Home Depot Maintains Forecast Despite Earnings Miss

The Home Depot is the world’s largest home improvement retailer and the fourth-largest retailer in the United States, operating over 2,300 stores across North America with approximately 475,000 employees[1][6]. It offers an extensive range of products and services for do-it-yourself (DIY) customers, professional contractors, and installation services, combining large warehouse-style stores averaging 105,000 square feet with a robust e-commerce platform featuring over one million products[6]. Founded in 1978 in Atlanta by Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank, former executives fired from Handy Dan Home Improvement Centers, The Home Depot was born out of their vision to create superstores much larger than competitors, stocked with a vast product assortment and staffed by knowledgeable customer-service experts[1][2][7]. After incorporating in Delaware in June 1978 and securing venture capital, the first two stores opened in June 1979 in Atlanta[1][2][5]. The company quickly expanded beyond Georgia, entering Florida in 1981 and California by 1985, and went public the same year raising over $4 million in its IPO[2][3][4]. By 1990, The Home Depot surpassed Lowe’s to become the largest home improvement retailer in the U.S., and in 1994 it expanded into Canada by acquiring Aikenhead’s Hardware[3][4]. The company innovated by launching tool rental centers in the mid-1990s and developing a comprehensive e-commerce presence by 2000[3]. It also demonstrated corporate social responsibility through initiatives like Team Depot, its associate volunteer program started in 1993, and disaster relief efforts after 9/11[3][5]. The Home Depot’s success stems from its strategic focus on customer experience, product authority, and interconnected retail, leveraging technology and capital efficiency to maintain growth[6]. Its founders’ legacy of resilience and visionary leadership transformed a simple idea into a retail giant that shaped the home improvement industry, continuousl