our Lowe's is awesome).

Anyway, we have found that HD is often even more expensive than Lowe's, which is usually much more expensive than Menards. The problem is, at Menards, it feels like a flea market. At HD, I'm paying a lot for stuff, but not getting any help. So we shop almost exclusively at Lowe's. We pay a little more, but people there go out of their way to help and can actually teach you a lot about whatever project you're working on.

I also have noticed that a lot of our Lowe's employees have been there for several years - one lady I saw yesterday has been there since 1995 when the store opened - that's a good sign. The new employees are guys who have been working construction/plumbing/etc. for the last several years and now do retail. Most of the HD crew was working at different places around town 2 weeks ago, and will be again in a few months no doubt.

I just heard about the HD stores closing. I work at one of the HD stores in NJ down the road from the one that is closing. I feel so bad for all those people who are not going to be having a job any longer. With cost of gas and food now people I know not having there jobs. So Sad..