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Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,570 posts, read 81,147,605 times
Reputation: 57793
After a Home Depot opened 6 miles north and another opened 6 miles south our Ace closed up this summer. We got a lot of great deals on the going out of business sale at 70% off but will miss them. They were less than a mile away and had great service compared to Home Depot and Lowe's, but hard to compete unless isolated in a populated area with no big box stores.
Three independent hardware store have closed within a five-mile radius of me in the last two or three years. One Ace and two Gill-Roys. About six years ago a small local chain lumber and hardware store went out of business, citing competition from the big box stores.
Home Depot and Lowes are always busy and a new Menards opened last year.
It's sad, I miss small hardware stores. Unless there's no big box competitors in the area, I can't see opening one as a good idea. I think they're a dying breed of store.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,570 posts, read 81,147,605 times
Reputation: 57793
Not only price. While we loved our Ace and they had a better selection of odd hardware bits than the big box stores, they did not have such items as lumber, flooring, big plumbing items, appliances and light fixtures. They also had a very limited garden section. When people have to go to Home Depot/Lowe's for those things they pick up the small stuff there too. Our Ace was still busy but only selling the small stuff that people needed right away and could get without a long drive. Those were not profitable items. Price was not a big issue because you could save the difference in gas. Ace also sold paint, and a paint store opened in the same shopping center. The paint store prices were actually higher, but they had a much greater selection, and people perceive a paint store as having more paint knowledgeable staff than a hardware store if they needed help.
i am an electrical supply distributor and a home depot open around the corner.
we were scared that that would kill our business . well it ended up being a real boost.
while they carried 2 or 3,000 electrical items we have 16,000.
their knowledge and technical expertise could not compare to ours so we were filled with cutomers buying what home depot did not have or asking advice and buying from us.
the home depot store brought loads of traffic to our doorstep.
we looked at their pricing structure and the popular A items were marked up little but starting with their B items prices rose sharpley and went up from there.
overall we were cheaper when a basket of items were purchased.
i am an electrical supply distributor and a home depot open around the corner.
we were scared that that would kill our business . well it ended up being a real boost.
while they carried 2 or 3,000 electrical items we have 16,000.
their knowledge and technical expertise could not compare to ours so we were filled with cutomers buying what home depot did not have or asking advice and buying from us.
the home depot store brought loads of traffic to our doorstep.
we looked at their pricing structure and the popular A items were marked up little but starting with their B items prices rose sharpley and went up from there.
overall we were cheaper when a basket of items were purchased.
The above is key, I think, to smaller hardware stores being competitive. Because many people don't realise how important "customer service" and expertise really is, and don't realise that a big box store might be convenient for one-stop shopping, but in reality they are unlikely to carry more esoteric or oddball items.
Last time I shopped for a hot water heater, I checked online for Lowes and Home Despot prices. Then out of curiosity I called my local Gill-Roys (sadly, now closed) and their price for the same item was actually a little cheaper than both of the big boxes.
Another time I bought an antique lamp that needed a new electrical cord. Not only did my local Ace store (sadly, now closed) have just what I needed to replace the cord, two of the employees there went to work on my lamp and replaced the wiring for me for no extra charge.
So I believe smaller stores need to advertise and raise awareness, if they want to survive. I'm sure it's tough because they don't have the advertising budget the chains have.
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