Home Centers

Sales increased 4.2% at The Home Depot, the company reported Tuesday morning.

The Atlanta-based company posted $20.2 billion in sales for the period. The company's net earnings for the quarter were $1.4 billion, compared with net earnings of $1.2 billion in the same period of fiscal 2010. 

Encouraged by the growth, the world's largest home improvement retailer raised its fiscal 2011 diluted earnings-per-share guidance to an expectation of $2.34 for the year, up 16%.

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A 150-year-old lumberyard will be updated and rebranded as a Gillman location.

Lowe's Canada is rolling out an on-demand virtual reality skills clinic.

Lowe’s has signed an agreement with Microsoft Corp. to implement Microsoft Office 365 across more than 1,745 stores, 200,000 employees and its corporate offices in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Office 365 will help the home improvement retailer improve customer service by providing collaboration tools to increase communication among its stores and employees. The technology will be available for Lowe's employees soon and will help customers tap into the collective expertise of Lowe’s work force.

Ikea continues to grow its U.S. renewable energy portfolio.

The market on Friday cheered a move by Kmart parent company Sears Holdings to cut 700 positions from the appliance departments at 225 stores. Shares of Sears Holding advanced $2.67 on Friday to close at $74.03 after news of the layoffs was reported Friday morning by the Wall Street Journal.

Suspects are being sought by federal authorities for allegedly stealing $130,000 worth of merchandise from Lowe’s by smuggling it out in toilet and sink boxes, according to an article in the Seattle Post Intelligencer. 

With a little help from Nascar champ Jimmie Johnson's team of mechanics, Kobalt is launching what it calls a "new and improved" Kobalt Mechanics Tools line in June at all Lowe's stores nationwide.