Lowes and Home Depot

S

SST55

Guest
Recent post in the podium got me thinking. No I didn't hurt myself.;)

I have 3 Lowes and 2 Home Depot's within a 15 minute drive from my home. RI is a small state 37x48 miles( yes I know, as my cuz in Hooouston John "he needed killin'" Harvey says his front yard is bigger) yet we have 6 Lowes and 7 HD's and they are all big stores. There's only a million+/- people in the state. We also have at least 5 big lumber yards.

It boggles my mind that there is enough business to go around. They say construction, new homes and remodeling, is slow? Not from the trucks I see leaving the parking lots loaded with lumber.

James FWIW I prefer Lowes. Better prices and quality than HD IMHO. Closest Aubachon is well over a hour away in CT.
 
Down here, in an area with around 500K residents, we have four Lowes and three Home Depot's. Quality is about the same; they're both big box stores selling basically the same items. I find the service at Lowes slightly better and the closest Home Depot is one stop light further to drive.

When I say the service is better, don't get me wrong. It's horrible but at Lowers, when you manage to chase down floor help, they seem to know slightly more than the kids at Home Depot.

I won't get into my theory on why the difference but James, SST, I bet you both will agree that the concept of customer service (at all types of stores) has changed drastically in the last two-three decades?
 
Around the corner from me I have a real honest to goodness hardware store whose staff is super. You want a left handed whozit and they'll walk you over to the shelf where they are and then offer you a choice of good, better or best whozitsesess.

When I was really heavy in doing the woodworking I bought all my hardware and finishing supplies, they even carried shellac flakes, from them.

Bought my water heater there. Paid slightly more but no aggravation factor and a better warranty. Also Sharkbite fittings are da bomb. :beerbang: If I have a choice I go there first. Free coffee too.
 
Not sure how many we have here, but the closest ones to my house are right next to each other, literally.

I prefer the HD over the Lowes here because of customer service. 90% of the time when you walk down an aisle more than once someone's asking you if they can help. At the Lowes, not so much. There you're lucky to find anyone in that depatrment at all.
 
SST55 said:
Around the corner from me I have a real honest to goodness hardware store whose staff is super. You want a left handed whozit and they'll walk you over to the shelf where they are and then offer you a choice of good, better or best whozitsesess.

When I was really heavy in doing the woodworking I bought all my hardware and finishing supplies, they even carried shellac flakes, from them.

Bought my water heater there. Paid slightly more but no aggravation factor and a better warranty. Also Sharkbite fittings are da bomb. :beerbang: If I have a choice I go there first. Free coffee too.
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What I would give for a real hardware store! We had an Ace Hardware franchise close to me but the guy who ran it was a complete putz and ... Well, I'm not sure exactly what his goal was in life but dealing with people, or hiring people who liked to deal with people, wasn't one of them. I'm not sure if Ace pulled the franchise or whether he just went bust but Salvation Army Thrift Store has the spot now. (Maybe inept customer service is a legacy of the site?)

Menard's, Lowes and Home Depot are putting the mom&pop home repair stores out of business.
Stores like Best Buy are putting independent appliance dealers out of business.
CVS and Walgreen's are putting independent druggist out of business.
Walmart is putting just about everyone out of business, and
McDonalds, Burger King and Arby's have many believing that they are actually restaurants!

Guys like James who have known me for years have no surprise that this rant. :)
 
John Galt said:
Down here, in an area with around 500K residents, we have four Lowes and three Home Depot's. Quality is about the same; they're both big box stores selling basically the same items. I find the service at Lowes slightly better and the closest Home Depot is one stop light further to drive.

When I say the service is better, don't get me wrong. It's horrible but at Lowers, when you manage to chase down floor help, they seem to know slightly more than the kids at Home Depot.
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I have one Home Depot and one Lowes close enough to me. Based on the few times I've been in each one, Home Depot seemed to allow me to get my mission accomplished the quickest. Probably just a location thing, because I always hear better reviews of Lowes.

On the other hand, there are three Aubuchon stores near me (a New England chain), so that makes my decision easier. I'll support the local guys before I go deal with the national chains. I only go to HD or Lowes for lumber, since Aubuchon doesn't supply it.

John Galt said:
I won't get into my theory on why the difference but James, SST, I bet you both will agree that the concept of customer service (at all types of stores) has changed drastically in the last two-three decades?
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Definitely. It's funny that people used to complain that employees wouldn't leave them alone when they go into a store, now you can't find somebody helpful to save your life. On top of that, how many times have you had to explain to somebody how to do their job when you're trying to pay and get out of there?

John Galt said:
Menard's, Lowes and Home Depot are putting the mom&pop home repair stores out of business.
Stores like Best Buy are putting independent appliance dealers out of business.
CVS and Walgreen's are putting independent druggist out of business.
Walmart is putting just about everyone out of business, and
McDonalds, Burger King and Arby's have many believing that they are actually restaurants!

Guys like James who have known me for years have no surprise that this rant.
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Nope, not at all. There seem to be enough people who see it that way, yet it never gets easier for the little guys.
 
Here in Palestine, the local place is a tiny little hole-in-the-wall called Braley's --- but if you want something hard to find, they usually have it.

Lowe's moved in about 2yrs ago --- not the big city size store, but they do carry a lot of what rural people need. Tractor Supply fills in the rest of farm needs.

However, when Lowe's moved in, Sutherland's moved out --- but to be fair, they just didn't have the space to carry the selection that Lowe's could.

We had an Ace Hardware, but they were on the outskirts of town and off the beaten path.

There is a McCoy's here also.

It seems like a lot of places for a town of 18,000 --- but this is the shopping center for the whole county.

Home Depot is an hour up the road in Tyler.
 
200,000 people here. 2 Home Depots, 3 Menards, 3 contractor lumber yards.

Menards is AWSOME compared to Lowes and Home Depot. I hate having to carry lumber through a store...Menards actually is a real lumber yard where you drive around back to get your lumber.
 
Here we have a Lowes and a HD right across the street from each other. I don't go there, though, as there is an 84 lumber about 10 minutes further up the road, and a couple of smaller hardware stores close by. Places like HD and Lowes exist only because price rules over all in the US. Been that way for years...
 
Gato_Solo said:
Here we have a Lowes and a HD right across the street from each other. I don't go there, though, as there is an 84 lumber about 10 minutes further up the road, and a couple of smaller hardware stores close by. Places like HD and Lowes exist only because price rules over all in the US. Been that way for years...
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But you can't get a gallon of milk, a pizza and eggs at 84Lumber:D
 
Loved reading this thread. Here in WS, we have two Lowes and two Home Depots. I personally prefer HD, but when it comes to tools, I'll take what Lowes has to offer. On the way home today, I stopped at my closest ACE Hardware store. This one is a great store with plenty of help that knows what they are doing.

The reason that Lowes, HD, Menards etc. are doing so well is because people recognize the name and usually the stores are in an area that is prime location. It's capitalism at it's best and worst. Yes, these kind of stores will take away business from the small mom and pop stores, but when you think about it, who's fault is that. To beat them, the small stores have to go way out of their way to outdo them and it's being done all over the US. And think of this, many times when the small store is doing better, the larger store offers to buy. That doesn't happen very often, but it does happen.
 
For construction lumber I've found Lowes 2x's to better quality than HD. For pressure treated I go to a real lumber yard. The same for plywood, that cheap chinese plywood is junk.
For "real" wood, oak,cherry etc I bought rough stock at saw mills and planed it myself.
I'll continue to buy and support the local guy, maybe a bit more money as I said but his drywall screws didn't break off or strip out the head half way in like the ones from Lowes did.
 
TexasRaceLady said:
Here in Palestine, the local place is a tiny little hole-in-the-wall called Braley's --- but if you want something hard to find, they usually have it.

Lowe's moved in about 2yrs ago --- not the big city size store, but they do carry a lot of what rural people need. Tractor Supply fills in the rest of farm needs.

However, when Lowe's moved in, Sutherland's moved out --- but to be fair, they just didn't have the space to carry the selection that Lowe's could.

We had an Ace Hardware, but they were on the outskirts of town and off the beaten path.

There is a McCoy's here also.

It seems like a lot of places for a town of 18,000 --- but this is the shopping center for the whole county.

Home Depot is an hour up the road in Tyler.
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Yeah, but you've got a Walmart Distribution Center there (where probably half of Palestine works?). Is that little truck stop still across from the entrance?
 
Bucky Badger said:
200,000 people here. 2 Home Depots, 3 Menards, 3 contractor lumber yards.

Menards is AWSOME compared to Lowes and Home Depot. I hate having to carry lumber through a store...Menards actually is a real lumber yard where you drive around back to get your lumber.
Click to expand...
I deary wish that we had a Menard's down here in L.A. (Lower Alabama) The ones I've been in, in Des Moines, Indianapolis and one in Wisconsin (Fond Du Lac?), impressed me.
 
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