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I've found that the local hardware store usually has the same or similar stuff as Lowe's or Home Depot, except with a higher price tag.

• sokoloff 4y ago
  Worse selection, less organized, higher prices, and limited online presence? You might be in a local hardware store. You might snag a deal on some dusty new-old-stock part, but for just about anything else, I much prefer the box stores or Amazon or supplyhouse.com (I can vouch heavily for these guys, who used to be called pexsupply.com)
  • jrowen 4y ago
    One major difference though (at least in my experience with hardware stores in rural Northern California) is that many of the employees actually have a good amount of experience with the tools and materials and can offer recommendations and help you figure things out and make decisions. Good luck getting most HD employees to do much beyond looking up a location on their phone slower than you can do yourself. I'm generally willing to pay for the experience of being surrounded by a tenured team who know what they're doing rather than a rotating cast operating at inattentive high schooler levels, but I do still go to HD a lot. And there was one store I stopped going to because the old guy knew too much and could tell I was doing things out of my depth and - while being somewhat helpful - made me anxious. At HD if you buy a weird combination of stuff or just don't have the air of a pro, nobody's paying attention or knows the difference.