Tuesday, the world's largest home improvement retailer Home Depot, Inc. (HD) announced that it will reduce its head count by 1000 as the company is closing down three pilot stores to consolidate its support operations, according to media reports.
The three pilot stores that the company is closing down are, a small-format store in Wilson, North Carolina, a temporary hurricane-recovery outlet in Waveland, Mississippi, and a clearance store in Austell, Georgia.
The reports said that the company has issued a memo to its employees, notifying that the job cuts are not a reaction to any broader economic pressures or the company's business performance. Rather, the job cuts are made to improve productivity.
Further, the company said that these job cuts are not expected to make any material impact on earnings or costs. The media report said the job cuts represent represent less than 1% of the retailer's total head count.
Among the 1000, approximately 105 job cuts would be at the company's headquarters in Atlanta. However, the company is planning to create 200 jobs in these locales, where the affected staff can apply for, according to the media report.
The Home Depot has 2,245 retail stores, employs more than 300 thousands associates, and had sales of $71.3 billion.
HD closed Tuesday's regular trading session at $27.73, up $0.11 or 0.40% on a volume of 13.28 million shares. However, the stock lost $0.19 or 0.69%, and traded at $27.54 in the after hours.
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