Home Depot sets record for new openings

On 7 February Home Depot simultaneously opened 17 new stores, including 4 in Indianapolis, a new market. It was the largest one-day store opening in its 23 year history, and added 3 000 employees in the process. It expects to hire 40 000 employees this year to fuel its new-store openings. Those openings included 3 new one-store markets: Glairsville, GA; Lewiston, Idaho; Fergus Falls, Minnesota. Its growth plans (200 stores this year) means the firm is opening a new store every 43 hours, a spokesman noted. Last year, generating $45.7 billion in sales, its 250 000 employees averaged nearly $183 000 in sales per employee. The company is now the third largest of all U.S. retailers. The company currently operates a total of 1 350 stores in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico, including 41 Expo Design Centers.