Home Centers

The Home Depot has begun its recruiting process for spring, the company’s busiest selling and hiring season. There are more than 70,000 seasonal positions to fill, the company said. 

The Caribbean island of Tortola in the British Virgin Islands is known throughout the world as a vacation destination with remarkable beaches and unbeatable sailing and diving.

For Micheal Thomas, the second-generation general manager of CTL Home Center, Tortola is also an island of home improvement opportunity. It is here where the company’s transformation from plumbing supply house to showroom to full-service LBM dealer and home center is under way.

Sears is turning its focus on connected home products through the rollout of its new Connected Solutions Shops, which present home automation technologies in a hands-on, immersive format to Shop Your Way customers.

Citing the hundreds of billions in sales projected to be made by the connected home industry in the next five years, Sears made its case for positioning itself as a leading purveyor of smart home innovations.

Plans are underway near Toronto for a project called "Improve," described as a home renovation mall with diverse showrooms under one roof.

According to an article in the Globe and Mail, the project is the brainchild of a Ukrainian immigrant who found it difficult to make all the purchases involved in his own home renovation project.

Atlanta-based Home Depot's wind-and-storm aided sales effort in the third quarter presented several category highlights, according to executive VP merchandising Craig Menear.

The company's strong third-quarter performance, which included a 13% net earnings increase and comp-store sales of positive 4.2%, included strength "in the core of the store" and growth in average ticket and transactions.

According to a report in the Washington Business Journal, Lowe’s plans to open in the Washington, D.C., area. 

The journal reported that the Mooresville, N.C.-based retailer will open a 130,000-sq.-ft. store in a retail development anchored by Costco Wholesale Corp. The project is reportedly being developed by Fort Lincoln New Town Corp.

Sears Holdings has tapped Arun Arora as SVP and president, Home Services, in which role he will take charge of the business unit's In-Home Repair Services, Service Contracts, Carry-In Repair, Sears Home Improvement Services, Parts Direct, Commercial Sales and Sears Franchise Businesses.

Home Depot will invest $157 million (MXN $2 billion) to enlarge its presence in Mexico in 2013, according to a news report in Economista. Part of the funds will be used to buy land for new stores, which will total 100 by the end of 2012.

Home Depot Mexico chairman Ricardo Saldivar told Economista that the Atlanta-based retailer hopes to double its current number of units in the future, which sets its goal at 200 stores.