home depot vs local lumber yards

RichP · Oct 6, 2004

Just got back from picking up some drain pipe and had to listen to the manager of the local lumber yard bitch about how much home depot has taken business away from him. Ticked him off a bit when I said 'is that business thats being taken away from you between the hours of 5 and 10pm and saturdays after 12 till 10pm and on sundays all day when you're closed and most homeowners like me NEED to go there because all you locals are closed'..... don't know if he got it or not... maybe the smaller ones can't match the size but they can match the hours. Man I do service calls on sat and sunday nites, whatever it takes...
OK, off the :soapbox: now

Sarge · Oct 6, 2004

*grin* I've had that discussion also. Being a sewer & drain tech I need parts NOW not Monday when they reopen. this dude was also upset cause they blow him away on faucet sets. Considering they buy in serious bulk and he doesn't, that's not hard to imagine. His faucet prices are twice theirs for the exact same thing.

Sarge

ACE · Oct 6, 2004

I know what you mean. We have a local ACE Hardware store near my home that I usually go to for small stuff. The closest Home Depot is about 14 miles away. For the small stuff like screws, or even sprinkler parts it's worth it to just go to ACE because in the quantities I usually get, it's not worth it to make the drive to HD. Beyond those little things though, my ACE hardware is about double the price on everything else. I bought a can of 3M spray adhesive for 16.00 at ACE, their last can, needed more so I went to HD and picked it up for 8.00.

I needed a 1/2" drill bit in a hurry one time and paid double for it at ACE than I would have at HD or Lowes. I don't know maybe that's the price for convenience.
I am all for supporting local businesses and do so for the most part but it is just getting tough to justify the extra expense.

RichP · Oct 6, 2004

To me the cost is not the big thing, the 'local' home depot is close to 30 minutes away, my time is worth more to me than saving a couple of bucks. While some stuff is almost double in price the quality is *usually* better. Some of the wood that HD sells I wouldn't use for kindling while the local yard has nice looking structural lumber that I've even used in furniture projects not to mention a pretty good selection of oak and other nice woods. To me it's somewhat simple, to compete you have to offer as much as the next guy and if building a 100,000sqft store is not an option but staying open and matching their hours is then thats what you do. Besides, from my days in a sporting goods store we made all our money on fishing hooks, bobbers, line, lures, swivels, cases of .22 ammo, $50 combo fishing sets and paper targets not on the $1000 fishing reels, $500 dollar rods or $1200 browning over and under shotguns.

Sarge · Oct 6, 2004

RichP,

True. I use Home Depot/Lowes for the bulk stuff and folks who want the "cheapest faucet/toilet/etc I can get" and the locals for others. I would be more inclined to shop the locals if they matched the hours of the big guys. I know a few of the smaller ones were at one time considering buying some items together in order to be able to present lower prices but the corporate office told them no. Quality-wise for me it's almost a match tho. The piping, glue, etc is the same. The toilets, faucets and such tho are often seconds it seems at the big guys.

I'm fairly lucky in that at most points within St Louis I'm close to either the big guys or the little guys.

Sarge

Cherokee91Red · Oct 6, 2004

I agree with the prices of the HD and Lowes and the quality and such of the local boys. I would rather buy something from a local store. But where I am now for school there are none nearby. And Lowe's and HD are about a half mile up the road.

azxjman · Oct 6, 2004

I dont know why your ace hardware is so expensive, the ones here are just like 2 or 3 cents more than Home Depot or Lowes. But alot of the times the ace hardware just doesnt have the stuff I need but I always try it first since its only 1/4 mile away then there are 3 HD and a lowes withing 10 min each.

karstic · Oct 6, 2004

I guess I'm pretty lucky with my local ACE hardware. THey have Sat and Sun hours and are competetively priced. Plus they have a lot of the small specialty items that HD doesn't have.

Scott Mac · Oct 6, 2004

I work for a medium sized drywall yard and we have two Home Depots and two Lowes within' 5 miles of us. I don't think they've hurt our business at all. If anything they're teaching consumers the value of service.

-Cheap
-Quality
-Service
Pick two. Most of the big box stores can usually get only one right.

crystalship1 · Oct 6, 2004

You are indeed lucky!!!

I love the fact that if you can find a local hardware the folks in there usually know what they are talking about as opposed to some pimply-faced 17 yr. old who couldn't tell a PVC tube from a tube of RTV!!! "Well, dude it kinda sounds the same"

karstic said:
I guess I'm pretty lucky with my local ACE hardware. THey have Sat and Sun hours and are competetively priced. Plus they have a lot of the small specialty items that HD doesn't have.

Cherokee91Red · Oct 7, 2004

Haha, PVC, or RTV, are those some new local bands?

Bloose · Oct 7, 2004

When I used to live in the city we had a really nice Ace Hardware near the house. They were big and had a lot of stock. Their prices were close to Menards and Home Depot and they had good hours. I went there all the time. Now That I'm out in the Boonies the local Ace is a joke. Terrible hours and no stock! I rarely shop there. Just nuts and bolts now. His prices are way high on everything! Too high to justify.

I hate to say but hours of operation are a huge draw for me. I get off work at 7AM and there are quite a few stores on my way home. The only ones open though are Home Depot, Walmart, etc. I really hate shopping at wally world but when I really need something they are on the way home and open. Target doesn't open till 8 and none of the 3 Ace stores I pass up are open. Car dealer parts departments and local service garages are very much the same.

B-loose

w_howey · Oct 9, 2004

I buy almost all my lumber from the Menard's that is about 20 miles from me. My local guy is about 2 to 2 1/2 times what Menard's charges.

I don't shop at HD or Lowe's anymore. I went to buy 150 12-ft. drywall sheets and HD and Lowe's were 15 cents a sheet cheaper than everwhere else(rental property, and landlord is a cheapskate) Lowe's wouldn't sell them to me, and HD expected me to carry all of them through the door to my trailer.

Menard's loaded them for me.

Our local ACE is about the same on most items as the biggies, they have some really bizarre stuff you won't find elsewhere, Unfortunately, all of the 17 year olds that work there are more interested in the fat chick running the paint dept. rather than actually being helpful.

Scott Mac · Oct 9, 2004

w_howey said:
I don't shop at HD or Lowe's anymore. I went to buy 150 12-ft. drywall sheets and HD and Lowe's were 15 cents a sheet cheaper than everwhere else(rental property, and landlord is a cheapskate) Lowe's wouldn't sell them to me, and HD expected me to carry all of them through the door to my trailer.

Menard's loaded them for me.

A drywall yard would have delivered them into the buildings for you.

Beezil · Oct 9, 2004

home depot can blow me.

support local independantly owned businesses!

and stay out of walmart.

Fergie · Oct 9, 2004

Beezil said:
home depot can blow me.

support local independantly owned businesses!

and stay out of walmart.

I am with Beezil on this one. Fcuk Wal-Mart.

I don't appreciate HD too much other because of their bid shopping encouragement.

Fergie

woody · Oct 9, 2004

We have a True Value -Burney's- a few miles from work (but 25 mi from home) that has all kinds of hardware, household stuff, tools etc...

There's another TV 15 miles from the house that has a competitive lumberyard (to lowes @ 25 mi) and it also has a NAPA and equipment rental too. Not nearly as much "hardware & other stuff" as Burney's

but for a 4x10 sheet of RBB wood siding tomorrow, I know they'll have it, and would deliver it if I needed.

I have lately been getting Jeeploads of block and mortar at the Lowe's though... since it's pretty much on the way to & from my work, and those are at the usually convenient end of the store.

As an aside, I also bought a small pile of tool junk at two different Sears today. A cordless drill kit at the local independant, but after work I had to drive a half-hour past the house north to the "mall" Sears to fetch about the same $$ worth of misc 'on sale' junk that the local didn't stock. I made the attempt to, and did shop the local guy... we've bought several major appliances & tools from them in the past. How many of you folks have NEVER been in a small Sears?

RichP · Oct 9, 2004

I'm 30-45 minutes from any of the HD, WM, Sears, Lowes, etc and would prefer to buy locally, saving me time but they are NOT open when I need them, they open at 8 and have the gates ready to roll shut a 4:55. Now figuring that MOST people work 9-5 and if you wanted that 'Most peoples' business I figure you would stay open till 7pm. By NOT staying open they are saying to me 'we don't want your business' OK, thats plain enough but don't bitch to me about the big stores, you may not be able to match the SIZE but you sure as heck can match the hours....I DO. I work alot of off hours to take care of my customers and not interfere with ther normal daily routine, I'm willing to do it, my competitors are not. Same with NAPA, I never even think of going there, noon time closing on sat, 5pm weekdays, useless to me. I just order on line if needed or thru the two local parts stores that stay open till 9pm, NAPA wants all the 'pro's' and their shops. OK, that works. I don't think I've been in our napa store in over 4 years, the last time was to get my krikit II tension gauge... besides my dodge dealer part dept is open two eves and all day sat, but he has to order almost anything for jeeps though he is getting better

We had a true value by us that was open on sundays for the past 18 years since we moved up here, open till 5pm, that was when the old man ran it, now the son runs it and does not even open on sunday, in fact all the hardware stores close at noon time on sat and don't reopen till monday.

w_howey · Oct 9, 2004

Scott Mac. said:
A drywall yard would have delivered them into the buildings for you.

I know they would have. But our local drywall yard wanted 20 cents a sheet more than Menard's. Not my building, not my choice, it was a supply job for a cheap ass landlord. I'm no longer in that business due to landlords. I couldn't take their crap anymore. I got tired of being nuked for spending 5 extra dollars for a faucet, on a 1000 dollar supply job.

w_howey · Oct 9, 2004

RichP said:
I'm 30-45 minutes from any of the HD, WM, Sears, Lowes, etc and would prefer to buy locally, saving me time but they are NOT open when I need them, they open at 8 and have the gates ready to roll shut a 4:55. Now figuring that MOST people work 9-5 and if you wanted that 'Most peoples' business I figure you would stay open till 7pm. By NOT staying open they are saying to me 'we don't want your business' OK, thats plain enough but don't bitch to me about the big stores, you may not be able to match the SIZE but you sure as heck can match the hours....I DO. I work alot of off hours to take care of my customers and not interfere with ther normal daily routine, I'm willing to do it, my competitors are not. Same with NAPA, I never even think of going there, noon time closing on sat, 5pm weekdays, useless to me. I just order on line if needed or thru the two local parts stores that stay open till 9pm, NAPA wants all the 'pro's' and their shops. OK, that works. I don't think I've been in our napa store in over 4 years, the last time was to get my krikit II tension gauge... besides my dodge dealer part dept is open two eves and all day sat, but he has to order almost anything for jeeps though he is getting better

We had a true value by us that was open on sundays for the past 18 years since we moved up here, open till 5pm, that was when the old man ran it, now the son runs it and does not even open on sunday, in fact all the hardware stores close at noon time on sat and don't reopen till monday.

I agree with you Rich. Our local lumber yard was open until 7pm Mon - Fri, and till 2pm on Sat. But if called the old man, he would come down and open up for you, for something special. He turned everthing over to his son, and now I won't buy anything there anymore. I order about 1500 dollars worth of lumber from there a month for work, and this kid won't even make a trip the whole 7 blocks from the yard to my yard with a load when I need it. I'm expected to wait until they are good and ready to deliver it, but the big boys, are willing to drop my stuff, when we open the front gate, the next morning after being ordered? WTF? Why in the hell would I waste any effort trying to shop local, when I am getting nothing for it in return. If the locals want to keep old business, or get new they can't continue acting like they did in the past. There are good reasons the Big Boys got Big. They didn't start that way, they responded to their markets, if a retailer is unwilling or unable to do the same, why should they be propped up to continue?

home depot vs local lumber yards

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