LAYOFFS: Home Expunged
Submitted by advisor on Mon, 01/26/2009 - 3:39pm.
Home Depot announced today that they are closing ALL 34 Expo Design stores as well as YardBirds stores, Design Centers, and HD Bath effecting in total 7000 employees. This termination with extreme prejudice follows the May 2005 reduction of 20 Expo Design stores when 15 were closed and 5 were remade as Home Depot.
The concept of an all in one design center seems to be officially dead, and follows the relative failure of Sears' The Great Indoors.
Home Depot EXPO to close it's doors ...
After reading "JoBoxes" post, I made it my business to visit my local EXPO today and it was pitiful ... while EXPO was a terribly failed idea and deserved to die, it is quite clear that they are still a bunch of corporate greedy so-and-so's ... they are currently only offering an average of 15% off of floor products even though they say they have until the beginning of April to clear out the store, but what I hear from my local suppliers is that they uncerimoniously simply cancelled any and all order for which they had taken deposits, leaving many people with schedules projects having to go back to square one !!!After speaking with a number of the salesfolk I knew, it was rapidly apparent that since Home Depot has a "hiring freeze" in effect, they will not be absorbed back into the Home Depot workforce ... even though something like 90% of them came from Home Depot to start with ... so, in effect, Home Depot encouraged these people to leave their orange apron behind for the "prestige" of a black shirt to work in "high end" ... EXPO fails and these good people, who trusted in their employer, are now seemingly doomed to join the ranks of the unemployed !!!It is true that EXPO never trained their people ... and that's a shame, certainly not for those in the appliance industry, but moreover for those who EXPO leaves behind in the ashes ... what a despicable thing to do to people who were so very loyal to the "company line" !!!
Not so fast
I will not rejoice on this news. EXPO for it's many flaws(and boy were there many) was an excellent employer ,given the circumstances, that had many many good people who knew more than anyone would believe. I learned the foundation for what I've turned into a lucrative and enjoyable career from those very people and the culture they taught. They just refused to use those people intelligently, and for the most part when the had a rising star in the company, we got out experience and learned all we could and moved on quickly. I still have friends who will be out of work because home depot will never absorb their salary in a home depot location. The sad fact is that of those being laid off there will be a number of talented people who will be out of work in the very worst of times. R.I.P.
Expo Design Centers
Great stores , great concept. Just a failed business due to the economy. Too much high end "stuff" , not enough high end buyers. That can happen by the way. I miss the great environment and shopping. Comfortable concept.We get carried away blaming people , let's blame the circumstances around the economy this time. Even though Nardelli was odd.
Home Depot EXPO ...
So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedershen, Good-bye ...EXPO was simply a failed experiment which fell victim to the greed of the Nardelli years where trying to turn a profit was tantamount to customer service !!!I feel sorry for all those employees who were practically all re-treads from regular Home Depots (sometimes multiple stores), which makes it harder for them to be re-incorporated back into the Home Depot employee ranks ...The worst part was that EXPO never spent any time trying to train their sales staff to compete in the real world ... some of the manufacturers tried valiantly but to no avail simply because EXPO thought "who they were" but, in reality, they did more for their competition ... local appliances dealers ... because they were not allowed to bid competitively and depended solely on factory service for aftermarket problems ...Rest-in-Peace EXPO ... your passing was only a mater of time once Nardelli got hold of you !!! Cheers & Ciao !!! Bermuda Bob