Home Depot Calls Off 50 Future Openings

ATLANTA-The Home Depot Inc. says it will no longer pursue opening 50 stores that have been in its pipeline, some for at least a decade, while closing 15 existing locations across the country. The move was expected given the ongoing slump in the nation’s housing market, including a slowdown in home remodeling.

The Atlanta-based home improvement giant reiterated its intention to open 55 new stores worldwide, including 36 in the US, through the current fiscal year while growing its square footage by approximately 1.5% annually, starting in fiscal 2009. At the same time, the company will record a $400-million charge related to capitalized development costs associated with canceled future openings, and reduce aggregate new store capital spending by $1 billion over the next three years.

“We will invest in our core retail business, in this case our existing stores, which drive our most profitable sales,” Frank Blake, chairman and CEO, stated in a release. He noted that the company’s total capital spending for the current fiscal year is projected to be approximately $2.3 billion, less than two-thirds of last year’s amount.