Brief History Of Lowe's Companies Inc.

CHAPTER 1 – LOWE’S HISTORY Lowe’s started as a small hardware store by Lucius S. Lowe in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, in 1921. After Lucius died, his son James Lowe inherited the business and ran the store with his brother-in-law Carl Buchan until both of them were called away to serve in the United State Army during World War II. While they were serving in the Army, the business was ran by Lowe’s mother and sister. Carl Buchan was wounded and discharged from the Army in 1943 and then he returned to operate the business. In 1946, Buchan took 50% interest from the store and reorganized the store to be a wholesale style business that sold hardware and building supplies. Later Lowe returned home and they continued to operate the business. They opened a second store and also purchased an automobile dealership and a cattle farm. Few years later, Buchan sold his interest in car dealership and the cattle farm for the interest in the two hardware stores. Buchan predicted the boom in building after World War II and wanted to

and went public. Lowe’s was one of the world’s first retailers who used computers for inventory management since that time. By the end of 1960s Lowe’s Companies Inc. had expanded to approximately 50 stores and dealing almost exclusively with contractors and construction companies with sales around $100 million. During the 1970’s the market started to change, the cost of buying a home went up and a rise in the do-it-yourself market came about. Despite the change in the market Lowe’s Companies Inc. continued to expand their current business plan with the opening of 200th Lowe’s store in Indiana, in 1979. Lowe’s also introduced its Credit Card to customers at that time. At the same year, Lowe’s began trading in New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) with the ticker symbol “LOW” at $12.25 a share and more than 400,000 shares were sold on the first day of