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 amo

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.