The Home Depot History: Founding, Timeline, and Milestones - Zippia (2024)

The following year they opened three Home Depot outlets in the metropolitan Atlanta area, adding a fourth outlet in 1980.

On September 22, 1981, The Home Depot went public on the NASDAQ and raised $4.093 million.

After The Home Depot went public in 1981, Marcus and Blank made a commitment to give back to the communities where their stores were located.

The Home Depot began to branch out of Georgia to Florida in 1981 with stores opening in Hollywood and Fort Lauderdale.

The following year the company added two more stores in Florida and posted 1982 sales of $100 million.

The Home Depot joined the New York Stock Exchange on April 19, 1984.

By 1984, The Home Depot was operating 19 stores with sales of over $256 million.

In 1985 the company's earnings fell 42 percent, and with the ever-increasing costs of opening new outlets--at that time it was more than $8 million per store--the company's long-term debt rose from $4 million to $200 million in just two years.

In 1986 Home Depot's sales reached the $1 billion mark, and the company was operating 50 retail outlets.

To curb The Home Depot difficulties it opened only 10 stores in 1986 with a stock offering 2.99 million shares at $17 per share that helped The Home Depot to restructure its debts.

Sales increased 38 percent over 1989.

In 1989, The Home Depot became the largest home improvement store in the United States, surpassing Lowe's.

Begun in 1991 and located throughout the United States, these stores have captured the upscale interior design market and further expanded the company's sales base.

An installation program for quality home improvement items, such as windows or carpets, was launched in 1991 called the EXPO with success.

In 1992, Home Depot launched its Olympic Job Opportunity Program.

Despite the continued health of the home remodeling market, the company's stock flattened out in 1993, as the firm began to saturate its market.

The Canadian hardware chain Aikenhead's Hardware was acquired by The Home Depot in 1994 for $150 million with a 75% share.

In 1995 Home Depot opened its first 24-hour store and published a book on home repair, the 480-page Home Improvement 1-2-3, compiled with Better Homes and Gardens magazine publisher Meredith Corporation.

By 1995, sales reached $10 billion while operating 350 stores.

While Home Depot examined the possibility of expansion both north and south of the border, by the following year plans to open outlets in Mexico had been put on hold, and the number of planned Canadian openings had been reduced to 25 through 1996.

By 3rd-quarter 1996 Home Depot had reported earnings of $221--up 26 percent from the previous year--and was ranked among the ten largest retailers in the United States.

Despite the losses posted to competitors in the do-it-yourself retail market, Home Depot's 9 percent increase in same-store sales in 1996 showed that, within the $90 billion consumer home improvement market, orange had become the color of choice.

HD Supply profile and corporate video HD Supply was formed in 1997 as the professional services division of Home Depot.

In 1997 Home Depot posted net earnings of $1.2 billion on revenue of $24.2 billion.

San Diego maintenance and repair supplies company Maintenance Warehouse was purchased by The Home Depot in 1997 for $245 million.

In late April 1998 Home Depot announced it had reached agreement with Canada's Molson Companies Ltd. to purchase for C$375 million Molson's 25 percent partnership interest in The Home Depot Canada.

That outlet was scheduled to open in the Chilean capital of Santiago in August 1998.

Atlanta-based company Apex Supply was acquired by The Home Depot in 1999.

Although some forecasters continued to shed doubt upon the company's ability to maintain its phenomenal level of growth through the year 2000, company management has remained confident.

According to Forbes, it is considered one of the Top 2000 Largest Public Companies in the World and one of the World’s Most Valuable Brands.

The "EXPO Design Center" division was reorganized in 2001 with three divisions based in the Northeast at South Plainfield, New Jersey, the West at Orange, California, and the Southeast at Atlanta, Georgia.

Your Other Warehouse, a large plumbing distributor with a focus on special order fulfillment, was acquired by The Home Depot in 2001.

The Home Depot entered the Mexican market in 2002 with the acquisition of the home improvement chain Del Norte.

Apex Supply and Maintenance Warehouse were rebranded in 2004 as "The Home Depot Supply."

In 2004, Home Depot employees 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.

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 2006, the Home Depot acquired Hughes Supply the largest home retailer in the United States for $3.2 billion.

The Home Depot Supply rebranded under the new name HD Supply in January 2007.

On January 2, 2007, the Home Depot and Robert Nardelli mutually agreed on Nardelli's resignation as CEO after a six-year tenure.

In the year of 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.

In 2012, they proceeded to close the big-box style stores that they had in China, however smaller stores that specialized in custom products and focused on more intimate interactions between customers and associates remain open there.

In August 2014, it was announced that Frank Blake would step down as CEO and would be replaced by 57-year-old Craig Menear.

On July 22, 2015, Home Depot acquired Interline Brands from P2 Capital Partners, Goldman Sachs' private equity arm, and the management of Interline Brands for $1.6 billion.

Interline Brands became fully integrated with The Home Depot in August 2016 with the Interline Brands website merging with The Home Depot website.

In 2017, Home Depot acquired the online presence of The Company Store from Hanover Direct.

Interline Brands was rebranded as The Home Depot Pro in 2018.

Atlanta, GA

Arthur Blank,Bernard Marcus,Pat Farrah,Ron Brill,Kenneth Langone