Lowe's won't crow about home office improvement.

• Author: Speizer, Irwin
• Position: Tar Heel Tattler - Corporate headquarters moving - Brief Article

Time to play Find The Headquarters. Today's puzzler: Lowe's Cos., the nation's second-largest home-improvement chain. It was born in Wilkes County and has long claimed 1605 Curtis Bridge Road, Wilkesboro, as its corporate address.

But now it's moving its main offices to a 157-acre campus that it is building in Mooresville. Among those moving: the CEO, president and key marketing, finance, operations and merchandising executives. By December, the company expects to have 1,000 employees in Mooresville. Wilkesboro and North Wilkesboro will lose about the same number and keep about 1,700 mostly back-office workers. Lowe's also plans to change the address on documents it files with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission to Mooresville.

So where's the headquarters? Lowe's officials insist they haven't had one for years. The company says it uses a decentralized structure. "We really believe that headquarters can be a virtual thing," says spokeswoman Chris Ahearn, who is moving to Mooresville.

Lowe's might not acknowledge the obvious--that it is moving its headquarters--but local officials in both places...