Lowe’s cuts 600 corporate jobs to refocus on store staff

Lowe’s trims back-office staff nationwide

Lowe’s announced on Feb. 13 that it will cut about 600 corporate and support jobs. The company said it wants to shift resources toward the store employees who help customers every day.

No store-level workers will lose their jobs. The cuts hit less than 1% of the company’s roughly 300,000 employees.

Lowe’s is based in Mooresville, N.C., near Charlotte, though the company did not say which departments or locations took the biggest hit.

Company says the cuts sharpen its focus

Lowe’s framed the move as a way to stay flexible in a home improvement market that keeps changing.

The company said it wants to put more resources behind frontline workers, the people customers actually see when they walk into a store. But Lowe’s left a lot of details out.

It did not name which departments lost positions or say when the layoffs take effect. The cuts only hit corporate and support roles.

Laid-off workers get some help

Lowe’s said affected employees will receive financial help, continued benefits for a period, and career transition support to land their next job.

The company did not give specifics on how many workers in the Charlotte area lost their positions.

That’s a gap worth watching, since Lowe’s headquarters sits just outside the city and corporate roles tend to cluster nearby.

Two big acquisitions reshaped the company

Lowe’s spent big in 2025 to grow its professional contractor business. It bought Artisan Design Group, an interior design and installation firm, for about $1.3 billion.

Then it picked up Foundation Building Materials, a building products distributor, for roughly $8.8 billion.

Those deals changed how the company is structured behind the scenes, and the corporate job cuts appear tied to that reorganization.

Lowe’s stays profitable through the shakeup

Even while cutting staff, Lowe’s is making money. The company reported about $20.8 billion in total sales and roughly $1.6 billion in net earnings during the third quarter of 2025.

The fourth-quarter earnings call lands on Feb. 25, and it could shed more light on how the layoffs fit into the company’s broader plans. Investors will also want updates on how those two big acquisitions are performing.

Home Depot cut 800 jobs weeks earlier

Lowe’s is not alone here. Home Depot cut about 800 jobs at its Atlanta store support center on Jan. 28.

Most of those roles were remote, with fewer than 150 based at headquarters.

Home Depot also told all corporate employees to return to the office five days a week starting April 6.

The company used almost the same language as Lowe’s, saying it wanted to move faster and stay closer to frontline workers.

Target trimmed 500 roles under new leadership

Target joined the trend on Feb. 9, cutting about 500 positions. Roughly 400 of those were in the supply chain, and about 100 were store district roles.

No store-level employees lost their jobs. The cuts came just days after Michael Fiddelke took over as Target’s new CEO on Feb. 1.

Target had already eliminated about 1,800 corporate roles in 2025, its first major layoff in about a decade.

Target needed to free up store money

Target’s deeper story helps explain the trend. The company has dealt with flat sales for roughly four years.

Customers had complained about longer checkout lines and messier stores.

The corporate cuts are meant to free up money for more in-store labor hours and better employee training.

That matches what Lowe’s and Home Depot said too: spend less on the back office, spend more on the people customers actually interact with.

Three big retailers follow the same script

Three of America’s largest retailers cut corporate jobs within weeks of each other in early 2026.

All three said the same thing: they want to redirect money from back-office staff to store workers and improve the customer experience. The similar timing and nearly identical language suggest this is not a coincidence.

It looks more like a broader shift in how major retailers think about where to spend on labor.

Retail layoffs surged through 2025

The retail industry announced roughly 93,000 job cuts in 2025, up about 123% from 2024. Retailers faced a tough mix of shifting consumer habits, rising costs, and uncertainty around trade policy.

The sector ranked among the hardest hit industries for layoffs last year.

That wave has carried into 2026, with Lowe’s, Home Depot, and Target all making cuts in the first six weeks of the new year.

Corporate and remote workers face growing risk

The pattern points in one direction for retail workers behind the scenes. Corporate, remote, and support roles at large retailers face growing pressure.

Home Depot ended remote work for remaining corporate staff alongside its cuts.

All three companies offered severance packages and transition support, but the message is clear: big retailers are rethinking how many people they need in the back office.

Lowe’s earnings call could reveal more

Lowe’s reports fourth-quarter earnings on Feb. 25.

CEO Marvin R. Ellison, who has led the company since 2018, has focused on growing the professional contractor side of the business.

That earnings call may offer the best look yet at how the two major 2025 acquisitions are performing and whether these corporate cuts are the last.

For now, Lowe’s joins a growing list of retailers betting that fewer desk jobs means better stores.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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