Broadlines & Hardlines Retail HD/LOW Spring Tours Yr 16, Wk 4: Still Chilly in Boston; Mixed End to 1Q DIY But Setting Up Better for MDW

Research evidence excerpt

Broadlines & Hardlines Retail HD/LOW Spring Tours Yr 16, Wk 4: Still Chilly in Boston; Mixed End to 1Q DIY But Setting Up Better for MDW

J P M O R G A N North America Equity Research

12 May 2026

Broadlines & Hardlines Retail

HD/LOW Spring Tours Yr 16, Wk 4: Still Chilly in

Boston; Mixed End to 1Q DIY But Setting Up Better for

MDW

Retailing – Broadlines & Hardlines /

Leisure

Christopher Horvers, CFA AC

(1-212) 622-1316

christopher.horvers@jpmorgan.com

We continued our 16th annual weekly spring HD/LOW cross-country tours Jolie Wasserman

last week in moderately warm and sunny Boston, walking stores on Friday, (1-212) 622-1961

jolie.wasserman@jpmchase.com

when temperatures were in the low-to-high 50s (vs. mid-50s to mid-60s last year),

Christian Carlino, CFA

with the weather remaining sunny throughout the morning. Overall, as we

(1-212) 622-9145

seemingly always have written for the past 16 years, HD continued to lead from an christian.carlino@jpmorgan.com

absolute volume perspective, driven by relative strength in both DIY and Pro in Barath Rao, CFA

addition to solid big-ticket trends. Bigger picture, DIY traffic outperformed Pro in (1-212) 622-6547

4/6 locations we visited with Pro better at 2/6 (both HD’s), with outdoor garden the barath.rao@jpmorgan.com

busiest section in all but one location we toured (favoring LOW’s 70% DIY mix J.P. Morgan Securities LLC

vs. HD’s 50%). That said, net traffic declined YOY at the DIY-strong locations but

improved at the HD/Pro-strong stores. LOW Weymouth took the top spot this year

with the strongest DIY seasonal and big ticket traffic of the day. HD, HD US

Overweight

Noteworthy observations include: (1) Net traffic saw modest declines despite Price (11 May 26): $311.40

DIY strength and Pro bright spots at select HD’s.