alternative to home depot (Erie, Lebanon: rental, houses, buy)

[bishopdinsmore]

i live in garfield, a slingshot launch away from the east liberty home depot. BUT i hate big box stores most of the time and would prefer a local store. BUT the local shops just plain suck. In addition to horrible hours (usually aimed at contractors and away from homeowners who work any other job) and limited stock, the customer service sucks. They treat you like a P.I.T.A. On numerous occasions at various local hardware stores i've asked for a fairly simple item (e.g. basic masonry supplies, drill bits for stripped screws heads, teflon lubricant, etc) and generally get a dirty look, a scoff, and an answer along the lines of "NO. we don't keep stuff like that." The friendliest of workers will just tell you "Eh, i don't think. Look at home depot." Are you trying to go out of business?!

Well, all this to say, anybody have any recommendations of maybe some place i don't know exists or haven't tried. I wish we had discount big hardware stores here like menard's in the midwest or jerry's in oregon. Ideas? Anyone?

[Honest Bob]

I think that what your problem is - is that you are unwilling to travel - yet you want the home town touch to your shopping experience.
The problem is - that the box stores has squeezed out the little guy and most stores cannot make it anymore - at least not at the same level as the box stores.
You can shop Lowes or you can shop Home Depot or you can travel and shop at any one of the 84 Lumber stores or you can search for something local - but with the down economy - most stores can only afford to carry crappy stuff and the lumber gets picked over as soon as the pack is opened. That is the problem with the big box stores also right now.
When the building trades is working good, the builders will use what ever is available and they have a market for all their crappy wood.
When the demand goes down, the mills produce more crap - because they cannot afford to dump it off and they have to sell it at a premium price or get stuck with it or eat it as a loss.
When I was building a new deck for a relative of mine last summer in Erie PA, a $10,000 deck took 3 days to select all the materials needed to complete the job from all the crap that was available.
When you have to go through 500 2 x 12' -16 to get 68 good ones - you know that there is a problem with their quality standards.
Most builders are not so picky and will use what ever is available and will try to hide the deficiencies in the wood - only for them to expose themselves a couple of years down the road when the treated lumber falls apart and you have to do it all over again.
The most hilarious part was when my cousins wife asked me if I wanted them to deliver the materials to the job site. You can pretty much be guaranteed that all the crap they have laying around will be put in your job when people who knows absolutely nothing about carpentry loads the truck and picks the order.
It's a real bad time right now to build anything.

[Honest Bob]

Just so you know - building contractors do not get a discount from Lowes or Home Depot.
But veterans can get a discount if you show them your discharge papers or service card - especially during the 4th of July weekend.

[greg42]

Eh, there's not much. You may have to drive a bit. There are some Ace Hardware stores around; these are generally independently owned but not necessarily staffed by useful people.

Ambridge Home Center (long ago True Value, then Ace, now Do It Best) is a large independent store, pretty good. The brand names change, but the store stays the same. They buy some stock and run some ads via those hardware wholesalers, but they also have other stock that doesn't come through them. This is a haul from Garfield of course. Whatever you gain from using the indy is probably negated by the long drive (over an hour round-trip).

Still a big outfit, but Grainger can be useful for such things if you don't mind waiting until the next day or so. It's very contractor oriented, sure. About a year ago I got some stuff at the Strip District location, and most of the other customers in there seemed to be regulars. There's a very small stock of stuff on shelves and some stock in a warehouse there but seemed like most things will have to come from another warehouse and get there the next day. Not sure if it was great pricing either, but they did get me screws that you just can't get in HD/Lowe's at all.

Meanwhile, while desperately trying to find some stock of similar screws to use the same day, I went to Mueller's on E. Ohio St. This may be the only old hardware store left in the city, dunno. It wasn't especially great service, but it was there and they did find a few screws for me.

[DaBurgh]

Grainger (.com)..... greg beat me to it...
I order from them online and they will drop-ship straight to you, next day too...

[h_curtis]

Originally Posted by Honest Bob

Just so you know - building contractors do not get a discount from Lowes or Home Depot.
But veterans can get a discount if you show them your discharge papers or service card - especially during the 4th of July weekend.

That isn't exactly true. If you spend more than $2500 at HD or Lowes, you DO get a discount. You have to submit it for a bid and they usually get back to you the same day. Sometimes they will do it while you wait. You can save several hundred on a three thousand bill. I flip homes and do this all the time. More than worth it if you are doing a larger job.

[bbrian12]

there is a small tru value in mt oliver and of course daniels discount in s.park. but unfortunately they are small and dont have much to pick from so you allmost have to go to busy beaver.lowes, or home depo. i think most of the 84 lumbers are gone and there used to be a brookside lumber in bethel park but i dont know if its still there or not

[jay5835]

Some friends of mine who own a couple of rental houses shop for some hardware things at Rollier's in Mt. Lebanon. I've never been there, so I don't know how closely the merchandise approximates what you buy at Home Depot.

[raubre]

For big bulky items (like doors) you can always try Construction Junction. Not sure about smaller bits and stuff though. They are in Point Breeze.

- Construction Junction