The Home Depot to Hire More Than 60,000 Seasonal Associates Ahead of Spring Black Friday Rush

ATLANTA, Feb. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Home Depot®, the world's largest home improvement retailer, today announced it will hire more than 60,000 seasonal associates in time for the Company's second annual Spring Black Friday event.

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Like the traditional Black Friday that occurs the day after Thanksgiving to unofficially start the holiday shopping season, The Home Depot's Spring Black Friday marks the start of home improvement's busiest shopping season.  In preparation, the Company will hire and train new seasonal associates in every market during the month of February and March.  Additionally, The Home Depot will be adding net new permanent full-time and part-time positions to its stores for the second year in a row.  

"As we have stated in the past, spring is our Christmas and traffic is at its highest during this season," said Craig Menear, executive vice president for Merchandising. "Hiring seasonal associates and offering door busting deals will ensure our customers have all of the service, know-how and value they need as they look to take on outdoor projects to improve the appearance of their home."

Spring Black Friday will be implemented on a market-by-market basis based on climate by geography.  During four different weekends in spring, prices on hundreds of the most sought after spring products will be significantly reduced including: a variety of live goods and lawn care; outdoor power; eco-friendly gardening products; and patio and grills.

The Home Depot is the world's largest home improvement specialty retailer, with 2,247 retail stores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, 10 Canadian provinces, Mexico and China. In fiscal 2009, The Home Depot had sales of $66.2 billion and earnings from continuing operations of $2.6 billion. The Company employs more than 300,000 associates. The Home Depot's stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: HD) and is included in the Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor's 500 index. 

SOURCE The Home Depot