It's like back in the seventies when the Moonies came running up to you, all smiling.
I don't think I passed an employee that didn't say hello to me. Sheesh, I think I'll just go there on the days when I'm not feeling well, but don't need anything.
I ended up spending $464, and all we went in for were sprinkler plugs and wire nuts. Oh, yeah, took in a Eureka yellow POS $49 vacuum that was worthless. Wifey found a nice new vacuum for $200. Rang up at $229, and the manager came over and gave us a ten buck gift card.
It will be a long time before I hit the Big Orange again.
From April through June, Discover Card is giving a 5% cashback bonus on all charges made at Lowe's. (But you gotta be signed up for the 5% program with Discover Card to get it.)
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P.S. In my last trip to Lowe's I left after 15 minutes of waiting for an employee to come to the plumbing department -- even after two PA system calls. Yesterday in Home Depot I saw THREE employees that didn't have lines of customers waiting for service. I'm still partial to HD myself.
That sort of thing happens in every store at different times. Much depends on the area you live in as well as the individual manager. Sometimes HD has the advantage, a few towns over, Lowes is the better place. In most places, neither one is very good.
I tend to avoid HD when at all possible and prefer shopping at Lowe's. Actually I prefer shopping at local lumber yards, but those don't sell the other stuff I need.
I don't have a problem with HD because of the store per se, but rather the clientele. It's a entire store filled with soccer moms (and kids in tow), trendy 30 something couples, and clueless idiots.
... When a Lowes opened in Sunnyvale, CA, I eagerly went there hoping for some real competition to HD. Unfortunately, it was such a disaster that I will never set foot in there again. Each day a different person claiming to be the store manager would promise some corrective action, but not communicate it to anyone, or to the next "store manager". There was complete incompetence at all levels from the cashier up to the store manager. I could write pages and pages of all the screw ups and things that went wrong, but I will save my fingers and not. They made HD (which is not great) look very good. From what I have read here, I am sure that there are other Lowes that are much better, but not in Sunnyvale.
It already exists. We built a deck and I simply brought the bill of materials to the local mom & pop lumber yard and 2 days later there was a stack of quality material in the driveway. No sorting through piles of lower quality lumber hoping to find good stuff and the price was less.
I have to agree. I had a big deck railing project 2 years ago that the plans included 168 of the pre-cut spindles, as well as 2x10's for steps, & all the railing lumber - 2x8's 2x6's, 2x4's, 4x4's. All pressure treated.
I oredered the exact amount needed from Foley Lumber in Old Forge, NY.
Not a single bad board or spindle in the entire load that was DELIVERED free to the worksite two towns over. No waste, no leftovers. They have had my business since.
I wonder if this is a trend for the next decades. The big boxes ran the mom and pops out, and now, the mom and pops are making a comeback, and not even having to advertise or look for customers.
I wish there was a mom'n'pop left around here- closest we have left is 84 lumber, which seems to be down to pole barn and kit/tract house supplies now, doesn't even pretend to be full-line.
Isn't it a lot more fun to go to the Mom and Pop Hardware and Tack Supply Store?
You get to talk with Morry (insert the name of your favorite hardware geek), and he calls YOU by your first name, too.
He'll guide you to what you want, or a very plausible alternative. (Mainly because he knows his shit.)
And along the way, there's banter about the weather, what AlGore's latest is, or where the fish are biting.
Big deal that you went there for a nineteen cent threaded 1/2" PVC cap. You get ten dollars worth of entertainment.
Doing the same thing at the Borg is like running The Gauntlet. Parking 1/4 mile to the Sprinkler aisle. And then, at the end, the ONLY empty bin in the whole aisle is ..........
Guess What?
Yep.
Or you go to ring it up, and there's a half an hour delay because the SKU isn't right, and the pimply cashier won't take YOUR untrustworthy word that it's REALLY nineteen cents because he/she/it explains that they could be fired for ringing it up without a SKU, and that requires a manager's approval? (He's currently in back giving physicals to the new crop of female employee applicants.)
And when you need a part for a faucet that was discontinued 20 years ago, he'll tell you to go down the basement steps and look at the rack on the left. When you find it, there will be some dust on it, the price sticker has faded and you can barely make out the 79¢ it is marked and that is what you will pay in spite of the fact it is the last one in existence and would go for $25 on Ebay.
But maybe not all the time.... Remember when I was looking for a
3-prong surface mount receptacle? I found 2 of them at my pop store, but the price was about 10 dollars. I think they were 2 dollars until they stopped making them.
Followup: I couldn't decide whether to buy 1 or 2 of the things above. Two was going to be more than 20 dollars. I ended up deciding that I had finally found a place for those outlet strips that they started selling 15 years ago or so, about the time personal computers became popular. I have 3 I don't know what to do with, and found one with 7 outlets, 2 covered by the wall wart for the burglar alarm, 2 by the wart for the 18 volt siren driver, one for the sump pump, and 2 for the wart if I install a battery backup sumppump.
I still feel like buying one since they are so hard to find, but I have 3 2-prong surface mount that I turned into extension cords. I can always use one of those for most purposes.
I prefer not to know anything about my "hardware geeks" or any grunt who's selling me something and that includes waiters, used car salesmen, and anyone else who thinks he's my buddy. Calling me by my first name is even worse. My first name is reserved for my friends and peers; everyone else calls me Mr. [insert name], especially those with whom I have a business arrangement. People who call you by your first name are treating you as a child or other inferior. It's no accident that slaves were all called by their first name as were servants.
He knows no more than the grunt at Lowes; in fact his last job was at Lowes but he was fired for goofing off. Given the paucity of customers he can goof off much more often at the hardware store. Or, he's way behind the times and whatever you want "Doesn't exist".
Sheesh. I'm not the slightest bit interested in his views on anything.
My time is more valuable. It's exactly that sort of "entertainment" that did in the corner grocer and is probably responsible for the death of most of the hardware stores (at least the ones you describe). Someone has to pay for all that yak yak... oops...entertainment.
Oh yeah. No parking within ten blocks of the hardware store and even if you're prepared to walk you still have to drive around the block a few times to find a space.
Happens everywhere.
You could save yourself the half-hour by simply making sure the item has an SKU on it when you take it off the shelf.
The pimply cashier probably makes a bit over minimum wage. It sounds like you'd like the highly paid tradesman (who knows the prices) ringing you up. We had that back in the days of the corner grocer too and that's why we all go to supermarkets now.
And 10 blocks back to...oh, you have a truck... I guess you're one of those tradespersons who'd like the rest of us to pay for your gossip and having your butt wiped by the small business owner.
Location is a huge factor no doubt. Concerning the big-box versus mom & pop I have all three; Lowes, HD, and a HandyMan, with no more than 50 yards different on the distances (I could easily walk to any of them).
I believe each have their pros/cons but traditionally I gave the nod to the HandyMan for one main reason. CHECKING OUT! The big boxes never have enough lanes open, always have long lines and (for some freakin reason) require that you enter way the hell at this end of the building, but check out way the hell at the other end.
The exception to that is Lowes lumber area which has entrance, exit, and checkout all together. Not much help if I'm buying anything but lumber though.
What is really threatening HandyMan with my business lately is the fact that both big boxes have put in self checkout. Now when just grabbing that carryable bunch of small items they are just as fast or faster for me to get in and out. If this is a quick run in the middle of a project speed of in & out is my primary concern.
What's wrong with this picture. People who SUPPOSEDLY have a firm 401k program, lots of potential, lots of advancement, and a cement clad retirement if they stay 30 years bailing ship. When they see their CEO bailing with a $200 million + golden parachute.
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