Home Depot store closing indefinitely after scary incident

Retailers have been fighting an uphill battle over the past several years.

Five years ago, Covid hit nearly every retailer hard. 

Related: Huge retail chain suddenly closing 100s of stores, no bankruptcy

The beginning of 2020 brought a series of challenges for which most retailers weren't prepared. Even the oldest or most robust brands weren't anticipating a pandemic that would bring brick-and-mortar commerce to a near-screeching halt. 

For at least a few weeks, almost every retailer had to scramble to figure out how to stay afloat. Some were better equipped than others.

Most every brick-and-mortar retailer was forced to shut down for at least some period of time, while customers stayed away and foot traffic went to zero.

This put a lot of strain on e-commerce companies, which suddenly saw a spike in demand for inventory and had to coordinate logistics and shipments across the U.S. as efficiently and quickly as possible. 

And once the world reopened, many retailers experienced something of a jolt when they had to quickly adapt to a completely changed world.

Interest rates rose sharply, making debt, growth, and recovery more expensive. And customer behavior had been changed forever.

Home improvement retailers are different

But some retailers were spared more than others. 

During Covid, many of us increased our time spent at home or around the house. That meant that many of us looked around and saw the projects we'd been putting off because of a busy schedule. Or maybe we just started to notice things that needed to be done.

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So when things slowly began opening back up, many Americans were far more likely to go into an open and sprawling big-box retailer like Home Depot than they were to go inside a crowded bar or gym. 

That meant good business for home improvement retailers. Between 2020-2022, Home Depot brought in record revenue. It added $40 billion in sales (a growth rate that had taken it nine years to achieve previously).

And the company continues to fly high; it made its largest-ever acquisition in 2024, buying SRS Distribution for over $18 billion.

Home Depot closes store

No matter how high-flying a retailer might be, however, there is always a chance that an unforeseen event can close things down again.

Such is the case with a Home Depot store located in Topsham, Maine. 

Related: Huge troubled retailer closing dozens of stores, laying off 100s

The store, which is located near other big-box stores approximately 15 minutes outside of Freeport, Maine, was closed on Monday after a fire broke out in the early morning.

Firefighters responded to a call around 4:25 am. 

The blaze was confined mostly around the cash register section. Officials believe it was caused by a battery that overheated while a radio was in its charging station. 

Smoke and water left much of the store damaged, and it will be closed until further notice.