Why do we keep driving to far away stores that are understocked, understaffed and don't care?

[jyoutz]

I have a couple of locally owned hardware stores (OK, ACE franchises) that are generally well stocked and often at or below the Big Box store prices. I try to use them when I can.

Same with farm stores and grocery stores.

My Big Box stores have weird stock discrepancies. They may have some 1 1/2 pipe and a few fittings, but they might have Ts but no Ls or caps, but no plugs. Or they might only have flanges in 1". It's worse in electrical, but I can't think of an example right off.

I refuse to do O'Reileys.


We already had AutoZone, Advance and NAPA within a mile or so of each other in a few areas. The O guys came in and planted their flags within site of at least one of the others in three different parts of town. I hate leaches.

Leeches? I thought that is how capitalism works. Competition is good for the consumer.

 

[TractorGuy]

Do you have a Fastenal branch near you? Pretty handy store for nuts and bolts.

Yep. I must always have special needs because they never have what I want. They are also 25 miles away and only open M thru F.

 

[Steppenwolfe]

Can you get a discount on Filson from an on-line retailer? Years ago I could get 35% off from a shop where I used to live but that's gone away with an influx of better heeled tourists.

Wait for the sales. I know Filson and Carhart offer deep discounts seasonally. I just bought some high quality T shirts from Carhart for 20 bucks a piece.

 

[MossRoad]

Yep. I must always have special needs because they never have what I want. They are also 25 miles away and only open M thru F.

Bummer.

 

[Oaktree]

My guess is if I want to Rural King for a dozen half inch by 3.5" stainless steel bolts and nuts, if they had any at all, they'd have less than a dozen.

I was thinking the same thing, not exactly a high demand item, not surprised no one had them in stock.

 

[Oaktree]

True, but the biggest problem with small local businesses is that they haven’t updated their business hours to fit the current times. Most of them are closed when I drive to work and closed when I’m driving home. So I shop at Walmart and other big box stores in the evenings because they are the only businesses that are open.

Agreed. I get that they can't carry the inventory of a box store, but I don't have much sympathy for those who complain that the box store ran them out of business when they're not open hours that are convenient for customers. Yes, that means evenings, weekends and holidays.

 

[Rebeldad1]

Amazon for us is first choice. Opens a window to pretty much anything we need. Its a 170 mile round trip to a city of any size.
Have tried calling and ordering over the phone, They are always happy to take our order. Last time we did this the shipping for 3 oil filters was about $25.00.
Amazon looks better every day. Our UPS drivers are great and will do anything they can to deliver our order.

If you live near big cities you dont see the problem of just using a local store.

 

[hayden]

Grainger still provides excellent service and prices with accounts not bad and in some cases cannot be beat with national account...

I must have the wrong kind of account. In my experience they are about the most expensive place you can buy anything.

 

[Torvy]

I have a couple of locally owned hardware stores (OK, ACE franchises) that are generally well stocked and often at or below the Big Box store prices. I try to use them when I can.

Same with farm stores and grocery stores.

My Big Box stores have weird stock discrepancies. They may have some 1 1/2 pipe and a few fittings, but they might have Ts but no Ls or caps, but no plugs. Or they might only have flanges in 1". It's worse in electrical, but I can't think of an example right off.

I refuse to do O'Reileys.


We already had AutoZone, Advance and NAPA within a mile or so of each other in a few areas. The O guys came in and planted their flags within site of at least one of the others in three different parts of town. I hate leaches.

To be fair, this is often city zoning. You see these types of businesses clumped together because that is where the city management want them.

 

[4570Man]

I have a couple of locally owned hardware stores (OK, ACE franchises) that are generally well stocked and often at or below the Big Box store prices. I try to use them when I can.

Same with farm stores and grocery stores.

My Big Box stores have weird stock discrepancies. They may have some 1 1/2 pipe and a few fittings, but they might have Ts but no Ls or caps, but no plugs. Or they might only have flanges in 1". It's worse in electrical, but I can't think of an example right off.

I refuse to do O'Reileys.


We already had AutoZone, Advance and NAPA within a mile or so of each other in a few areas. The O guys came in and planted their flags within site of at least one of the others in three different parts of town. I hate leaches.

There’s 3 ace hardware stores where I live. 2 of them are pretty limited in selection and always high. You shop there to save driving somewhere else not because of superior service. The 3rd one is pretty well stocked but still probably 1/4 the selection lowes has. They have pretty cheap pex fittings and rebar but that’s about the only time they beat lowes. The other downside, they close at 5:00. There’s 4 non chain plumbing/electric supply houses here. Their help is even more incompetent than lowes, they’re virtually always higher than lowes and they close between 3-5 pm. There is a non chain plumbing store here that has by far the best plumbing selection in the county.