Last Nov (2013), changed my health insurance provider and as a
result had to select an approved local pharmacy for drugs.

The closet place was Wal-Mart, not one of my favorite places,
but what the heck.

Last Friday, called in a refill which was ready within 4 hours.

Not bad, but wasn't going to be able to make the pick up
until Saturday.

Late Saturday afternoon, made the drug pick up as well as
a non drug item, something I've done before, so NBD.

For some reason decided to use plastic even though the
total amount was less than $15.00.

Signed the forms, picked up my merchandise, and was
on my way.

Just another day at Wal-Mart it would seem, but not so.

Returned home, put the items away and started looking
at the receipts.

WHAT THE HEY???

I've been invoiced $87 + Change.

Wal-Mart is closed for the day, so would have to wait until
Sunday (Today).

Called Wal-Mart, was told to bring receipts back and things
would be straightened out.

Other than having to make a 2nd trip, NBD.

Wal-Mart processes the paper and wants to give me cash
rather than credit the plastic.

Just didn't think that would be too swift and indicated I
preferred credit to the plastic.

Oh we are off to see the wizard, the wizard who could
override the system and manually issue credit to the plastic
rather than cash to my hot little hand.

Almost 30 minutes later, the deed was done.

It had been a classic 3 stooges act.

Credit was issued to the plastic and a 2nd plastic account
was used to charge the correct amount.

So much for my trip to Wal-Mart.

To summarize.

My insurance has approved another drug chain that is more
convenient.

As of 9:00PM tonight, the 2nd plastic account has been charged
the correct amount (Less than $15) and the first plastic account
has NOT recorded a credit ($87 + Change).

I wonder when the credit will show?

No, I don't know why I didn't pay cash as I usually do for these
items.

And no, I don't know why I didn't review things before I
signed the bill of sale, I just didn't.

Just another reason to stay away from Wal-Mart whose
aisles have become so small as to make it not worth the effort
to shop there.

Off the stump.

Lew

"Lew Hodgett" wrote in news:53ba2bfa$0$50641
:

*snip*
As of 9:00PM tonight, the 2nd plastic account has been charged
the correct amount (Less than $15) and the first plastic account
has NOT recorded a credit ($87 + Change).

I wonder when the credit will show?
*snip*

Lew


I sometimes see purchases and credits immediately, but other times it
takes a few days for them to show up. It's usually a delay in the
processing.

If you don't see it show up after a week or so, call your credit card
company and tell them what happened. They'll straighten things out.

Puckdropper
--
Make it to fit, don't make it fit.

On Sun, 06 Jul 2014 22:11:25 -0700, Lew Hodgett wrote:

Last Nov (2013), changed my health insurance provider and as a result
had to select an approved local pharmacy for drugs.

The closet place was Wal-Mart, not one of my favorite places, but what
the heck.

We started using Walmart for prescriptions back before I was eligible for
Medicare because we could get generics there cheaper than anywhere else.
Now that we're on a fixed income we do some of our shopping there and
still use their pharmacy.

We've only had two problems in 10+ years. Once they were out of a drug
and they called several non-Walmart pharmacies till they found it for me.
The other time their supplier jacked up the price of a generic a
ridiculous amount, but they had that fixed by the next time I needed a
refill.

Walmart is like Harbor Freight. Some good stuff and some junk. But I've
been pretty happy with their pharmacy.

I suspect it depends on where you live. We're in the Inland Northwest
and retailers in general seem to generate less complaints than elsewhere.

As an example, I wanted to buy a 12" SCMS from HF when it was on a
special sidewalk sale. I got there right after opening - both of the
ones on hand had been sold. The manager gave me a rain check. I said I
thought they didn't give rainchecks on special sale items. The manager
responded that this store did when ^%$#@ corporate only sent her 2 of a
hot item :-).

Larry Blanchard writes:
On Sun, 06 Jul 2014 22:11:25 -0700, Lew Hodgett wrote:

Last Nov (2013), changed my health insurance provider and as a result
had to select an approved local pharmacy for drugs.

The closet place was Wal-Mart, not one of my favorite places, but what
the heck.

We started using Walmart for prescriptions back before I was eligible for
Medicare because we could get generics there cheaper than anywhere else.
Now that we're on a fixed income we do some of our shopping there and
still use their pharmacy.


Walmart is like Harbor Freight. Some good stuff and some junk. But I've
been pretty happy with their pharmacy.


The problem with Walmart is not the quality of their merchandise (albeit
often low) nor their prices (unusually low), but rather the adverse effect they have
on other merchants in many small communities, and thus on the health
of the community businesses.

Harbor Freight has no chance of driving the local hardware store out
of business, whereas Walmart has done that routinely and on a wide
scale.

Costco has good pharamacy prices (the best in the area, around here).

On 7/7/2014 1:13 PM, Scott Lurndal wrote:

Harbor Freight has no chance of driving the local hardware store out
of business, whereas Walmart has done that routinely and on a wide
scale.

Exactly how did WalMart drive them out of business? Did they put up
barricades that prevented people from going to them? Road closure?
Did WalMart harass their customers? Set up picket lines?

To my knowledge, WalMart has not put anyone out of business. What did
put them under is the lack of customers. It seems that their loyal
customers like the idea of going to a big store that carried a lot of
stuff and mostly soled it cheaper.

Much as some people complain about the bix box stores, they flock to
them in droves. They do it for the same reason you are telling us
Costco is a good place to go. Costco is replacing a hundred or more
little corner grocery stores.

And the we have on-line shopping. . .

Larry Blanchard wrote:


Walmart is like Harbor Freight. Some good stuff and some junk. But
I've been pretty happy with their pharmacy.

Likewise - I have been very happy with their pharmacy. I can't think of
anything one would care about in a pharmacy that Wal-Mart has failed me in.
And - very cheap prices.


I suspect it depends on where you live. We're in the Inland Northwest
and retailers in general seem to generate less complaints than
elsewhere.

I'm in the North East.


--

-Mike-

Scott Lurndal wrote:
Larry Blanchard writes:
On Sun, 06 Jul 2014 22:11:25 -0700, Lew Hodgett wrote:

Last Nov (2013), changed my health insurance provider and as a
result had to select an approved local pharmacy for drugs.

The closet place was Wal-Mart, not one of my favorite places, but
what the heck.

We started using Walmart for prescriptions back before I was
eligible for Medicare because we could get generics there cheaper
than anywhere else. Now that we're on a fixed income we do some of
our shopping there and still use their pharmacy.


Walmart is like Harbor Freight. Some good stuff and some junk. But
I've been pretty happy with their pharmacy.


The problem with Walmart is not the quality of their merchandise
(albeit
often low) nor their prices (unusually low), but rather the adverse
effect they have on other merchants in many small communities, and
thus on the health
of the community businesses.

Harbor Freight has no chance of driving the local hardware store out
of business, whereas Walmart has done that routinely and on a wide
scale.

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.
But... three years later - do you hear any consumer complaining about it?
The quality of the stuff in that "local" guy was no better than what
Wal-Mart sells, but was priced 2-3 time higher. Good thing that the rip off
artists got driven out of town. As for the hardware stores - ACE does
pretty well right next to Wal-Mart.

--

-Mike-

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.

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.

wrote:

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.

IAWTP!

--

-Mike-

On Mon, 7 Jul 2014 16:48:27 +0000 (UTC), Larry Blanchard
wrote:

On Sun, 06 Jul 2014 22:11:25 -0700, Lew Hodgett wrote:

Last Nov (2013), changed my health insurance provider and as a result
had to select an approved local pharmacy for drugs.

The closet place was Wal-Mart, not one of my favorite places, but what
the heck.

We started using Walmart for prescriptions back before I was eligible for
Medicare because we could get generics there cheaper than anywhere else.
Now that we're on a fixed income we do some of our shopping there and
still use their pharmacy.

We don't use Walmart Pharmacy (rather Kroger) but we're on vacation
and my wife forgot to pack one of her meds. She had her doctor send
the Rx to the WallyWorld (no Kroger here) here but as it turned out
they didn't have the drug in stock. They called all around the area
and found a drug store that had it. I thought that was rather good
since we never use them.

The woman at our insurance company gave my wife a ration, at first,
but she called back and got someone who was quite helpful. It turned
out that we had once-per-year "loss" coverage, so they just chalked it
up to a "loss" and covered it, resulting in a $25 co-pay rather than
$125 (for 10 pills).

We've only had two problems in 10+ years. Once they were out of a drug
and they called several non-Walmart pharmacies till they found it for me.
The other time their supplier jacked up the price of a generic a
ridiculous amount, but they had that fixed by the next time I needed a
refill.

Walmart is like Harbor Freight. Some good stuff and some junk. But I've
been pretty happy with their pharmacy.

The difference is that WallyWorld carries name brands, which are
exactly the same thing as more expensive stores carry.

I suspect it depends on where you live. We're in the Inland Northwest
and retailers in general seem to generate less complaints than elsewhere.

As an example, I wanted to buy a 12" SCMS from HF when it was on a
special sidewalk sale. I got there right after opening - both of the
ones on hand had been sold. The manager gave me a rain check. I said I
thought they didn't give rainchecks on special sale items. The manager
responded that this store did when ^%$#@ corporate only sent her 2 of a
hot item :-).

I had them give me the sale price on a mower lift when they had none
the week before when the sale was running. I'm pretty careful about
what I buy at HF, but they've always been more than fair. They did
lose my debit card number, though. That turned into a minor PITA
(three weeks to get a new one - but that wasn't HF's fault).

On Mon, 07 Jul 2014 13:44:34 -0400, Ed Pawlowski wrote:

On 7/7/2014 1:13 PM, Scott Lurndal wrote:

Harbor Freight has no chance of driving the local hardware store out
of business, whereas Walmart has done that routinely and on a wide
scale.

Exactly how did WalMart drive them out of business? Did they put up
barricades that prevented people from going to them? Road closure?
Did WalMart harass their customers? Set up picket lines?

To my knowledge, WalMart has not put anyone out of business. What did
put them under is the lack of customers. It seems that their loyal
customers like the idea of going to a big store that carried a lot of
stuff and mostly soled it cheaper.

Much as some people complain about the bix box stores, they flock to
them in droves. They do it for the same reason you are telling us
Costco is a good place to go. Costco is replacing a hundred or more
little corner grocery stores.

And the we have on-line shopping. . .

+1

Lurndal is a communist so, of course, wants to control everyone else.

"Larry Blanchard" wrote:

We started using Walmart for prescriptions back before I was
eligible for
Medicare because we could get generics there cheaper than anywhere
else.
Now that we're on a fixed income we do some of our shopping there
and
still use their pharmacy.
snip
-------------------------------------------------------------
Prior to part D drug coverage, Sams Club had significantly lower
drug prices than Wal-Mart for the same drugs.

After part D became effective, it didn't make any difference where
you made a drug purchase, the part d plan chosen dictates the price,
not the retailer.

Where possible, I order a 90 day supply of drugs by mail.

The only drugs purchased locally are one time usage items or
when only 30 day supply can be purchased.

Based on the above, convenience and quality of service become
the deciding factors when chosing a local drug store.

As far as Wal-Mart itself is concerned, the place sucks.

The shelves are not stocked, every square inch of aisle space
is jamed with a display resting on a pallet.

In the event of an emergency, have no clue how to get out of the
place or how an EMT/fire/police would get in to provide service.

If I purchase locally, Wal-Mart is the vendor or last choice.

If I can't find it ANY PLACE else, will try Wal-Mart.

Off the stump.

Lew

On Mon, 07 Jul 2014 21:10:02 -0700, Lew Hodgett wrote:

The shelves are not stocked, every square inch of aisle space is jamed
with a display resting on a pallet.

In the event of an emergency, have no clue how to get out of the place
or how an EMT/fire/police would get in to provide service.

Like I said, depends on where you are. None of the above applies to the
Walmart we go to.

"Larry Blanchard" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 07 Jul 2014 21:10:02 -0700, Lew Hodgett wrote:

The shelves are not stocked, every square inch of aisle space is jamed
with a display resting on a pallet.

In the event of an emergency, have no clue how to get out of the place
or how an EMT/fire/police would get in to provide service.

Like I said, depends on where you are. None of the above applies to the
Walmart we go to.

That may also have something to do with local codes and enforcement. I know
that years ago, some of the smaller communities tried to make retail shops
have wider aisles to allow easier emergency access. The small retails
stores howled. After awhile, they said all the big stores had to have
access. Smaller stores could continue on as before.

And I have seen many large retail stores that I had difficulty walking
through because of massive amounts of displays on wheels designed to create
an obstacle course. Apparently, if you have to fight your way through this
mess, you buy more product.

I have only been to one walmart. But retail stores of all sizes have all
kinds of problems. You can tell where they exist in relation to each other
on a desirability scale. Some stores are in decline. Others are rising.
Some are in a death spiral And that can even apply to stores with a
particular chain. Retail is not for the faint hearted.

On Tue, 8 Jul 2014 16:43:12 +0000 (UTC), Larry Blanchard
wrote:

On Mon, 07 Jul 2014 21:10:02 -0700, Lew Hodgett wrote:

The shelves are not stocked, every square inch of aisle space is jamed
with a display resting on a pallet.

In the event of an emergency, have no clue how to get out of the place
or how an EMT/fire/police would get in to provide service.

Like I said, depends on where you are. None of the above applies to the
Walmart we go to.

Nor *any* I've gone to. There certainly are differences but all have
been run fairly well. I'm sure shift happens, like in all businesses
(with all people).

On Tue, 8 Jul 2014 15:28:08 -0400, "Lee Michaels"
leemichaels*nadaspam* at comcast dot net wrote:



"Larry Blanchard" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 07 Jul 2014 21:10:02 -0700, Lew Hodgett wrote:

The shelves are not stocked, every square inch of aisle space is jamed
with a display resting on a pallet.

In the event of an emergency, have no clue how to get out of the place
or how an EMT/fire/police would get in to provide service.

Like I said, depends on where you are. None of the above applies to the
Walmart we go to.

That may also have something to do with local codes and enforcement. I know
that years ago, some of the smaller communities tried to make retail shops
have wider aisles to allow easier emergency access. The small retails
stores howled. After awhile, they said all the big stores had to have
access. Smaller stores could continue on as before.

And I have seen many large retail stores that I had difficulty walking
through because of massive amounts of displays on wheels designed to create
an obstacle course. Apparently, if you have to fight your way through this
mess, you buy more product.

Not me. I just head for the door.

I have only been to one walmart. But retail stores of all sizes have all
kinds of problems. You can tell where they exist in relation to each other
on a desirability scale. Some stores are in decline. Others are rising.
Some are in a death spiral And that can even apply to stores with a
particular chain. Retail is not for the faint hearted.


That's for sure. Nor is the service sector.

"Lew Hodgett" wrote:


As of 9:00PM tonight, the 2nd plastic account has been charged
the correct amount (Less than $15) and the first plastic account
has NOT recorded a credit ($87 + Change).

I wonder when the credit will show?
-----------------------------------------------------------
In all fairness, credits have been posted today (07/08/14).

Lew






No, I don't know why I didn't pay cash as I usually do for these
items.

And no, I don't know why I didn't review things before I
signed the bill of sale, I just didn't.

Just another reason to stay away from Wal-Mart whose
aisles have become so small as to make it not worth the effort
to shop there.

Off the stump.

Lew

Leon 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 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.

We lost our True Value Hardware, which sat in front of Menards, to an
Aldi's,
and there is a Salvation Army where the last Ace Hardware stood.

"Bill" wrote:

We lost our True Value Hardware, which sat in front of Menards, to
an Aldi's,
and there is a Salvation Army where the last Ace Hardware stood.
------------------------------------------------------------
Pretty well defines where the neighborhood is headed.

Aldi's is definitely not high end.

Lew

Lew Hodgett wrote:
"Bill" wrote:

We lost our True Value Hardware, which sat in front of Menards, to
an Aldi's,
and there is a Salvation Army where the last Ace Hardware stood.
------------------------------------------------------------
Pretty well defines where the neighborhood is headed.
Yes, but what is worse, I re-visited Lawton, Oklahoma this
summer and saw houses and a strip of really cheap restaurants
thrown up along a river where natural cliffs used to be (at Medicine
Park, in case anyone is familiar). I hadn't had a chance to visit that
particular location
since the late 80's. I should have taken more pictures (in the late
80's). My wife took one (remember the chair?), because she knew if was
sentimental to me.
Fortunately, the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge remained intact,
though I didn't see any buffalo over 3 days.


Aldi's is definitely not high end.

Lew

On 7/9/2014 3:08 PM, Bill wrote:
Leon 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 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.

We lost our True Value Hardware, which sat in front of Menards, to an
Aldi's,
and there is a Salvation Army where the last Ace Hardware stood.



That must have a terrible hardware store if a grocery store put them out
of business. ;~0..

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.

wrote:
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).

I have to agree from my own experiences - across the country. If any of the
major retailers are not serviced by some sort of traffic control, that's a
reflection of the local ordinances and not of the retailer. I can't think
of a lot of the majors that are not controled by lights. And... it is
common knowledge that HD and Lowes (or insert other competing name...)
locate near each other, just like McDonalds and Burger King do. That is
simply their location strategy.




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.

Yup - to my point in an earlier response. Those guys needed to be driven
out of business.



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

Echo that.



--

-Mike-

On Wed, 09 Jul 2014 06:48:54 -0500, Leon wrote:


Try to but Marvel Mystery Oil anywhere in Canada.
Walmart was the last place that carried it - always cheaper than
Canadian Tire who stopped carrying it quite a while ago. It was always
a lot cheaper at Walmart in the USA. Can you still buy it there? Last
time I was in the states, 2 walmarts didn't have it.


You can tell from all the that this reply is late in the thread and I have
no idea who posted the original bitch. DAGS for "Marvel Mystery Oil Canada" and
you will get many hits, including Canadian phone numbers.

FWIW, my local True Value hardware and both Wally's in driving distance carry it
on the shelf. Ask someone to order it for you? The RC airplane people use it
as an after-run oil for their model engines so you might try a hobby shop.

There is a pretty good RC section in the hobby shop catty-corner across the
street from the Lee Valley store in Calgary. Road trip?

On Wed, 09 Jul 2014 21:55:41 -0500, Roy
wrote:

On Wed, 09 Jul 2014 06:48:54 -0500, Leon wrote:


Try to but Marvel Mystery Oil anywhere in Canada.
Walmart was the last place that carried it - always cheaper than
Canadian Tire who stopped carrying it quite a while ago. It was always
a lot cheaper at Walmart in the USA. Can you still buy it there? Last
time I was in the states, 2 walmarts didn't have it.


You can tell from all the that this reply is late in the thread and I have
no idea who posted the original bitch. DAGS for "Marvel Mystery Oil Canada" and
you will get many hits, including Canadian phone numbers.

FWIW, my local True Value hardware and both Wally's in driving distance carry it
on the shelf. Ask someone to order it for you? The RC airplane people use it
as an after-run oil for their model engines so you might try a hobby shop.

There is a pretty good RC section in the hobby shop catty-corner across the
street from the Lee Valley store in Calgary. Road trip?

From an earlier discussion on another group in 2011 MMO
"I contacted the Canadian distribution telephone number for Western
Canada, and the fellow phoned me back a day or so later. He kindly
explained that MMO has not been available Canada for a little over a
year now. Seems the company was being required to re-label its
products in both English and French in order to qualify to have it
imported into Canada, and they chose not to spend the money on
converting their English-only labels to English & French, just for the
Canadian market.

So, your only hope of actually buying some in Canada is to find a
retailer who has some old stock ....shouldn’t matter how old the stuff
is. Chances are, you’ll find it in the strangest places ..so just keep
asking. I called a True-Value Hardware store in a nearby small town
....they had some up until a few months ago, but were sold out and
didn’t know why they couldn’t get any more. (I didn’t have the heart
to tell them!) Then, I was in a local Castle Building Centres store
(they also carry hardware, and oils and stuff) and I asked the guy if
he’d ever heard of MMO, and he said, “Sure, there’s some on the shelf
right over there!” ...I almost hugged the guy. He had 4 gallon jugs on
the shelf, and said he had the rest of the case in the warehouse.
Turns out Castle Building Centres is a member of the same “buying
group” as True-Value Hardware. There are other regional stores that
are members of that same buying group, so chances are they might have
some in stock as well. So, in addition to True Value stores, look for
“V&S;Stores” and “Country Depot” stores. Check out:
http://www.truserv.ca/pls/truserv_pub/truserv.app and click on the
Store Locations finder. There are stores all over Ontario that belong
to the Truserv buying group. In Toronto, there’s Roncesvalles True
Value Hardware, on Roncesvalles Avenue. "

So, no, it is NOT available in Canada. mabee not because of WalMart -
but if Walmart wanted it bad enough, they'd get the BiLingual labels.

"Mike Marlow" wrote:
wrote:
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).

I have to agree from my own experiences - across the country. If any of the
major retailers are not serviced by some sort of traffic control, that's a
reflection of the local ordinances and not of the retailer. I can't think
of a lot of the majors that are not controled by lights. And... it is
common knowledge that HD and Lowes (or insert other competing name...)
locate near each other, just like McDonalds and Burger King do. That is
simply their location strategy.

I

In Houston it mat be a lack of zoning thing but none of the Borges are
close enough to an intersection to matter. And for that matter, HD probably
out numbers Lowes man 2 to 1. Well I just counted. 24 Lowes and 43 HD's
in the Houston metro area.





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.

Yup - to my point in an earlier response. Those guys needed to be driven
out of business.



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

Echo that.

On Thu, 10 Jul 2014 08:01:36 -0500, Leon wrote:

"Mike Marlow" wrote:
wrote:
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).

I have to agree from my own experiences - across the country. If any of the
major retailers are not serviced by some sort of traffic control, that's a
reflection of the local ordinances and not of the retailer. I can't think
of a lot of the majors that are not controled by lights. And... it is
common knowledge that HD and Lowes (or insert other competing name...)
locate near each other, just like McDonalds and Burger King do. That is
simply their location strategy.

I

In Houston it mat be a lack of zoning thing but none of the Borges are
close enough to an intersection to matter. And for that matter, HD probably
out numbers Lowes man 2 to 1. Well I just counted. 24 Lowes and 43 HD's
in the Houston metro area.

Sure, that ratio is about right, even high. The point was that they
have the same site selection criterion. In fact, I only know of one
Lowes (Essex, VT) that doesn't have a HD within sight.

Leon wrote:


In Houston it mat be a lack of zoning thing but none of the Borges are
close enough to an intersection to matter. And for that matter, HD
probably out numbers Lowes man 2 to 1. Well I just counted. 24
Lowes and 43 HD's in the Houston metro area.



Sorry Leon - I might not have been clear in what I was saying. I wasn't
saying they were near intersections, but that they have traffic controlled
parking lots - or perimeter roads. As for the number of HD vs. Lowe's -
I've lost track of that stuff myself. I know it was only a couple of years
ago that Lowe's shut down more stores than HD had shut down only a couple of
years before that. It may well be that HD outnumbers Lowe's in a lot of
locations by now.

--

-Mike-

On 7/10/2014 11:02 AM, wrote:
On Thu, 10 Jul 2014 08:01:36 -0500, Leon wrote:

"Mike Marlow" wrote:
wrote:
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).

I have to agree from my own experiences - across the country. If any of the
major retailers are not serviced by some sort of traffic control, that's a
reflection of the local ordinances and not of the retailer. I can't think
of a lot of the majors that are not controled by lights. And... it is
common knowledge that HD and Lowes (or insert other competing name...)
locate near each other, just like McDonalds and Burger King do. That is
simply their location strategy.

I

In Houston it mat be a lack of zoning thing but none of the Borges are
close enough to an intersection to matter. And for that matter, HD probably
out numbers Lowes man 2 to 1. Well I just counted. 24 Lowes and 43 HD's
in the Houston metro area.

Sure, that ratio is about right, even high. The point was that they
have the same site selection criterion. In fact, I only know of one
Lowes (Essex, VT) that doesn't have a HD within sight.



Come to Houston, LOL, you will find that to not be true. You cannot see
one from the others parking lot. I sure wish that were true here
though. I have 3 HD's withing 6 miles of my home the closest Lowe's is
probably 8 miles away.

I suspect that this, as I mentioned earlier, might be a zoning
situation. In the Houston area there is no zoning so anything can go up
anywhere unless we are talking a master planned community. In other
cities retail establishments have a restriction as to where they can be
located so there are less places to build and would naturally tend to be
located closer to one another.

On 7/10/2014 12:02 PM, wrote:

Sure, that ratio is about right, even high. The point was that they
have the same site selection criterion. In fact, I only know of one
Lowes (Essex, VT) that doesn't have a HD within sight.


We have a Lowe's 7 miles from us. In every direction, the HD is 20
miles from us so they have them surrounded.

On 07/10/2014 06:01 AM, Leon wrote:
"Mike Marlow" wrote:
wrote:
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).

I have to agree from my own experiences - across the country. If any of the
major retailers are not serviced by some sort of traffic control, that's a
reflection of the local ordinances and not of the retailer. I can't think
of a lot of the majors that are not controled by lights. And... it is
common knowledge that HD and Lowes (or insert other competing name...)
locate near each other, just like McDonalds and Burger King do. That is
simply their location strategy.

I

In Houston it mat be a lack of zoning thing but none of the Borges are
close enough to an intersection to matter. And for that matter, HD probably
out numbers Lowes man 2 to 1. Well I just counted. 24 Lowes and 43 HD's
in the Houston metro area.





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.

Yup - to my point in an earlier response. Those guys needed to be driven
out of business.



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

Echo that.


Here in little Casa Grande, Home Depot was first on the NE corner of an
intersection. A few years later, Lowes sprouted on the NW corner of the
same intersection.

In Chandler, AZ, HD and Lowes are kitty corner from each other at the
intersection of Arizona Ave and Home Improvement Way.


--
"Socialism is a philosophy of failure,the creed of ignorance, and the
gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery"
-Winston Churchill

On 7/10/2014 11:26 AM, Mike Marlow wrote:
Leon wrote:


In Houston it mat be a lack of zoning thing but none of the Borges are
close enough to an intersection to matter. And for that matter, HD
probably out numbers Lowes man 2 to 1. Well I just counted. 24
Lowes and 43 HD's in the Houston metro area.



Sorry Leon - I might not have been clear in what I was saying. I wasn't
saying they were near intersections, but that they have traffic controlled
parking lots - or perimeter roads. As for the number of HD vs. Lowe's -
I've lost track of that stuff myself. I know it was only a couple of years
ago that Lowe's shut down more stores than HD had shut down only a couple of
years before that. It may well be that HD outnumbers Lowe's in a lot of
locations by now.



It has to be a location thing. 10 years ago HD probably out numbered
Lowe's by 5 to 1. I was surprised that the margin has shrunk to about 2
to 1. so if that trend continues Lowe's may out number the HD's, here,
in the next few years.

Leon lcb11211@swbelldotnet wrote in news:nbydnTi-ELxfTCPOnZ2dnUVZ5h-
:

On 7/10/2014 11:02 AM, wrote:
Sure, that ratio is about right, even high. The point was that they
have the same site selection criterion. In fact, I only know of one
Lowes (Essex, VT) that doesn't have a HD within sight.

Come to Houston, LOL, you will find that to not be true. You cannot see
one from the others parking lot. I sure wish that were true here
though. I have 3 HD's withing 6 miles of my home the closest Lowe's is
probably 8 miles away.

Not the case in Indianapolis either -- none of the Lowe's stores in metro Indy have a Home
Depot within sight, and only one has a Home Depot within a mile of it.

On Thu, 10 Jul 2014 13:49:38 -0500, Leon lcb11211@swbelldotnet
It has to be a location thing. 10 years ago HD probably out numbered
Lowe's by 5 to 1. I was surprised that the margin has shrunk to about 2
to 1. so if that trend continues Lowe's may out number the HD's, here,
in the next few years.

Seems the reverse is true up here in Toronto. There were two Lowe's up
here in Toronto. One of them closed down recently so there's only one
Lowe's in a very large area. None of them were anywhere near a Home
Depot which always has greatly outnumbered Lowe's feeble push into
Toronto. Guess the graphics are different up here.

On Thu, 10 Jul 2014 12:47:25 -0500, Leon lcb11211@swbelldotnet
wrote:

On 7/10/2014 11:02 AM, wrote:
On Thu, 10 Jul 2014 08:01:36 -0500, Leon wrote:

"Mike Marlow" wrote:
wrote:
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).

I have to agree from my own experiences - across the country. If any of the
major retailers are not serviced by some sort of traffic control, that's a
reflection of the local ordinances and not of the retailer. I can't think
of a lot of the majors that are not controled by lights. And... it is
common knowledge that HD and Lowes (or insert other competing name...)
locate near each other, just like McDonalds and Burger King do. That is
simply their location strategy.

I

In Houston it mat be a lack of zoning thing but none of the Borges are
close enough to an intersection to matter. And for that matter, HD probably
out numbers Lowes man 2 to 1. Well I just counted. 24 Lowes and 43 HD's
in the Houston metro area.

Sure, that ratio is about right, even high. The point was that they
have the same site selection criterion. In fact, I only know of one
Lowes (Essex, VT) that doesn't have a HD within sight.



Come to Houston, LOL, you will find that to not be true. You cannot see
one from the others parking lot. I sure wish that were true here
though. I have 3 HD's withing 6 miles of my home the closest Lowe's is
probably 8 miles away.

I didn't (mean to) say that there was a Lowes for every HD, just that
they have the same siting policy; they have the same requirements. In
addition, there is almost always an HD within sight of a Lowes (but
the reverse is not true).

I suspect that this, as I mentioned earlier, might be a zoning
situation. In the Houston area there is no zoning so anything can go up
anywhere unless we are talking a master planned community. In other
cities retail establishments have a restriction as to where they can be
located so there are less places to build and would naturally tend to be
located closer to one another.

That's certainly true in some (usually smaller) cities. However,
there are many such zoned commercial locations in a large city, yet
the BORG and Lowes tend to pick the same sites. Lowes often follows
HD, in fact.

On 7/10/2014 2:13 PM, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
On 7/10/2014 12:02 PM, wrote:

Sure, that ratio is about right, even high. The point was that they
have the same site selection criterion. In fact, I only know of one
Lowes (Essex, VT) that doesn't have a HD within sight.


We have a Lowe's 7 miles from us. In every direction, the HD is 20
miles from us so they have them surrounded.

In Toronto Canada, Lowe's is a relative newcomer, but they seem to be
locating as close as possible to the HD stores.

--
Froz...


The system will be down for 10 days for preventive maintenance.

On 7/10/2014 3:34 PM, wrote:
On Thu, 10 Jul 2014 13:49:38 -0500, Leon lcb11211@swbelldotnet
It has to be a location thing. 10 years ago HD probably out numbered
Lowe's by 5 to 1. I was surprised that the margin has shrunk to about 2
to 1. so if that trend continues Lowe's may out number the HD's, here,
in the next few years.

Seems the reverse is true up here in Toronto. There were two Lowe's up
here in Toronto. One of them closed down recently so there's only one
Lowe's in a very large area. None of them were anywhere near a Home
Depot which always has greatly outnumbered Lowe's feeble push into
Toronto. Guess the graphics are different up here.

Ok, I am on the outskirts of the city, but the Lowe's near me is always
busy, and the staff are fabulous, much better than the nearby HD.

--
Froz...


The system will be down for 10 days for preventive maintenance.

On Thu, 10 Jul 2014 17:01:27 -0400, FrozenNorth
Ok, I am on the outskirts of the city, but the Lowe's near me is always
busy, and the staff are fabulous, much better than the nearby HD.

Yeah, I agree with the staff being better. The Lowe's I went to (the
one that closed down not too long ago) was located in Kennedy Commons.
I went shopping at Kennedy Commons because of the Metro and Petsmart.
I always allowed time to wander around the Lowe's to see what was new.

On 7/10/2014 3:59 PM, wrote:
On Thu, 10 Jul 2014 12:47:25 -0500, Leon lcb11211@swbelldotnet
wrote:

On 7/10/2014 11:02 AM, wrote:
On Thu, 10 Jul 2014 08:01:36 -0500, Leon wrote:

"Mike Marlow" wrote:
wrote:
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).

I have to agree from my own experiences - across the country. If any of the
major retailers are not serviced by some sort of traffic control, that's a
reflection of the local ordinances and not of the retailer. I can't think
of a lot of the majors that are not controled by lights. And... it is
common knowledge that HD and Lowes (or insert other competing name...)
locate near each other, just like McDonalds and Burger King do. That is
simply their location strategy.

I

In Houston it mat be a lack of zoning thing but none of the Borges are
close enough to an intersection to matter. And for that matter, HD probably
out numbers Lowes man 2 to 1. Well I just counted. 24 Lowes and 43 HD's
in the Houston metro area.

Sure, that ratio is about right, even high. The point was that they
have the same site selection criterion. In fact, I only know of one
Lowes (Essex, VT) that doesn't have a HD within sight.



Come to Houston, LOL, you will find that to not be true. You cannot see
one from the others parking lot. I sure wish that were true here
though. I have 3 HD's withing 6 miles of my home the closest Lowe's is
probably 8 miles away.

I didn't (mean to) say that there was a Lowes for every HD, just that
they have the same siting policy; they have the same requirements. In
addition, there is almost always an HD within sight of a Lowes (but
the reverse is not true).

Understood, but in the Houston area if you are at Lowe's or HD and want
to go to the other, you might have to ask directions to get to the other.





I suspect that this, as I mentioned earlier, might be a zoning
situation. In the Houston area there is no zoning so anything can go up
anywhere unless we are talking a master planned community. In other
cities retail establishments have a restriction as to where they can be
located so there are less places to build and would naturally tend to be
located closer to one another.

That's certainly true in some (usually smaller) cities. However,
there are many such zoned commercial locations in a large city, yet
the BORG and Lowes tend to pick the same sites. Lowes often follows
HD, in fact.


In Houston it is a free for all with no zoning. HD and Lowe's can build
where they like and in that scenario they obviously prefer to be out of
site of one another. If the city has restrictive zoning as to where
Lowe's and HD can actually build, their choices may be restricted to
only 10% of the city. Naturally they will be building close to each
other, they have no other choice if they want representation in that city.