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Home Depot closing 15 stores around the country..

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Noticed Home Depot is shuttering 15 units around the country, a flagship store in Opelousas, La. they just opened.

Home Depot <span style="text-decoration: underline">just</span> opened a brand-new super-flagship store in Lafayette, La., that has yet to catch on. Now, the building economy in Lafayette is booming but this store, their third in the city, has essentially no customers yet. Kinda weird going in, all shelves are fully stocked, smiling associates (oops, that's WalMart-talk....employees) just standing around. Kinda nice but not paying the bills.
 
Re: Home Depot closing 15 stores around the count

Bill - we have a huge Sears Hardware store here, built 5 years ago. It's the size of a WalMart Superstore, but I swear it has maybe one customer every six hours. The only employee you see is one checkout clerk, who's usually just yakking on her cell phone; no other staff visible anywhere. It was built right between the WalMart and the Home Depot. Still can't figure out who makes those decisions of where to build.

Seems the model for expansion for a lot of businesses over the last dozen years is "Starbucks - cram 'em in everywhere". The corporation can show its stockholders that it's growing; the builder gets the money whether the business is successful or not; the employees get an hourly wage, but not security.

Tom
 
Re: Home Depot closing 15 stores around the count

There are about 6 Home Depots and a similar number of Loews within an easy drive of me.
Even a place with a population density like New Jersey doesn't need *that* many.

[Note to people who don't live in the USA: These are <span style="text-decoration: underline">HUGE</span> stores that sell hardware, lumber, building supplies and sometimes, appliances]

One of the Home Depots that's closing is in New Brunswick (NJ) and it's a horrible store. Very crowded, messy and always seems to be missing what I need. I have bought stuff in there when I'm on my way down to my folk's house (I've been fixing their house up for the last year...we're hoping to sell it very soon). The fact that they're closing this one makes sense to me.

Also, we have three Sears Hardware stores in my area....as Tom says above, our's are "normally" very empty. I don't know how they keep going?
 
Re: Home Depot closing 15 stores around the count

There are two HDs in Albuquerque. One is one the east side of town (closer to Edgewood where I live) and one on the west side. Both of them are always busy. My own town of Edgewood used to be a small bedroom community when we moved here, but we just got a Wal-Mart and a couple years ago a Smiths. Both are always very busy. Now they are talking about opening a Home Depot here in Edgewood. If they do I hope it is successful because it would be much handier for me than driving 30 miles into town when I need a pack of screws.

Basil
 
Re: Home Depot closing 15 stores around the count

Don't know "Smiths" stores at all. Do they repair Jaeger speedometers? :jester:

Here where we've got the un-used Sears Hardware, Lowe's is planning to open a megastore - about a quarter mile from the Home Depot and Sears. Competition is a great stimulus, but can't work miracles if there aren't enough customers.

Wonder if this is like that proverbial "band on the Titanic"? Just close your eyes and keep building ... and building ... and building ... and <slosh>.

T.
 
Re: Home Depot closing 15 stores around the count

There are some insane number of condo's and apartments for sale in Miami for that reason. It's a buyer's market down there now.

The local HD stores (two of 'em within 10 miles) seem to be crowded at all times. Same with a Lowes. Tho "Scotty's" shut down a few years ago and there was another "chain" one I can't recall closed four years back. Horsemits got in there on the last day of business and for $10 a shopping cart load, durn'd near cleared the place out by herself... she called me to go help her load the car. The shopping cart she loaded looked like one of those pix ya see of an oriental laundry delivery scooter with the load obscuring bike and rider, piled to th' sky. Wouldn't all fit into the car! She went for all the shiny stuff, too: hardware, halogen lightbulbs, hinges, fittings, sliding door rollers... the place was stripped to the walls by the time I got there. One guy remarked there wasn't anything left, I retorted: "Nope, my wife got in there ahead of ya!" :smirk:
 
Re: Home Depot closing 15 stores around the count

If there were one 5 minutes away I might feel different, but I pretty much avoid HD and Lowes. The last straw, for me, was when I went into Lowes and I couldn't understand what was on a single box in an entire row. I was looking for an outdoor light fixture, but when I tried to find the specs and description on the boxes I realized <span style="font-style: italic">every single box was in Spanish</span>...and <span style="font-style: italic">then</span> I realized the stocked all the shelves that way. I picked up a box or two and found the English "side" of the box but I was so disgusted at that point I just walked out and went to Ace...they usually have what I need, the store is like my old small hardware store, and so far I haven't run across packaging I had to ask someone to decypher.
 
Re: Home Depot closing 15 stores around the count

Doc. I bet that one you can't remember was a Builders' Square!! Lost ours about 4 years ago too, along with the Scotty's (I thought that Home Depot, which opened near the Scotty's was responsible for that!) Until two years ago we had to travel 15 miles south or twenty miles north for both HD and Walmart, now we have one of each of our own, so much nicer when you need that odd batch of screws etc.!
 
Re: Home Depot closing 15 stores around the count

Builders' Square!! thanks for the memories Mike, ya cleaned out a few cobb webs here.

HD is five minutes from my house and we have 1 local Hware left. I give him the business whenever I can :wink:.

HD by me is always packed.
 
Re: Home Depot closing 15 stores around the count

Builder's Square it was, Mike.

We recently (last year) lost our Ma & Pa run hardware store. I went THERE for everything. He struggled for as long as he could before finally being forced to shut down... certainly due to HD and the rest. Very sad day for those of us who did patronize the place. It was the typical: If it ain't on a shelf, either it ain't made any longer or it's a day away. Only thing I recall he didn't have on-hand was a replacement valve stem assembly for a thirty year old Koehler shower mixer we have in the hovel. Place was a treasure palace, folks knew everyone by name, it was FRIENDLY!


drat.
 
Re: Home Depot closing 15 stores around the count

I drive past HD to shop at Lowe's!
 
Re: Home Depot closing 15 stores around the count

I'm not too surprised. every chain retailer has to do this once in a while, and every retailer has locations that chronically underperform, either because of bad location, too much competition, or bad management at the store level.

Our local Ace is like Doc's local store-it's a franchise, and the owners have been there for-ever, as has much of the staff. We go there for stuff like screws, small tools, garden stuff, etc. Home Depot is for big stuff, lumber and suchlike. Both places do good business.

Target opened a new store near my old apartment, and I thought it was great, now I don't have to go back into Batavia to buy stuff. Course, I never went in the new one, cause I'd always stop at the one in Batavia on my way home from work....but when I did go in the new one it was great, cause it was never busy during weekdays so I was in and out.

My former company is closing stores, apparently. They opened one across town from my old location, and it's never done good business, to the point where they cut their hours. It was in a bad location (they'd have been better off opening a location further north, in Elgin). I wonder when that one gets shuttered.

-Wm.
 
Re: Home Depot closing 15 stores around the count

In my area the Lowe's is far superior to the Home Depot accross the street. I only go to HD if Lowe's doesn't have what I need, which is very seldom. HD's wood selection is terrible compared to Lowes.
 
Re: Home Depot closing 15 stores around the count

roofman said:
In my area the Lowe's is far superior to the Home Depot accross the street. I only go to HD if Lowe's doesn't have what I need, which is very seldom. HD's wood selection is terrible compared to Lowes.
Click to expand...

I agree, I usually prefer Lowes to HD, but our Lowe's is harder to get to than the HD, for no savings. Location, times three, eh?

That said, I hate going to either store, and only do when I can't get something at Ace.

-Wm.
 
Re: Home Depot closing 15 stores around the count

I go to our local Home Hardware when I need anything except lumber(they dont carry any) + the owner drives a nicely restored M G T.C.
 
Re: Home Depot closing 15 stores around the count

There's a bright side to this for those among us who have too many LBC parts lying around:

When the local Hechinger's closed, we got lots of great shelving from them for our storage hangar. These were shelves that Hechinger's used for lumber and stuff; they could hold heavy loads. We put engines and the like on them.
 
Re: Home Depot closing 15 stores around the count

NutmegCT said:
Wonder if this is like that proverbial "band on the Titanic"? Just close your eyes and keep building ... and building ... and building ... and <slosh>.

T.
Click to expand...

Can you say Krispy Kream?
 
Re: Home Depot closing 15 stores around the count

Twosheds said:
There's a bright side to this for those among us who have too many LBC parts lying around:

When the local Hechinger's closed, we got lots of great shelving from them for our storage hangar. These were shelves that Hechinger's used for lumber and stuff; they could hold heavy loads. We put engines and the like on them.
Click to expand...

Hey Doc, Would that have been the Frederick Hechingers?
 
Re: Home Depot closing 15 stores around the count

I have read all the posts and don't hold any contrary opinions, but if this isn't a "political" post, I don't know what is.
If i were the moderator, I'd close it, or start one on imigration.
 
Re: Home Depot closing 15 stores around the count

hilsideser said:
I have read all the posts and don't hold any contrary opinions, but if this isn't a "political" post, I don't know what is.
If i were the moderator, I'd close it, or start one on imigration.
Click to expand...

As the forum owner, I'll say that maybe one post veered a tad into an area that "could" be somewhat political, but overall, I have no problem with the thread thus far. I may not agree with some of what has been said, but I don't see anything I'd consider really political...so far.

Basil
 
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