I think there’s a place for both. Lamentably I don’t do most of my shopping at the mom and pop place, and I don’t know if that’s a sustainable model to help people for 10 minutes, answer all of their questions, and only make a $1.99 sale out of it. Granted I’ll often spend more there, but more often than not it’s of to the Depot I go. Home Depot is definitely eating their lunch, and it should be interesting to see what happens now that there’s one so close. They just opened it on Feb 1, and previously there were three within 15 miles, but they involved either a rather long drive (25-30 minutes) or a toll bridge with lots of traffic, or a toll road in the other direction with lots of traffic. But now it’s a 7 minute drive around a lake and you’re there.

My rant aside, I’m actually a fan of ACE when it comes to good ‘ole hardware purchases. I was bummed when they rolled up their carpets and went home from Texas. I’ve got a Home Depot and a Lowe’s both within a mile of me, but neither brings the associate expertise that I used to get with ACE.

Roscoe, you have a point about power tools, though. I rarely go into a store to “shop” for power tools; generally, I’ve already done my research and am just looking for the best price/most convenient purchase. I’d even mail-order power tools. But when I’m looking for hardware stuff, I often have questions, and I’m not quite as price-sensitive.

So yes, blame them for bringing down a perfectly-interesting sale with legalese that makes it mean very little, but you can blame me for “phoen orders” and “sity stickers.”

Oops.