Atlanta-based Home Depot has purchased The Company Store, a 106-year-old retailer based in Wisconsin.
The company sells textiles and home décor products, a natural accompaniment to the kinds of home products sold by Home Depot.
Although The Company Store has five locations, the acquisition is not about bricks and mortar retail, according to Stephen Holmes, spokesman for $100 billion-a-year Home Depot. "It's about acquiring the capabilities."
The idea is to extend Home Depot's offerings online, he said. "In this case, their capability is in their merchants and their product development folks."
In fact, the agreement does not include the retail stores, none of which are in metro Atlanta. Three are is Wisconsin, one in Maine and one in North Carolina.
On its Facebook page, The Company Store says it produces LaCrosse down comforters in its hometown of LaCrosse, but also obtains other items "from around the world."
Among company products are sheets, pillows, towels, quilts, home décor, bed covers, blankets, mattress pads, robes and sleepwear.
At least for now, The Company Store will operate as a stand-alone web site, Holmes said.
The companies did not announce terms of the deal.
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