Our story on home depot nailed what the giant retailer does right, but hardly explored what might happen should the economy sour. Falling prices for lumber and drywall as well as procrastinating do-it-yourselfers were enough to hand the Atlanta-based chain its first quarterly profit decline since 1985. For the three months ended in January, the retailer was down 20%. Expansion plans are being cut. Vendors are already bled dry after years of Depot's browbeating them for gross margin gains. Arthur Blank, who graced our cover, quit as chief executive (and will soon leave the chairman's job, too) to make room for the new chief, Robert Nardelli, former boss at GE Power Systems.
展开▼
