DMPED: June 6, 2002 - Press Release

(Washington, DC) The first Home Depot store in the District opened for business today at 6 am. Located at 901 Brentwood Road, NE, the new store anchors the development of the Rhode Island Place Shopping Center, which later in the year, will also be home to the Giant Food Store. Mayor Anthony A. Williams and John Wicks, Home Depot division president, officially opened the new Home Depot at 10 am with a ceremonial board-cutting.

"Today's grand opening shows Home Depot's commitment to bringing retail and commercial services to the District," said Mayor Williams. "This new development is good for our citizens, good for our neighborhoods and good for businesses like the Home Depot that know an untapped market when they see it."

The development of the Rhode Island Place Shopping Center has stimulated further economic growth in the Brentwood neighborhood. A proposal to bring an additional 65,000 square feet of retail and 270 units of rental housing to what is now the parking lot at the Rhode Island Avenue Metro station is in the early development stages.

"We're delighted to be opening a store in Washington, DC," said Wicks. "Our market surveys indicate that the District of Columbia - and specifically the Brentwood community - is underserved in the home improvement retail category. This store will reclaim for Washington, DC tens of millions of dollars in sales that rightly belong in the District. Money earned in Washington, DC will now be spent in Washington, DC."

The new Washington, DC store will continue The Home Depot's strong tradition of giving back to the communities it serves. During the grand opening ceremony, The Home Depot presented donations of $5,000 each to the ARCH Training Center's YouthBuild program, and to Manna, Inc., a nonprofit community development organization.

According to Eric Price, Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, commercial development and revitalization is taking place in every corner of the District. "Today we are seeing the results of the first shopping center in the District to be developed in over 20 years," said Price. "It is appropriate that this is a 'home improvement' store because the Williams administration is committed to expanding economic development and affordable homeownership opportunities for people throughout every ward in the city."

Founded in 1978, The Home Depot is the world's largest home improvement specialty retailer and the second largest retailer in the United States, with fiscal 2001 sales of $53.6 billion. The company employs more than 296,000 associates and has 1,404 stores in 49 states, Puerto Rico, seven Canadian provinces, and Mexico. The company for the second year in a row was named sixth most admired company in America by Fortune magazine, which has also ranked it as America's Most Admired Specialty Retailer for eight consecutive years. Its 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.