Photos: Home Depot's history in Atlanta

Business

Home Depot's history in Atlanta

This Home Depot on Memorial Drive opened June 22, 1979. It was one of the first two stores opened in Atlanta by Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank, who were fired from the hardware chain Handy Dan.

Home Depot executives Arthur Blank, President, and Bernard Marcus, Chairman and CEO, visit one of their metro Atlanta stores in April 1987. "When you look at what Arthur and I have accomplished, today over 300,000 people are working at the Home Depot," Marcus told the AJC in 2009. "We probably lowered costs to homeowners by about 25 to 30 percent. We had more of an impact on the economy than any Congress since."

This early Home Depot photo shows one of the original Atlanta locations, located in a building that had been vacated by a chain store.

Besides their trademark orange work aprons, which bear the Home Depot associates' handwritten first names and sometimes even funny messages, workers are known for their "Homer" badges, presented to them for various on-the-job achievements. Longtime employees often sport numerous Homer badges.

Arthur Blank was featured in the January 24, 2000, issue of Forbes Magazine.

New York Stock Exchange Chairman Richard Grasso, third from left front, Home Depot Chairman Bernie Marcus, left center, Home Depot CEO and President Arthur Blank, center, and Co-Founder Ken Langone, right center, applaud after ringing the opening bell at the NYSE Monday, July 10, 2000, celebrating Home Depot's 1000th store.

This 1998 photo shows Garrett Hines, a bobsledder who participated in the Olympic Job Opportunities Program (OJOP) at Home Depot. Here, he is giving a demo of a push off of a bobsled.

"I would say for a period of about four to five years, we lost our way through the... CEO," Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus told the AJC in 2009. Marcus was referring to the December 2000-January 2007 reign of Bob Nardelli (above) as chief executive. Recruited from General Electric, Nardelli was the first CEO brought in from outside. Nardelli, hired to give Home Depot discipline and structure, was criticized for changing a culture that had been working. Nardelli left Home Depot to run Chrysler. -- Text by Rachel Tobin Ramos, AJC

Since the 1990s, Home Depot's corporate headquarters have been located in Cobb County, north of Atlanta, just off I-285 in Vinings.

Craig Menear is the current Chairman and CEO of Home Depot.

Home Depot has climbed into the top 30 on the roster of biggest U.S. public companies.The Cobb County-based home improvement giant gained five spots to 28th on the2016 Fortune 500 list, issued Monday. The move was powered by sales gains that boosted revenue to $88.52 billion last year. -- Leon Stafford, AJC

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This Home Depot on Memorial Drive opened June 22, 1979. It was one of the first two stores opened in Atlanta by Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank, who were fired from the hardware chain Handy Dan.

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