CHARLOTTE, N.C. — North Carolina-based home improvement retailer Lowe’s says it’s told approximately 2,400 full-time workers that they will be laid off.

A statement from the store said the majority of the cuts are at the store level, with other cuts occurring at distribution centers, customer support centers and vice presidents at the company’s corporate office in Mooresville.

The layoffs will be felt at Lowe’s 10 stores in Maine, with as many as 20 employees in danger of losing their jobs, according to spokeswoman Karen Cobb.

Cobb said said the layoffs will result in the reduction of between 1 and 2 assistant store managers per store nationwide, including those in Maine.

The Portland area stores are at the Pine Tree Shopping Center in Portland, in Scarborough and North Windham, and in Brunswick. There are also stores in Sanford, Auburn, Augusta, Bangor, Brewer and Thomaston.

All of Lowe’s Maine stores were built between 2005 and 2010.

The company closed its stores in Biddeford and Ellsworth in 2011.

The company said it’s providing severance and outplacement resources to displaced workers.

Lowe’s CEO Robert Niblock told employees in an email that the changes “will better align store staffing with customer demand, shift resources from back-of-the-store activities to customer-facing ones, and enhance our efficiency and productivity.”

Lowe’s also announced Bob Hull was retiring as its chief financial officer. Marshall Croom, who has been with Lowe’s for two decades, will succeed Hull as CFO March 3.

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