Lowe's vs. Home Depot

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dmclone

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Last week I was searching for a part that Home Depot didn't carry. I hadn't been to a lowe's in probably 3 years. Does anyone else feel like Lowe's is a complete joke compared to Home Depot? Maybe just the local Lowe's are so bad? Another thing I noticed is that Craftsman has really fallen.

Just a few observations. Thoughts?
 

AgronAlum

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Last week I was searching for a part that Home Depot didn't carry. I hadn't been to a lowe's in probably 3 years. Does anyone else feel like Lowe's is a complete joke compared to Home Depot? Maybe just the local Lowe's are so bad? Another thing I noticed is that Craftsman has really fallen.

Just a few observations. Thoughts?

Most definitely on Craftsman. Especially their power tools. It was a mistake for them to pull in Craftsman and scale back Kobalt. I got my 8 year old son a Craftsman drill among some other things because it was fairly cheap and he wanted to start his own tool collection. It feels as cheap as a 20 dollar Black and Decker.

I like Home Depot for tools and a select few building products and menards for the rest.
 
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JM4CY

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I don't understand why you wouldn't go to Menards....... Although in a pinch I do enjoy going to the local Ace store but that's in rare situations only.
 
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AgronAlum

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I don't understand why you wouldn't go to Menards....... Although in a pinch I do enjoy going to the local Ace store but that's in rare situations only.

Tools. Most of what menards carries is garbage but they are getting better.

I like my Makita stuff.

I do frequent Ankeny Hardware quite a bit though. Ace scaled their hours waaaaay back with COVID so I haven’t been in awhile. I used to like going there too.
 
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CyCloned

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I shop at Menards a lot, but the Lowes is close to home, so I have been getting more stuff there. The selection on some things is not as good as Menards. Home Depot is okay, I guess. After the Derecho I was buying several years worth of home improvement stuff and got a fair amount at the Fleet Farm in CR. They seemed to have some stuff in stock that others did not.
 

BoxsterCy

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Almost never go to Lowes except for paint. Their tools suck. Plus they are like 10 miles away.

Menards is 2.5 miles from my house and Home Depot is another 1/2 mile out the same way. FTW. I probably lean 75% to HD and do Menards if I am just looking for cheap knockoff **** that isn't a big deal for what I am doing. Menards is hit and miss on stuff. Their tools sorta suck but grabbing a 2x4 or so isn't too bad. Best part of their proximity to each other is if one doesn't have it the other likely does and they are only 1/2 mile from each other.
 

JP4CY

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Menards is the Walmart of Home Improvement.
Cheap and most likely have what you're looking for.

Menards sells trash for tools though.

Out of all of them give me Home Depot.
 
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AgronAlum

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Agree here. I don't buy tools at Menards.

Ive had good luck with some Husky stuff from HD but I haven’t bought many hand tools lately. I pretty well have what I need. I like that they carry Diablo for blades and bits, the better power tool brands and a decent selection of specialty tools because that’s primarily what I’m looking for.

A lot of my stuff is coming from Rockler nowadays.
 

3GenClone

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I like the layout of Lowe’s over Home Depot. Having their power tools at the front of the store makes sense to me, rather than do what HD does and cram everything into one aisle. I also think Lowe’s electrical/low-voltage selection is better and easier to get to in the store (usually one of the front aisles) whereas Home Depot electrical is usually towards the back of the store.

Menard’s can’t be beat for in-store compared to Lowe’s and HD. Has anyone tried the Harbor-Freight store in Urbandale? Their prices that you’ll see in the junk mail seem too good to be true at times. I think my FIL got me a socket set from there that has worked really well for me. I also have a ton of nice dolly carts that I think came from there.
 

mramseyISU

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I tend to buy my tools at Acme tools these days. They have every brand under the sun. Building materials are all over. One or two things I go to HD, if it’s a bunch of lumber them I’ll go to Menards. If I need Hardwood I go to Weiland and sons over in Winthrop.
 

ISUAgronomist

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Has anyone tried the Harbor-Freight store in Urbandale? Their prices that you’ll see in the junk mail seem too good to be true at times. I think my FIL got me a socket set from there that has worked really well for me. I also have a ton of nice dolly carts that I think came from there.

Harbor Freight is the cheap made Chinese knockoff of other cheap Chinese knockoffs. It does serve a purpose though. It's where you go to buy something that you need for one single project super cheap and can reasonable assume you'll never use again.
 

AgronAlum

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I like the layout of Lowe’s over Home Depot. Having their power tools at the front of the store makes sense to me, rather than do what HD does and cram everything into one aisle. I also think Lowe’s electrical/low-voltage selection is better and easier to get to in the store (usually one of the front aisles) whereas Home Depot electrical is usually towards the back of the store.

Menard’s can’t be beat for in-store compared to Lowe’s and HD. Has anyone tried the Harbor-Freight store in Urbandale? Their prices that you’ll see in the junk mail seem too good to be true at times. I think my FIL got me a socket set from there that has worked really well for me. I also have a ton of nice dolly carts that I think came from there.

Harbor Freight is on the south side. Are you thinking of Northern Tool? Harbor Freight is good for throwaway tools and some smaller use specialty tools but I wouldn’t buy their stuff on a regular basis. That being said I’ve had a harbor freight corded impact, grinder and sawzall for going on like 15 years now.

Ive never really found any use to go to Northern Tool for anything.
 
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3GenClone

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Harbor Freight is on the south side. Are you thinking of Northern Tool? Harbor Freight is good for throwaway tools and some smaller use specialty tools but I wouldn’t buy their stuff on a regular basis. That being said I’ve had a harbor freight corded impact, grinder and sawzall for going on like 15 years now.

Ive never really found any use to go to Northern Tool for anything.
There’s a Harbor Freight in the corner of that strip mall complex at Aurora and Merle Hay. Only reason I stumbled upon it was because I cut through that parking lot all the time.

The thing I remember about Northern Tool is they had go kart kits in their catalogs. I always thought that would be a fun project, but I grew up in the suburbs so I had no justification to build one.
 

AgronAlum

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There’s a Harbor Freight in the corner of that strip mall complex at Aurora and Merle Hay. Only reason I stumbled upon it was because I cut through that parking lot all the time.

No ****? I had no idea.