In a message dated 2/20/02 5:26:17 PM Central Standard Time,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
<<
It seems to me that Nicollet Ace is the most successful of the neighborhood
hardware stores in my area. I see people I know from all south Minneapolis
there, and on a spring weekend the place is buzzing.
Why? Its pretty simple, I think. Its the service.
That's why I go there, anyway. Sometimes I have to park a half a
block away, but I don't mind because I am treated well, and my
questions are answered with some degree of knowledge. It is also fairly
close to where I live.
(Snip) Keith asks; Do you know who's business' or home's parking frontage,
half a block away, you usually tie up during your errand to the hardware
store? "..I don't mind..." you blithely say, but those someones half a block
away might be bothered. Over and over again. "It's the service", you believe,
that makes them "... the most successful of the neighborhood hardware
stores". In your eyes, they have succeeded; they are #1. They want to add
adjacent parking to remediate a issue that you so aptly describe.
(snip)Back to Russell
I doubt seriously that tearing down two houses (which is what we are really
talking about now) and creating 21 parking spaces is going to make Nicollet
Ace any more competitive with lumber yards/hardware stores like Menards and
Home Depot. What it will do is put them in a better position to out-compete
other neighborhood hardware stores.
(snip to Keith)
Now they have motives other then serving you and all other neighborhood
customers by giving you a place to park. Now their logic is flawed and has a
less benign quality. You have done the research, run the numbers, and you
have pierced the neighborhood retailers game. He is not going to take out
Menards and Home Depot. He is going to "...out compete other neighborhood
hardware stores." Probably shut 'um all down, maybe run 'um right out of
town. Those men in overalls are sinister, not nice.
It may be typical of local hardware outlets to be short of parking. But
this isn't Latte'. They do not compete, as a destination, when you need a
widget? I go to the one that is closest cause I have not visited a local
hardware store I didn't like. Have you? And even if this competitive end run
is correct, so what? Competitive drive often improves product, price and
service. Help your neighborhood hardware outlet help you. It is no accident
that they do a great job, in your opinion. Who will be the next recipient of
All the King's Men of Kingfield's wisdom. Let the rib guy cook you a rib and
the Salvation Army sell you a rag. Let the hardware guy give you a place to
park.
Keith Reitman, We have lost two hardware stores and one lumber yard at
West Broadway and North Washington, NearNorth
>>
Keith says;
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