Lowe's will close underperforming stores in the United States and Canada

Lowe's currently closes 51 underperforming stores in the United States and Canada.

The home improvement retailer based in Mooresville announced Monday morning it would close 20 stores in the United States and 31 in Canada to "focus on its most profitable stores and improve the health of its portfolio."

Lowe's said that American stores were closing immediately.

With respect to Canadian sites, Lowe's has announced sales for store closures and that all relevant Canadian sites are expected to close by February 1, the end of its 2018 fiscal year. Store closures should have a financial impact of 28 to 34 cents per diluted share, said Lowe's.

The majority of US stores close are within 15 km of other Lowe's stores, the company said. Affected employees will have the opportunity to move to similar positions in nearby locations. In the United States, none of the stores to be closed is in the Carolinas, according to the list posted on Lowe's website.

Lowe's currently operates 2,390 home and furniture stores.

It is unknown how many workers are affected. Lowe's said the employees of the stores concerned had been informed of the closure on Sunday night.

"While decisions that affect our associates are never easy, store closures are a necessary part of our strategic re-evaluation as we focus on strengthening our business," said Lowe CEO Marvin Ellison. in a statement.

Despite the strength of the real estate market that benefited the home improvement retail industry, Lowe's has always left its larger competitor, Home Depot, based in Atlanta.

To catch up, Lowe's has been striving to reduce costs and increase profits in recent years. Even in his first few months as new CEO of Lowe's, Ellison has taken a number of steps to improve the financial health of the company.

This summer, for example, Lowe's announced the closure of its Orchard Supply Hardware chain, which she had bought in 2013 for $ 205 million, in order to "focus on her core business of improving of habitat ". Orchard Supply stores – located in California, Oregon and Florida – and a distribution center by the end of the year.

Ellison has also initiated major reshuffles in the ranks of management.

Last week, for example, Lowe hired Seemantini Godbole, senior vice president of digital technologies and marketing at Target, as the information officer. Lowe's also removed a few important positions, such as Chief Operating Officer and Head of Customer, and replaced them with other roles directly under Ellison.

In an interview with The Observer last month, Ellison said he considered Lowe a "transformation" and not a "turnaround" like that of J.C. Penney, where he spent the last three years as CEO. The priority for Lowe's right now, he said, is to improve the "fundamentals of retail".

This includes, for example, retooling inventory to ensure that popular products are still in stock and that Lowe's eliminates unpopular products that accumulate dust on the shelves.

"In this transformation, we will first focus on the fundamentals of retail. At the same time, we will modernize this company from a digital and IT point of view and from a supply chain perspective. really a great company, "said Ellison.