The Demise of Locally Owned Hardware Stores?

[ultrarunner]

It could just be where I live or a sign of the times...

All my great locally owned Hardware stores are going away...

Some I had accounts with and others I patronized because they had what I needed.

ACE, TrueValue, Do it Best, etc... are fading fast.

Most had longtime family ownership and when the owner passed away or otherwise was not up to running the business that was the end... a few had long term leases and faced huge rent increases and that did them in.

My truck has never been broken into at a neighborhood hardware store and one was the size of a city block... unfortunately, my truck has been broken into several times at the big chain hardware stores even in the first aisle at noon on a Sunday.

The big chains have their place and I absolutely love my Lowes in Olympia WA area..

Box stores in the SF Bay Area not so much... when I make a contact in one of the box stores all is well until that person is no longer there.... the small independants I had relationships where I could call in a special order and it would be done...

I really miss the old timers with full service that had career employees who lived and breathed hardware...

The true independents folded when the box guys came to town... the ones with one or two stores and no national affiliations...

We have a few lumber yards with good service and they do carry some items... but nothing like an old fashioned store that would thread pipe, re-screen, cut glass, mix paint, rekey locks and have those hard to find items to make repairs especially for older homes...

 

[jeff9366]

Some competition may be come from the Big Box stores. The increasing portion of competition is coming from web venders, led by Amazon and eBay, which provide platforms for thousands of specialty venders. Specialty venders cannot survive limited by a town as their market; through eBay they reach a worldwide pool of potential customers.

I live in a rural area. It is easier and cheaper to order specialty hardware from the web, such as 5/16" X 1-1/2" Plow Bolts, and replacement Field Cultivator points, which I ordered last week, than it is to drive around trying to find same in town.

I order custom mixed paint via the web occasionally. I pick it up in town when I have to buy groceries. In and out in five minutes, prepaid, not an hour.

Buying a book via the web is cheaper than driving to the library for a "free" loaner. Web selection is infinite.

Either FedEx or UPS deliver to my house almost every day.

Time is money. Competition is good.

 

[George2615]

Its the same in my area too. Local Ace, True Value stores closed over 10 years ago. Even a few Mom & Pop lumber yards. They can't complete with the internet and big box stores.

 

[joefromga]

Luckily where I'm at we have it all. Being in a major industrial and port area there's almost nothing I can't get literally within 5 miles of me.

The reason small stores go out of business is because they want to operate on banker's hours. At 5pm they are already driving home. They usually don't open Saturday or Sunday and that is when most homeowners buy.

If you want to open a bar you need to be open at night and weekends. If you run a coffee shop you have to be open in the morning. But hardware stores have to always be available to get those people who pay the bills.

Yes, tradesmen will shop 9-5 but it's not enough to get by on so the big box stores and Walmart (open 24 hours) suck up all the business.

It is nice to park close, walk in and immediately be helped. And since it's just a few guys they always know where everything is. But it's the nature of the beast.

Pro tip: if you need help at home depot and there's no one around (always) just find one of those stock ladders and go up a few steps. You'll have someone there within seconds. It works for me everytime.

 

[Ed of all trades]

We have Both Ace and Randy's in the closest town and ace and a mom and pop lumber yard in the big town 12 mi away. That lumber yard has great prices and great service. All of the contractors go there and many homeowners. I guess we are blessed. Ed

 

[Wagtail]

ultrarunner, Mate, I'm not going to quote your OP because you've practically provided your own answer... move. The area you describe yourself living in (+ previous posts of yours) sounds like it's sucking the life out of you. Your truck/ute has been broken into "several times"... move.

There are still places in your country, and the world, where the small hardware store exists with the friendly people working there who know you by name. Places where you can leave your house doors unlocked at night, heck, at all times.

I know. I'm living in one of them now and I could not be happier.

 

[EddieWalker]

I've never had any luck with finding what I'm looking for, or saving money with Ace or any small hardware store. I go to them because they are close to where I'm working at the time, but have found that most of the time, it was a waste of time and I still have to go to Home Depot or Lowes. It's to the point now that I rarely stop at a small hardware store.

One big surprise that I just discovered is that I can order stuff on Lowes.com that they don't have in the store, and have it delivered to my house for free shipping!!!! If I don't need it right away, and I'm not going to the store that day, it's a big time saver for me to go online. I've also had great success ordering stuff online from Home Depot, but they make you pick it up in the store or charge for shipping. HomeDepot.com has so much more online then they do in their store.

 

[3930dave]

It could just be where I live or a sign of the times...

All my great locally owned Hardware stores are going away...

Some I had accounts with and others I patronized because they had what I needed.

ACE, TrueValue, Do it Best, etc... are fading fast.

Most had longtime family ownership and when the owner passed away or otherwise was not up to running the business that was the end... a few had long term leases and faced huge rent increases and that did them in.

My truck has never been broken into at a neighborhood hardware store and one was the size of a city block... unfortunately, my truck has been broken into several times at the big chain hardware stores even in the first aisle at noon on a Sunday.

The big chains have their place and I absolutely love my Lowes in Olympia WA area..

Box stores in the SF Bay Area not so much... when I make a contact in one of the box stores all is well until that person is no longer there.... the small independants I had relationships where I could call in a special order and it would be done...

I really miss the old timers with full service that had career employees who lived and breathed hardware...

The true independents folded when the box guys came to town... the ones with one or two stores and no national affiliations...

We have a few lumber yards with good service and they do carry some items... but nothing like an old fashioned store that would thread pipe, re-screen, cut glass, mix paint, rekey locks and have those hard to find items to make repairs especially for older homes...

You've touched on some currents that run deep through most of Canada/USA today....

There are some good options on the web, but there was and is value in having somebody local who A) knows what they are talking about, and B) has stock on the shelf.

Interesting comment about your truck break-ins. In recent years, around here there was a spate of lug nuts being loosened in parking lots - many happened in the lot of the orange big box company. Obviously not a big-box issue directly, but the topic is probably thesis material for a Pysch major.....

I like the pro-tip about using stock ladders in a BBox store - like most corporations, they are primarily run by lawyers and accountants, so that will be spotted on-camera in the manager's office quickly....

I'm old enough to remember fixing something with an aggie buddy of mine years back..... swung by the olde general store (much like my grandparents went to) and walked out with a brown paper bag with lots of small hardware, for very little money. Today, for small hardware at retail, you mostly pay for packaging.

Few people can make a living working retail today - most you come across today are either already retired and just want something to do, or what you see them doing is one of the 3+ jobs they hold to make ends meet.

Home Hardware is a Canadian chain that has managed to keep some of what was good in days past. I'd summarize it by saying that they are smart enough to give the local store owner enough autonomy to tailor the store to the local market. Many corporations only prioritize creating a monolithic look.

My favourite HH store was a tiny one years ago in Ottawa - it was the old "Alladin's Cave" system of organization - if you had a rainy day to kill, you could spend all day "discovering" in there (fun, when you had the time). The reason people went to that store was that if you needed a Left-Handed Brass Wingnut, Already Pre-Drilled for Safety Wire you could walk in the front door, ask the first worker you saw, and they'd walk 8' down, 4' left, and 5' up, and pull those exact wingnuts out from behind the tennis rackets or toboggans or frying pans in front of them.

A lot has changed since those days.....

Rgds, D.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I've never had any luck with finding what I'm looking for, or saving money with Ace or any small hardware store. I go to them because they are close to where I'm working at the time, but have found that most of the time, it was a waste of time and I still have to go to Home Depot or Lowes. It's to the point now that I rarely stop at a small hardware store.

I do a lot of business with a local Mom and Pop hardware store about 3 miles from my house. It is not a large store but they always seem to have what I need from metric nuts and bolts to hydraulic hose repair. I am always amazed at the number of items they have in that little store including PVC pipe, fittings, culverts etc and a lot of plants for the garden and lawn. It is like a mini Lowes only more items that one may need in the suburbs. The really good thing is that in lots of cases the price is lower than the larger box stores.
I do realize that not all small hardware stores are the same but I consider it very fortunate to have a good one close by. The only problem I have with it is that at noon on a Saturday thru 7am Monday, you are out of luck. They don't do weekends.

PS They also sell tractor implements like rototillers, box blades, landscape rakes, hay balers(used) and sometimes even a used tractor or two.

 

[DFB]

Convenience is nice with the local hardware stores though it all depends what it is you need. I like ACE but don't have one here. Have Aubuchon Hardware and a True Value store. I despise the Orange box but eventually I'm going to get stuck with patronizing it because it will be the only place to go just like with the Walmart.

My local lumber yard was just sold this week finally. It had been on the mkt for while now and right now most all the stock including lumber has been depleted I have no clue what its going to become or how I will like it anymore. There has been concrete block dividers set up in the back obviously to hold landscaping material like mulch.