On 11/8/2011 5:57 PM, Percival P. Cassidy wrote:
On 11/08/11 05:38 pm, Stormin Mormon wrote:

My small town Pro, I think it is. Hardware. Nice people, and
know what they are doing. The products are often 20 to 30%
higher price than the big box store, but for me it's well
worth it.

I went to my local hardware store/lumber yard a couple of times for
old-style moldings that Lowe's and HD did not have -- nothing fancy but
a now-non-standard size. Very good and not expensive. But I want there
again looking for a tool I could not find at Lowe's or HD or Menard's
and noticed a Stanley "WonderBar" priced at $11.xx. It was $8.xx at
Lowe's, and the one I had at home still had the Menard's $5.99 price
sticker on it -- bought not more than a year or two previously and
almost certainly when it was on sale for even less than the sticker
price. And all were made in China.

Perce

I used to stop at every small-town wood-floored ma'n'pa hardware I came
across, looking for NOS tools and hardware. I don't bother any more. All
the ones in my usual roaming range are mainly ladies garden tools and
lawn decor and kitchen knicks-knacks, with only a smattering of
blister-packed hardware and tools, at higher than borg prices. There are
still a couple that do window glass cheaper than the glass shops, and
have some old-style hardware for the older housing stock around here,
but the days of revolving bins and weighing out your own nails (and of
course the display case of guns) appear to be over.

--
aem sends....