Harbor Freight (arrogance)

Seems like there was difference in your Dad's clientele vs. the store you are talking about. Obviously he was selling the bolts (you said so) so it made sense to stock them. Your guy says you are the only one that needed the bolt that he didn't have (you said so).

Was your dad in the habit of stocking every one-off item that each individual farmer might come in for on a very rare occasion? Sounds to me like he stocked what was selling. Smart man.

Sounds like you are bound and determined to say I am wrong no matter what. We didn't make any money having a huge selection of bolts. We made money by keeping the customer in the store.

On 2/20/2022 1:15 PM, Bob La Londe wrote:

Here is a parallel. Home Depot comes into a medium size or small city for the first time with a very broad selection. They can't compete for personal service with the small local stores, but they can be price (if they want to) competetive due to their massive buying power. Because people can get everything they need in one store a lot of other stores go out of business or are forced to dramatically change. Then prices creep up and selection goes down. That seems smart for Home Depot, but customers start buying the things they need online because Home Depot doesn't have everything any longer. Then the customers discover they can buy everything online and cheaper. Who is the biggest retailer in the world? Amazon. Coincidentally they have the broadest range of products of any retailer in the world as well. Is Home depot going out of business. Not any time soon, because we still go there if they do have what we need and we have to have it today. They still have a broader range of product than any other local retailer in their range of products. We can still pay cash at Home Depot. They just don't have the range in each department that they did when they opened the store. Personally I think of Home Depot now as not much different from Harbor Freight. Unless I need it now and I know they have it in stock today I just don't go there, and if I don't need it today I can almost always have it delivered for the same or less. As a result they don't sell me the stuff they don't have, and because there is a lot they no longer have they don't sell me a lot of the stuff they do have either because I just don't check.

I sometimes wonder if Amazon would be what it is today if Sears had held onto their massive selection and transitioned their catalog department over to an online presence instead of shutting it down. In 1993 when they shut down the catalog department on-line services were just barely starting to reach beyond the computer nerds.

On 2/20/2022 10:52 AM, Bob La Londe wrote:

I'm probably spinning my wheels here, but I'll give it one last try before giving up on you.

Here is a parallel. Home Depot comes into a medium size or small city for the first time with a very broad selection. They can't compete for personal service with the small local stores, but they can be price (if they want to) competitive due to their massive buying power. Because people can get everything they need in one store a lot of other stores go out of business or are forced to dramatically change. Then prices creep up and selection goes down. That seems smart for Home Depot, but customers start buying the things they need online because Home Depot doesn't have everything any longer. Then the customers discover they can buy everything online and cheaper (all in one place sometimes). Who is the biggest retailer in the world? Amazon. Coincidentally they have the broadest range of products of any retailer in the world as well. Is Home depot going out of business. Not any time soon, because we still go there if they do have what we need and we have to have it today. They still have a broader range of product than any other local retailer in their range of products. We can still pay cash at Home Depot. They just don't have the range in each department that they did when they opened the store. Personally I think of Home Depot now as not much different from Harbor Freight. Unless I need it now and I know they have it in stock today I just don't go there, and if I don't need it today I can almost always have it delivered for the same or less. As a result they don't sell me the stuff they don't have, and because there is a lot they no longer have they don't sell me a lot of the stuff they do have either because I just don't check.

Musings for thought:

I sometimes wonder if Amazon would be what it is today if Sears had held onto their massive selection and transitioned their catalog department over to an online presence instead of shutting it down. In 1993 when they shut down the catalog department on-line services were just barely starting to reach beyond the computer nerds.

Then your story about the bolts didn't mean anything. If they weren't buying the bolts, they were coming for the other stuff he stocked. Are you saying that if your Dad didn't have a huge selection of bolts, the customers would have gone away?

I'm just trying to keep this straight.

Umm...I heard you the first time.

Because that's the business he's in?

Ok, I give up on you. Best of luck and happy life.

Interesting, relevant, and very recent story. A couple of weeks ago I was looking for insulation retaining wires to hold the ceiling insulation in my basement. The builder, of course, cheaped out and used about half what he should have, so working up there anyway, I thought I'd add them where needed. The only ones HD sold were 12". The joists are 16" OC but manufactured so there isn't 14.5" between them but 15.5". Even 16" wires wouldn't work. The next size up is

Anyway, HD didn't have any locally and were not orderable. So, Amazon is the next best thing. Two days later I have the wires in hand. Yep, they were shipped from HD. I guess Craig Menear and Jeff Bezos are golfing buddies, or something.

Could be but they've always had SSs in stock and, at least in the fall of 2020 they had all of the SuperMax sanders and at least six or eight lathes in stock, including three Laguna models, a Powermatic, and a bunch of midis of various sorts. There are two Woodcrafts in town. Between the two, they stock a good slice of the stationary machinery market.

I wish they'd get the back-ordered Festool accessories back in stock. I may be near Highland in a couple of weeks. They're usually good, though they're out of the Shaper 1/8" collet.

They seem to be dipping into the finance pool quite a bit. It's privately held.

Scandal and repeated financing rounds.

Well Sears would probably still be here to day had they not tried to stock every thing. You know the dead stock for the one customer that comes in needing an odd ball gizmo.

Well, they would probably still be here if they stocked anything people wanted to buy.

Unless something has changed, SS did not send the ICS models to Woodcraft except for a display model. When I bought and even relatively recently the ICS TS was shipped direct to the customer after placing the order with Woodcraft.

at least in the fall

Because of Festool's pricing structure if my local Woodcraft does not have the parts I order from Amazon for the same price with no shipping. For the past year the parts ordered through Amazon have been shipped direct from Hartville Hardware.

They had too much money tied up in dead merchandise.

Sears screwed up and did not see the future. If they did, Amazon may still be just a book seller.

You stocked what sold. If you had that store in downtown Manhattan would you still have it? You made money selling what people wanted to buy.

They were probably not big sellers at your store. Did you try HD on line?

I needed a 30# propane tank. My local Ace does not stock them but one

I wanted tile for a backsplash in the kitchen. Went to three tile specialty stores and nothing appealed to me. Waled in Lowe's and found one I really liked inside of a minute. Will be installed tomorrow.

One store cannot be all things to all people but Amazon comes close. One reason is what you found out, they are connected to other sellers like HD.

No, he's saying that some of what he stocked wasn't intended to make money, rather to keep customers in his store. It's not a lot different than BOGOs or loss-leaders. Get them an keep them, even if you have to sell some items below cost.

Similarly, the "supply chain" problems are throwing a monkey wrench into the gear-box for many stores and chains. People can't find everything they're looking for at their normal store so have to go elsewhere. When they get elsewhere, elsewhere has a good shot of keeping them if _they_ can keep inventory. Some are doing a better job than others. There will be big losers.

IMO, Walmart is going to win this battle. They have their own fleet of trucks and seem to optimize deliveries well. I've noticed that Walmart is the only store around with anything approaching stocked shelves.

Ditto employees. A closed deli or meat/seafood department isn't going to help keep customers. If they can't pay employees and treat them right, they're going to lose. Costco and Sam's will clean up.