Courtesy of The Home Depot
One of the founders used to chase down unsatisfied customers in the parking lot.
- Home Depot first opened its doors in 1979.
- Founders Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank launched two different stores in Atlanta.
- Home Depot struggled to attract customers at first, but it ended up finding its groove.
Home Depot is one of the biggest names in home improvement retail today.
But the company didn't get that way overnight.
Jennifer Wyatt, Home Depot's company historian and archivist, spoke to Business Insider about the early years of the company. Wyatt has worked at Home Depot for over 20 years. She also assisted founders Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank in fact-checking their book "Built from Scratch."
Read more: Here's what Costco looked like when it first opened in 1983
She said that when Home Depot first opened in 1979, there was "nothing else like it at the time" in the home improvement space.
"At the time, if you had a big project, chances were good you'd have to go to at least two places to get everything you needed," she said.
The idea for a one-stop shop for home improvement caught on, Home Depot underwent swift growth, and the company went public in 1981. But Wyatt said that the early days of the business were a "struggle."
Let's go back in time to the summer of 1979 to take a look at the early days of Home Depot.