Lowe’s Closing 51 Stores

Following the onboarding of new CEO Marvin Ellis, Lowe’s (Mooresville, N.C.) has announced it will be closing 51 underperforming stores – 31 in Canada, 20 in the U.S. The closures span 13 U.S. states and five regions of Canada.

Ellis was previously CEO of JCPenney (Plano, Texas) until earlier this year, and his reluctance to close underperforming stores was regarded as the reason for his ousting, according to Yahoo! Finance. His swift action here suggests he now sees closures as an effective strategy to refocus a company’s resources.

As news of the closures broke, Lowe’s shares rose slightly as it was interpreted as a potential boost to its 2019 earnings.