On 2007-06-20 21:29:45 +0100, (dmc) said:

In article , Andy Hall wrote:
On 2007-06-19 11:07:46 +0100, "Dave Plowman (News)"
said:

In article ,
Andy Hall wrote:
Wickes is now owned by Travis Perkins, although it's demise would be no
great loss.

I don't agree. In many places it's the only competition to the
B&Q/Homebase duopoly (sp?). Round my way those two compete on prices only
where they are close together. Which with Homebase means different prices
for the same article at different stores. For basic stuff Wicks is often
the cheapest.

Builders merchants?

You have to be prepared to haggle though.....

Hassle, takes longer than nipping into wickes,

If you don't hassle people for a better price, you are giving them
money for no good reason.


I've never been all that lucky
getting the builders merchants to get as cheap as wickes (maybe I've not
been after the correct stuff).

On items likely to have significant cost either because the unit price
is high or because of the volume, I do do some quick price checks then
on visiting the merchant I know the price that I am looking for.
Generally I let them make the first price suggestion and then tell them
what I'm willing to pay. I'm honest about that and at least 80% of
the time they accept. It's a question of doing some business at some
price where they make a margin or not doing business. It's
competitive. Having a trading history does help as well.




Also, builders merchants are not open evenings or Sundays which are the
most convenient time for me and they also don't tend to have big displays
of things (handy for the "I want a thingy wotsit" type shopping trip).

I pick mid mornings and mid afternoons during weekdays to go to the
merchants; same thing for the odd occasions that I go to DIY stores,
slthough I may go to one of those shortly befor closing. I avoid
weekends at them like the plague - too many people browsing, wandering
about aimlessly and too many small kids running about and getting in
the way. They should be left at home.



I like wickes. Down here in Folkestone the other options are Homebase
(expensive and full of crap wicker furniture and lawnmowers) or the new
B&Q which for the few things I've looked in there for have been expensive -
it's not a warehouse one :-(

Given that situation, I would be looking at larger Castorama and Leroy
Merlin stores that are at least 30km from Calais.