Lowe’s at 50 Boston Post Rd, Orange, CT 06477

Lowe’s Companies Inc. is closing its store in Orange along with 50 others in the U.S. and Canada, according to its website.

The company said the wind-down of certain underperforming store locations will enable it to focus on its most profitable stores and improve the overall health of its store portfolio.

The closures include 20 stores in the U.S. and 31 in Canada. Most employees at these stores will be extended opportunities to transition to a similar role at a nearby Lowe’s store. The majority of impacted stores are located within 10 miles of another Lowe’s store, the company said.

“While decisions that impact our associates are never easy, the store closures are a necessary step in our strategic reassessment as we focus on building a stronger business,” Marvin R. Ellison, Lowe’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “We believe our people are the foundation of our business and essential to our future growth, and we are making every effort to transition impacted associates to nearby Lowe’s stores.”

Lowe’s expects to close the impacted stores by the end of the company’s 2018 fiscal year on Feb. 1, 2019. To facilitate an orderly wind-down, the company intends to conduct store closing sales for most of the impacted locations with the exception of select stores in the U.S., which will close immediately. Lowe’s has partnered with Hilco Merchant Services to help manage the process in the U.S. and ensure a seamless experience for customers.

The expected financial impact of today’s announcement of $0.28 to $0.34 per diluted share was not contemplated in the business outlook for fiscal 2018 which the company provided on Aug. 22 when it released its second quarter earnings. Additional details regarding the impact of the store closings will be provided in the next quarterly earnings release on Nov. 20.