On Mon, 07 Jul 2014 19:32:23 -0400, Ed Pawlowski wrote:

On 7/7/2014 4:29 PM, Mike Marlow wrote:

A very common misconception. Think about it - how much of what a hardware
store carries, does Wal-Mart carry and compete with? Very little. So,
here's something a bit more factual for you... a friend of mine used to own
a local ACE franchise and at the time Wal-Mart was coming into town. He
contacted ACE to ask how to compete, how to fight, etc. ACE responded that
the best thing that could happen for his franchise would be is Wal-Mart were
to go in right across the street. Consumers don't understand this and they
talk about how Wal-Mart drives business out of town, but it's simply not
true. What Wal-Mart typically drives out of town are the guys that have
been raping the public because they had no compeition prior to Wal-Mart's
arrival - and then they cry about the big giant driving the little guy out.

Similar is Home Depot driving the local lumber yard out of business. In
south central MA we have a family owned Koopman's Lumber that recently
opened a fourth location.

Local locksmith was building a new storefront. He price the lumber
needed at HD and at Koopman's. The price seemed to favor HD by a couple
of hundred bucks. The difference? HD would have made one delivery
while the local guy made 4 or 5 as needed. When it came to cabinetry,
the local guy had a better selection.

I'm in the midst of remodeling the second bathroom. The first was about
12K and this will end up the same. Of all that money, only about $400
is from the big box stores. If you want better quality fixtures, you go
to the local stores that carry the better lines.
If you a flipping a house, use the Borg. If you are keeping the
house, use the REAL suppliers.
If you are buying a house, look for Borg branded fixtures and
materials. Generally if they are in evidence, the seller cut corners
other places as well, so look REAL close, bid low, or WALK.