

Lowe’s has also made a bold pledge concerning its carbon footprint, with the company pledging to reduce its carbon emissions by 40% in 2025 from the 2016 figures. However, despite the company’s efforts, a 2006 report by the Environmental Investigation Agency showed that the wood flooring used by Armstrong Flooring (which was being sold by Lowe’s in its stores) was being sourced from the rainforests of Indonesia’s remote Papua Province. In 2000, Lowe’s pledged its commitment to ensuring that none of its wood products were manufactured from wood sourced from rainforests.
IMAGE OF LUCIUS SMITH LOWE PLUS
The award recognizes contributions to reducing greenhouse gas emissions through promoting energy-efficient products and consumer plus employee education about the Energy Star program. On March 1, 2010, Lowe’s became the first corporation to win the Energy Star Sustained Excellence Award in Retail. It also won four Energy Star Partner of the Year awards within the same time period, for educating consumers about the importance of being energy efficient. Lowe’s has been a model company when it comes to the environment, even winning eight consecutive Energy Star awards between 20. Since then, it has continued to grow nationally, with the company stating on its website that it has more than 2,355 locations spread across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Lowe’s resisted the change to a big-box store when Home Depot first overturned the market, however, the company eventually had to adopt a similar format in order to survive. and the company finally started trading on the New York Stock Exchange in 1979. His five-person executive team took the company public in 1961 as Lowe’s Companies Inc. By the end of 1955, the company had opened six stores.īuchan died of a heart attack in 1961 at the age of 44. The following years were highlighted by expansions, with the company opening new stores in the North Carolina cities of Charlotte, Asheville, and Durham. In 1952, Carl Buchan became the sole owner of Lowe’s and incorporated the company as Lowe’s North Wilkesboro Hardware. Previously, the store sold dry goods, notions, snuff, horse track, groceries, and produce.īy 1949, the company had grown enough to buy a second store in Sparta, North Carolina. Under his management, the store shifted its focus to selling building materials and hardware. Ruth’s brother then took Carl Buchan, his brother-in-law, and Ruth’s husband, as a partner in 1943.īuchan cleverly predicted a boom in construction after World War II. However, she would sell it to her brother, James Lowe, the same year.

Ruth Buchan, Lucius Lowe’s daughter, inherited the business after her father’s death. The first store was opened in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, in 1921 by Lucius Smith Lowe, who found the business and operated it until his death in 1940. In this piece, we will dive into the company’s history, environmental record, headquarters, and notable trademark filings. The increase in sales was triggered by more Americans seeking to turn their homes into functional work-from-home spaces during the pandemic. Lowe’s experienced a massive boom in business when the Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020, much like its competitor, Home Depot. The company owns and operates over 2,100 retail stores, spread across all 50 U.S states and Canada. Lowe’s is the second-largest hardware retailer in the U.S., only beaten to the crown by competitor, Home Depot.
