Broadlines & Hardlines Retail HD/LOW Spring Tours Yr 16, Wk 5: The Windy City Lives up to its Name; Northeast Looks Tough on MDW

Research evidence excerpt

Broadlines & Hardlines Retail HD/LOW Spring Tours Yr 16, Wk 5: The Windy City Lives up to its Name; Northeast Looks Tough on MDW

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

18 May 2026

Broadlines & Hardlines Retail

HD/LOW Spring Tours Yr 16, Wk 5: The Windy City

Lives up to its Name; Northeast Looks Tough on MDW

Retailing – Broadlines & Hardlines /

Leisure

Christopher Horvers, CFA AC

(1-212) 622-1316

christopher.horvers@jpmorgan.com

We continued our16th annual weekly spring HD/LOW cross-country tours Jolie Wasserman

last week in gloomy (and windy) Chicago, walking stores on Friday, when (1-212) 622-1961

jolie.wasserman@jpmchase.com

temperatures were in the high-50s to low-60s (vs. high-40s to low-60s last year),

Christian Carlino, CFA

with the sun peaking out later in the morning. The weather turned over the

(1-212) 622-9145

weekend, however, with the best weekend weather in the north central/east this christian.carlino@jpmorgan.com

spring. Overall, HD continued to lead from an absolute volume perspective, driven J.P. Morgan Securities LLC

by DIY strength (and relative Pro strength vs. LOW, albeit softer than prior weeks)

in addition to solid big-ticket trends. Bigger picture, DIY traffic outperformed Pro

at all locations we visited, with outdoor garden the busiest section across the board HD, HD US

(favoring LOW’s 70% DIY mix vs. HD’s 50%). That said, net traffic declined YOY Overweight

at 5/6 locations we toured (which we attribute to the unfavorable weather that Price (15 May 26): $297.51

morning, though we would expect a strong weekend). HD Geneva took the top spot

this year with the strongest DIY seasonal and overall traffic of the day.

LOW, LOW US

Noteworthy observations include: (1) Net traffic declines on DIY trends softer Overweight