DAVID GREENE, HOST:

NPR's business news starts with an acquisition for Lowe's.

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GREENE: The home-improvement retailer Lowe's has reportedly agreed to buy Orchard Supply Hardware Stores. The sale price is expected to top $200 million. Now, Orchard is a California-based hardware and garden chain. It was once owned by Sears, and it's now about $230 million in debt.

If this sale goes through, Lowe's would gain at least 60 of Orchard's 91 stores, expanding its footprint in California and moving into a smaller-box format that many big-box stores are shifting to, as they try to compete with online retailers. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.