Home Depot, the world’s largest home improvement retailer, on Monday said it would close its Expo home design centers, including locations in Columbia and Bethesda, due to the recession and housing slump.
The closing of the Expo centers will affect about 34 stores across the county and eliminate about 5,000 jobs. The company plans to cut another 2,000 support staff jobs. The 7,000 job cuts represent about 2 percent of Home Depot’s work force.
“The Expo business has not performed well financially and is not expected to anytime soon. Even during the recent housing boom, it was not a strong business,” the company said in a statement. “It has weakened significantly as the demand for big-ticket design and decor projects has declined in the current economic environment. Continuing this business would divert focus and resources from the company’s core ‘orange box’ stores.”
Home Depot said the closures would occur over the next two months.
The Columbia location is located at 6100 Dobbin Road, while the Bethesda location is at 7111 Westlake Terrace.
