From the Archives: There's No Place Like Home Save and Economart – Depot Names that Didn’t Make the Cut

“You’re fired.”

Forty years ago, Home Depot founders Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank heard those two words from their boss at Handy Dan Home Improvement Centers (on April 14, 1978 to be exact).

The two friends met at a coffee shop in Commerce, California, and decided to create a home improvement store like no other: a one-stop warehouse for the do-it-yourselfer. The first order of business? Figuring out a brand name.

Before deciding to go with The Home Depot as we know it, take a look at what might have been: