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Why Did Home Depot Choose Atlanta?

David Rosenthal says Home Depot chose Atlanta for two reasons. Demographics in the Southeast looked promising, and the region was poised for lots of suburban expansion even in the tough climate of the 70s. California and the Northeast were already built up, while good real estate locations in the Southeast were still pretty cheap and available.

The second reason was a sweetheart deal from JCPenney, the big national department store chain, to sublease a couple of locations in Atlanta. JCPenney had started a Kmart copycat subsidiary. He thinks the copycat was Treasure Island. The subsidiary was in the Southeast, it was called Treasure Island, and the stores had great locations because JCPenney was a big national retailer with a great real estate team. The subsidiary was not working and was failing, so JCPenney offered the hardware startup four Treasure Island locations in the Atlanta suburbs.

The deal put Home Depot into suburban sites a big national retailer had already picked, in a region where land was still cheap and suburban growth was still ahead.

Grokipedia·Home Depot·Atlanta

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The Home Depot ·

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