corporation . lowe s companies inc. type public traded as nyse low s & p 500 component industry retail founded 1946 ; 70 years ago 1946 north wilkesboro north carolina 1 founder lucius smith lowe headquarters mooresville north carolina u.s. number of locations 1 840 as of march 2015 2 area served united states canada mexico australia key people robert niblock chairman and ceo products home improvement appliances revenue 56.22 billion 2014 2 operating income 4.792 billion 2014 2 net income 2.698 billion 2014 2 total assets 31.827 billion 2014 2 total equity 9.968 billion 2014 2 number of employees 265 000 2014 2 subsidiaries orchard supply hardware lowe s companies canada masters home improvement co owned with woolworths limited eagles hardware and garden rona website www.lowes.com lowe s companies inc. is a fortune 47 3 american company that operates a chain of retail home improvement and appliance stores in the united states canada and mexico . founded in 1946 in north wilkesboro north carolina the chain has 1 840 stores in the united states canada and mexico . expansion into canada began in 2007 with the opening of a store in hamilton ontario in early 2008 . lowe s started the construction of two stores in the mexican city of monterrey officially entering the mexican market in early 2010 . 4 in 2011 lowe s released plans to build over 150 stores in australia as masters home improvement over the next five years hoping to compete with the a 46 billion industry . 5 as of 2010 the chain is based in mooresville north carolina . lowe s is the second largest hardware chain 6 in the united states behind the home depot and ahead of menards . globally lowe s is also the second largest hardware chain again behind the home depot but ahead of the european stores b & q and obi . contents 1 history 2 corporate affairs 2.1 headquarters 2.2 organization 3 environmental record 4 advertising and sponsorships 4.1 racing sponsorships 4.2 all american muslim advertising 5 canada 6 australia 7 lawsuits 8 references 9 external links history edit this section needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . january 2011 learn how and when to remove this template message the first lowe s store lowe s north wilkesboro hardware was first opened in north wilkesboro north carolina in 1921 by lucius smith lowe 1879 1940 who had baptist background . 7 8 9 when lowe died in 1940 the business was inherited by his daughter ruth who sold the company to her brother jim that same year . jim took on carl buchan as a partner in 1943 . 10 buchan anticipated the dramatic increase in construction after world war ii and under buchan s management the store focused on hardware and building materials . 11 before then the product mix had also included notions dry goods horse tack snuff produce and groceries . the company bought a second location in sparta north carolina in 1949 . buchan and lowe differed on expanding the company to new areas and they split in 1952 with buchan himself taking control of the hardware and building supply business and lowe taking other joint ventures the two controlled including a car dealership . buchan became the sole owner of lowe s. in 1954 lowe started the lowes foods grocery store chain . by 1955 buchan quickly expanded by opening stores in the north carolina cities of asheville charlotte and durham . more stores opened through the 1950s . in 1961 buchan died of a heart attack at the age of 44 . 12 his five man executive team which included robert strickland and leonard herring took the company public in 1961 . 13 by 1962 lowe s operated 21 stores and reported annual revenues of 32 million . 14 lowe s began trading on the new york stock exchange in 1979 . 15 lowe s suffered in the 1980s due to market conditions and increasing competition from the new big box store chain the home depot . for a while lowe s resisted adopting the mega store format partly because lowe s management believed the smaller towns where lowe s mostly operated would not even support huge stores . however lowe s eventually had to adopt the big box format in order to survive . today most lowe s stores are part of the big box variety although some classic format stores remain in smaller markets . lowe s has since grown nationally as it was aided by the purchase of the renton washington based eagle hardware & garden company in 1999 . 16 it is now the 2nd largest home improvement store chain in north america and has begun expanding outside the united states starting with the southern ontario area . the first store outside of united states was in hamilton ontario at the intersection of barton street and woodward avenue . according to their website lowe s operates or services more than 2 355 home improvement and hardware stores in the united states canada and mexico . 17 corporate affairs edit lowe s 487 in chapel hill north carolina . a typical lowe s storefront in santa clara california . interior in orlando florida 2004 headquarters edit united states the lowe s corporate headquarters is located in mooresville north carolina . the mooresville facility the newest lowe s corporate campus is 25 miles 40 km north of charlotte and contains a five story 400 000 square foot 37 000 m2 building along with two newer seven story buildings . the building has a central atrium and two office wings ; the atrium houses a food court a five story spiral staircase and meeting and reception rooms . a 7 acre 2.8 ha lake flows underneath the headquarters building . lowe s former corporate office is based in wilkesboro north carolina . lowe s still operates a few corporate functions from wilkesboro . the building was formerly the wilkes mall until 1997 when lowe s bought the entire property . since then the entire 440 000 square foot campus has been remodeled numerous times and features a fully gated campus security gates and guards cameras and a food court . citation needed . it is also a smoke free campus . canada the headquarters of subsidiary lowe s companies canada ulc is located in toronto ontario and opened in 2006 . 18 organization edit lowe s is organized geographically into divisions in the u.s. north south and west regions markets and then the individual store . currently lowe s in mexico & canada each stand alone within their own regions respectively . it is decentralized . a lowe s store can have anywhere from 80 to over 400 employees depending on the size and sales volume . citation needed environmental record edit lowe s won eight consecutive energy star awards from 2003 to 2010 including four energy star partner of the year awards for educating consumers about the benefits of energy efficiency . on march 1 2010 lowe s also became the first winner of the energy star sustained excellence award in retail to recognize its contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by promoting energy efficient products and educating consumers and employees on the value of the energy star program . 19 in 2000 lowe s released a policy promising that all wood products sold would not be sourced from rainforests . 20 however according to a 2006 report released by the environmental investigation agency wood used in flooring that lowe s was selling had been coming from the forests of indonesia s remote papua province where some logging was estimated to be illegal . 21 advertising and sponsorships edit in 2006 lowe s partnered with designer marianne cusato to develop and offer affordable house plans for the hurricane affected gulf region . lowe s is the exclusive retailer for both the plans and building materials for the lowe s katrina cottage . they offer easy construction and affordability as well as the possibility of expansion . moreover they meet all international building codes and exceed hurricane codes . lowe s has a wide variety of television and radio commercials . a significant number of different racing inspired commercials can be seen and are often played outside of television race coverage . before 2010 when he was replaced by ben yannette gene hackman s voice could be heard on many commercial advertisements for lowe s. 22 in 2006 lowe s began sponsoring the radio broadcast booth of the new york yankees . frequently during every game yankees announcer john sterling stated we are coming to you live from the lowe s broadcast booth . lowe s let s build something together . . citation needed the tag line was changed in september 2011 to never stop improving . after claims that it was avoiding using the term lowe s began using christmas tree prominently in advertising . lowe s advertising has been a part of the christmas controversy in the united states . in 2005 lowe s signage for their christmas trees read holiday trees in english but read rboles de navidad christmas trees in spanish rather than rboles de feriados . 23 in 2007 lowe s started using the term family tree sparking protest from the american family association 24 but they have since claimed that this term was only a printing mistake . since 2002 lowe s has offered a discount to military personnel with id . 25 26 racing sponsorships edit the lowe s sponsored team of jimmie johnson s pit box lowe s purchased naming rights of charlotte motor speedway in concord north carolina in 1998 and the speedway changed names to lowe s motor speedway . after the ten year naming rights expired lowe s extended naming rights by one year . after the one year extension expired lowe s discontinued naming rights and as of the 2010 racing season the racetrack returned to its original name . lowe s is an associate sponsor of several speedway motorsports inc. properties such as atlanta motor speedway and bristol motor speedway . the corporation is the primary sponsor for 6 time nascar sprint cup champion jimmie johnson in the 48 chevrolet ss and it was a part time sponsor of the former 5 nationwide series car ; both teams are owned by hendrick motorsports . prior to the current sponsorship deal with hendrick motorsports lowe s was the sponsor of the 31 chevrolet for richard childress racing driven by mike skinner and robby gordon from 1997 to 2001 . prior to the rcr deal lowe s was the primary sponsor of the 11 ford driven by brett bodine for junior johnson & associates and later his own team brett bodine racing after bodine bought the 11 from johnson . one of the company s earliest forays into racing sponsorship was in 1979 when it sponsored the 2 buick of the rod osterlund team in what was then known the nascar winston cup grand national series now sprint cup for the talladega 500 . the car was driven in that race by david pearson subbing for injured rookie dale earnhardt . lowe s would continue with sporadic car sponsorship throughout the next two decades until the aforementioned bodine sponsorship in 1995 . lowe s also sponsors fernandez racing in the american le mans series and previously sponsored the team in the rolex sports car series ; in that series lowe s sponsors the 99 gainsco stallings racing pontiac in events where johnson is driving . all american muslim advertising edit lowe s withdrew its advertising from the tlc reality television show all american muslim in december 2011 . 27 one organization that criticized the show was the florida family association a fundamentalist organization on the christian right