Do-It-Yourselfers hit by Housing Slump

Home Depot has announced plans to close 15 of its stores across the nation, but will keep its other 2,185 stores open. The stores to be closed are in Wisconsin, Ohio, New Jersey, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, New York, North Dakota and Vermont. The low-performing stores are being shut down as a direct result of the retailer being hurt by the slump in the housing market. In addition the Do-It-Yourselfers' Heaven has announced that it will only open 55 stores this year instead of the planned 100 this year. Apparently, the more homes that are foreclosed, or sitting on the market not being purchased, the less people are buying tools and toys to fix them up. If there was ever a motivation to fix the housing market this may be it. Where would we all be without Saturday trips to cruise the isles at Home Depot?