Greg O wrote:


I would not be so quick to blame the big box stores of killing off
the Ace Hardware stores!
We have a hardware store here that was barely hanging on. The owner
figured it was time to either lock the doors, or fight head on with
the big boys, so he moved into a building right next door to Menards.
There is also a Lowes, Home Depot, Walmart ,and Target within a mile
of his store. He claims it was the best thing he ever did. When
customers get sick of buying low quality import crap with no service
from the big box stores they stop in and see him and buy quality with
service.

A friend of mine used to own an Ace Hardware. Wal Mart was moving in so he
went to Ace and asked how to compete with Wal Mart. Ace told him that the
best thing that could happen for his business, would be if Wal Mart would
build right next to him. It's not so much about the import products - Ace
sells the same stuff. It's more about the service, and if he propped up his
service to differentiate himself from Wal Mart, people would come. The big
thing was that Wal Mart would drive traffic. HD is doing very well these
days, despite the economy. Their customers seem very happy with the
knowledge within the stores. Not to suggest that their staff are expert
tradesmen in any area (with some exceptions, since they did make a program
out of hiring retired Master Plumbers and Master Electricians), but they are
quite knowledgable in most areas. They take a hit because someone with a
specialized knowledge delights in talking about how they stumped the guy at
the big box store, but... Not every employee is as qualified as each other,
and you can certainly find department staff that don't know a lot more than
to get you to the product in their department (isn't that what a store is
supposed to do...?), but on whole, you're really hard pressed to find a
department that is not staffed with a knowledgable person on any given
shift. Ace has the same constraints. Some knowledgable staff, some that
are just clerks and stock boys. As it should be.

--

-Mike-