The American DIY chain store, Home Depot, is shrinking in China. Home Depot first arrived in China in 2006 and expanded rapidly, however due to cultural issues Home Depot failed to gain a hold in China and is now taking its time in the Chinese market.

Home Depot recently closed five stores in China in Qingdao, Shengyang and outlying areas of Beijing and will keep four stores open with a focus on high growth cities such as Xi’an and Tianjin.

Frank Blake, CEO of Home Depot was quoted as saying “I don’t think we’re alone in having it take some time to figure out how to build a profitable business model,” Blake said. “We’ve said from the start that we’re not there to drive square-footage growth. We’re there to figure out a profitable business model and then move.”

B&Q, a British rival to Home Depot in China is also having similar issues in pushing the DIY lifestyle onto Chinese consumers, but one major stinking point is that labor is cheap in China so it is often easier and cheaper to hire a person with the relevant tools and experience to install doors, flooring and other household requirements. B&Q entered China earlier than Home Depot in 2009 but soon closed 22 of its 63 Chinese stores due to the economic crisis and poor sales in the Chinese market after expanding too fast.