On Wed, 09 Jul 2014 18:15:12 -0500, Leon lcb11211@swbelldotnet
wrote:

On 7/9/2014 5:26 PM, wrote:
On Wed, 09 Jul 2014 06:48:54 -0500, Leon wrote:

wrote:
...

In almost every case I consider the big box stores to be in a far worse
location. I absolutely hate having to navigate and dodge speeding traffic
to get into or out of their prime high volume traffic locations. I much
prefer accessing the mom and pop location located on a side street and or a
much less traveled major through street. FWIW in the example I mentioned
above, proportionally the mom and pop hardware store has a smaller
percentage of open parking spots than the local Borg. Some times you have
to circle the block to give someone time to leave and open a spot to park.
Like the Borg, the parking lot is probably bigger than the store

I rather like having a traffic light, rather than have to negotiate
uncontrolled intersections.

I don't know where you are at but in Houston most all of the Borgs are
on a feeder road to a freeway typically not near a traffic light. You
might have a stop sign when leaving the parking lot.

Atlanta (home of Home Depot), but they're pretty much the same
everywhere I've lived. They're close to an interstate interchange
(necessary for the trucks) but there's always a light right by the
store. There's usually other big box stores nearby, for the same
reasons. The only place I've lived where there aren't lights right at
the BORG, they're once removed (at the entrance to a large big box
shopping center).

BORGs and Lowes are almost always right
next to each other.

Not in Houston.

Where there's a Lowes, there's a HD within spitting range, around home
(I'm currently on vacation).

It's rare that one or the other won't have what I
want. OTOH, it's rare to find a decent hardware store anymore.


Agreed, I suspect most were priced too high to be competitive.

Yep. Or didn't have the critical mass of inventory. Where I was in
VT, the lumber yard that went out shortly after HD came in (blamed on
HD, of course) had little inventory, the *worst* attitude, and left
their dimensional lumber sit outside in the mud. No surprise they
closed within six months of HD coming in.

"lumber yard" is even more rare and they often don't want my business.
That's fine but they don't want my money, either.

If I have to circle around to find on-street parking, forget it.
I'm not talking about on street parking, I'm talking about a parking
lot that is not a part of the street.

I don't bother with any retail that doesn't have sufficient parking -
not even touristy places.


What they do offer over the Borg is better pricing and a staff that greets
you at the door and have been there for years.

I don't find A WallyWorld "greeter" to be any sort of a benefit,
though if there were a good HW store in the area, I'd certainly make
good use of it. The only hardware stores around are so small they
have little more than a WallyWorld. I try to plan ahead and buy
hardware on the Internet.


Ok, where did Walmart come from.

"a staff that greets you at the door" ;-)

The hardware store that I am talking
about has employees that greet you at the door and walk you to what you
are looking for and handle the need whether it be re-screening a window
screen, cutting glass, cutting keys, overhauling a faucet, carrying out
a bag of fertilizer for you. What ever they sell they service and carry
out for you. And yes they are less expensive than the Borgs.

A good hardware store should be cheaper than the BORG. They aren't
designed to be cheap. The problem is that they're not usually as well
stocked as the BORG and that isn't saying much.

They know how to run a business and are still thriving because of that
fact. Local hardware stores that close because of a new Borg were not
doing something right as witnessed by the customers vote. They very
well were a bit too greedy or simply not offering the service that one
used to expect from a local mom and pop.

Agreed. 100%. The mom&pop places weren't killed by the BORG (or
WallyWorld, or whatever), they committed suicide. People weren't
forced to spend their money at the big box stores.