On Sat, 12 Sep 2009 20:06:48 -0400, aemeijers
wrote:

Larry Caldwell wrote:
I went to Lowe's today to pick up an assortment of materials; a 1 micron
water filter, a toilet handle, a tube of butyl calk, a gallon of Snow
Roof, a 3" self-closing RV trailer dump fitting, and a 3x2 curb mount
Velux skylight.

I ended up getting the toilet handle. None of the other items were in
stock. What kind of building supply store doesn't stock butyl calk?
Last month I went there looking for a quad 20 breaker, and they didn't
stock those either. The irritating thing is that, when Lowes built
their store, a local building supply went out of business, but I could
buy all the stuff at the local building supply in one stop.

Lowes and the other big-boxes only continue to carry what actually
moves. Stock carried varies by store, and they are very good at tracking
and predicting. They take their best guess when the open a store, but
12-24 months later, if something has sold only a few, or not it all,
they won't have it anymore. 80-20 rule. You mainly worry about the 20%
of the line that brings in 80% of your money, and fill in around the
edges with the rest. Most of us on this group have run into the same
problem. Stuff we used to be able to find anywhere is now an annoying
PITA to track down, and in many smaller towns, there is no longer a
full-line purveyor to the trade. Builders have to send a truck to the
nearest big city when they build a custom house. Lowes answer? 'Oh, we
can order that for you'. Yeah, right. You can build a house from Lowes,
but it'll be the most white-bread-with-mayonnaise cookie cutter you can
imagine, because that is what the bean counters have determined we
actually buy.

In my area, the Lowes stores lean more towards "home decorating" items
and HD leans more towards general building supplies.

You can get a front door, or a ceiling fan at HD, but Lowes will have
a bigger selection of nicer ones.