- Founders Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank struggled to attract shoppers to the store at first.
- Home Depot even ran a promotional stunt where it handed out dollar bills to Atlantans, but it didn't help.
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The founders of Home Depot originally couldn't pay people to shop in their stores (HD)
Home Depot got off to a rocky start in 1979 Atlanta.
Home Depot first store BMABlumber
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Home Depot wasn't an overnight success.
Sure, it's a practically ubiquitous national home-improvement chain these days. But according to Jennifer Wyatt, Home Depot's company historian and archivist, shoppers didn't know what to make of the retailer at first.
Wyatt has worked at Home Depot for over 20 years and even assisted founders Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank in fact-checking their book "Built from Scratch."
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When the first two Home Depot warehouses opened up in Atlanta in 1979, Wyatt said Marcus and Blank decided to lure in customers with a promotional stunt.
They shelled out $700 worth of singles to their kids and employees. The idea was simple. Approach pedestrians, hand them a bill, and invite them to "come spend a dollar" at the new Home Depot stores.
Turns out, local shoppers weren't tempted.
"At 10:00 that first night, they still had dollar bills left over," Wyatt said. "The early days were a struggle."
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See Also:
- Why Home Depot's cofounder chased unsatisfied customers through the store's parking lot in the retailer's early days
- 14 things you should always buy at Home Depot and 13 things to avoid at all costs
- Neiman Marcus has invested in an online secondhand luxury handbag store in its bid to woo millennial and Gen Z shoppers
SEE ALSO: Home Depot is embarking on a massive hiring spree as retail's war for talent rages on
DON'T MISS: Inside the career of Home Depot CEO Craig Menear, who spent nearly 20 years working his way up the ladder
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SEE ALSO: American homeowners are looking to spend an average of nearly $7,000 on their homes in the next 3 months and it's good news for Home Depot and Lowe's
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