Just scored a set of 4 "Two Cherries" chisels at the local Ace Hardware. I didn't know anything about them but thought the price - about $40 - was cheap enough for the risk. Googled them when I got home and found out this was a pretty good deal.
The reason they were so cheap is that the two Ace stores in town are selling everything off and packing up. One is already closed - all inventory moved to the second store. Second store will be gone by the end of the month. There's a Harbor Freight across the street, and a Wal Mart down the block. The store across town had a Lowes, a Home Depot, and a Wal Mart to compete with. We've done literally thousands of dollars (maybe tens of thousands) in the past two years from the research project I'm working on. I hate to see the folks go; they've become friends. They always greet us by name when we come in, and willing to help, even with special order items. At other "big box" stores, we just get blank looks - *when* you can find someone. They've had a lot of stuff we needed: everything from nuts and bolts, to pumps, paint, electrical hardware, and on and on. I guess we helped put them in the red. Every time we would come in, they would fire up the popcorn machine and make us a fresh batch. I always left with four or five small paper sacks of popcorn to bring back to the ladies in the office or students. I understand you have to keep your business model cutting edge to stay in business, but I really hate to see them shut down. Anyone interested in a good business investment?