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The other day at a business lunch the subject of Home Depot came up. One of the people there said he knew a fellow in South Dakota in a town where Home Depot was planning to move in. The man owned two small hardware stores and he did some research about what had happened in other cities where Home Depot moved in. Based on his research, he went out and bought three more hardware stores that sold cheap because they feared Home Depot would run them out of business. He is now reputedly doing very well for himself due to special orders, custom parts, and most of all: customer service. If someone wants something big or cheap, they go to Home Depot, but if they want something good, with a warranty, with service or unique, they go to his stores. He now has a monopoly on a lot of the hardware business and he doesn't even try to compete with Home Depot on the national stuff.
I can kind of see how this would work. Having a Home Depot around to supply standard items cheaply would spur renovation projects, restoration and construction. For every project like that, there will be a bunch of stuff people want to customize and Home Depot can't help them.
Just anecdotal, but it's something to keep in mind.
Mary Baker East Side
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