Who owns Lowe's?

Lowe's is an American retail company that specializes in home improvement. The company operates a chain of retail stores in the United States and Canada. As of February 2021, Lowe's and its related businesses operated 2,197 home improvement and hardware stores in North America.

Lowe's is the second largest hardware chain in the United States (second to Home Depot). It is also the second-largest hardware chain in the world (second to Home Depot but ahead of Leroy Merlin, BQ, and OBI).

The first Lowe's store was opened by Lucius Smith Lowe in 1921 in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, under the name North Wilkesboro Hardware. After Lowe's passing in 1940, the business was inherited by his daughter Ruth Buchan who sold the company to her brother James Lowe.

James and his brother-in-law Carl Buchan ran the business together starting in 1943. In anticipation of an increased need for construction materials after World War II, the store shifted its focus to strictly construction, hardware, and building materials.

In 1952, Buchan became the sole owner of Lowe's, and the company was incorporated as Lowe's North Wilkesboro Hardware. Lowe's has since grown nationally, operating more than 2,355 locations in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

Lowe's purchased the Wilkes Mall in Wilkesboro, North Carolina, to serve as its headquarters in 1998. In 2003, Lowe's constructed and relocated the corporate headquarters to a 350-acre campus in Mooresville, North Carolina. It has still maintained its former headquarters, where 2,400 employees still work.

Lowe's has additional corporate locations in the following areas:

• Boucherville, Quebec

• Toronto, Ontario

• Indianapolis, Indiana

• Charlotte, North Carolina

• Albuquerque, New Mexico

• India

In 2020, Lowe's reported revenue of $72.148 billion. Lowe's has approximately 300,000 employees.