chuck yerkes wrote in message news:zQOTc.316083$XM6.44475@attbi_s53...
larrymoencurly wrote:

I live near a Lowe's and a Home Depot in NW Phoenix, and the
Home Depot has been a lot better than the Lowe's.

So you continue to shop at large stores who are so driven
to keep prices low that they hire people at the lowest
cost possible leaving them with those that can't get a
job ANYWHERE ELSE that gives them a bit more say in their
schedule, pays more than minimum wage* with poor benefits.

And then you complain that it's not a good store.

Well no ****.

I've tried several of the locally owned hardware stores (often
franchises, but locally owned which profits mainly staying in my
community) until I've found the folks who are knowledgable and
helpful.

Those invisible tips that make up for paying 10% more include
things like: "Oh, well if you're doing THAT, then you don't
want galvanized - it won't look good in a couple years. Use
these instead and blow the extra $0.30 for brass."

Or "try this is the brush and it works a little better. I
been painting for 30 years until I retired into workin' here."

The main reasons I went to Lowe's so many times was because they're
almost right across the street from me (next to Fry's, which is near
Fry's), and Consumer Reports said that their paint was the best. But
now CR says that Behr is better, so there's no reason to ever visit
Lowe's again.

There's a really good Ace Hardware two miles from me, and I use them
for about everything but lumber and regular paint, because the service
is great (they always greet me within 15 seconds and know everything),
they carry about everything (they even had something that the plumbing
store in the same shopping center didn't carry), the product quality
is better, and the prices are usually about the same or less.

I've found that I can get good advice at Home Depot by asking the
employees who never smile because they're the ones from the
construction trades.