How Arthur Blank, Bernie Marcus co-founded Home Depot after being fired
Before they were fired, the two men worked at Handy Dan Home Improvement, a regional company in Southern California. Near the end of their tenure, they had started testing discount prices at one location and found that “when they marked down items, volume increased and costs as a percentage of sales decreased.”
However, they weren’t able to develop their plan for Handy Dan.
In the late 1970s, Handy Dan’s parent company Daylin Inc. was struggling, so it brought in Sanford S. Sigoloff — who was known for “gutting senior management” — to right the ship. Even though Handy Dan was a successful branch of Daylin, Blank and Marcus were still fired.
So in 1978, the two men were out of jobs. What they still had, though, was their idea to offer low prices on home improvement products.
In Atlanta, Georgia with the help of Ken Langone and Pat Farrah. The company started with a vision of providing a store for do-it-yourself (DIY) home improvements. There were other home improvement giants in the market during that time, but Home Depot’s founders believed in their goal of becoming the best and this was what fueled their vision and mission.
They wanted to be different than their competitor and also wanted to be the biggest among them. Arthur Blank once said: ‘Bernie and I founded The Home Depot with a special vision – to create a company that would keep alive the values that were important to us. Values like respect among all people, excellent customer service, and giving back to communities and society.’
Sales for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020 were $32.3 billion, an increase of $6.5 billion, or 25.1 percent from the fourth quarter of fiscal 2019. Comparable sales for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020 increased 24.5 percent, and comparable sales in the U.S. increased 25.0 percent.
The Company operated a total of 2,296 retail stores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, 10 Canadian provinces, and Mexico. The Company employs approximately 500,000 associates.
Sources:
- https://youtu.be/JHb-gOac0nw
- https://businessideaslab.com/home-depot-history/
- https://www.foxbusiness.com/money/arthur-blank-bernie-marcus-home-depot-winning-formula
- https://corporate.homedepot.com/newsroom/news-release-home-depot-announces-fourth-quarter-2020-results
- https://www.gpb.org/news/2020/11/22/arthur-blank-on-michael-vick-bernie-marcus-and-how-hed-run-the-us
- https://readloud.net/