Jul
9
Growing up in suburban NYC, there was one choice when it came to hardware stores – Pergament. When I went to college in upstate NY, there was one choice as well – Chase Pitkin. When I first moved to Denver, there were several choices including Builders Squares and Hugh M Woods.
Today, these stores don’t exist. They’ve been replaced by two home improvement mega centers: Lowes and Home Depot. These home improvement centers are growing at a rapid pace and leaving a closed hardware stores in their wake.
A few years ago we planned on remodeling our bath room but after getting two quotes from contractors we decided that our money was best spent on a Mexican vacation. This year we revisited the idea of remodeling our bath room but we decided to set a budget and keep things within reason since we’re planning to go to Mexico again next year. In order to keep things within reason, it means doing it yourself and going to Lowes or Home Depot.
To make life easier my wife and I ventured to Arapahoe and I-25 in the Tech Center where Home Depot and Lowes are about a block apart. Plus, if we didn’t like their selection, the Great Indoors, was a stone throw away on I-25 and County Line. We went shopping. I hate shopping but you don’t have to twist my arm to go to a home improvement center. We looked at flooring, vanities, sinks, counter tops, faucets, and just about everything in between.
This shopping adventure brought up a great question: How do you pick between Lowes and Home Depot? You can go with Nick Bakay’s “Tale of the Tape” method:
Number of Locations: Way too many (Home Depot) vs Not enough (Lowes) advantage Home Depot
Location of restrooms: At the Front (Lowes) vs At the Rear (Home Depot) advantage Lowes
Parking: Even on a busy day it’s not bad (Lowes) vs No matter what time you go, it’s just plain bananas (Home Depot) advantage Lowes
Checkout: Self Checkout (Home Depot) vs No Self-Checkout (Lowes) advantage Home Depot
NASCAR driver: Jimmie Johnson (Lowes) vs Tony Stewart (Home Depot) push
So far we’re even 2-2, so here’s the tie breaker:
Closing time: 10 PM (Lowes) vs 9 PM (Home Depot) advantage Lowes
So there you have it, Lowes wins 3-2!
Update: We ended up getting the vanity, sink, flooring and counter top at Home Depot. My wife simply didn’t care for my affinity to Lowes.
Is your rate too high? Get a rate quote on a Denver Mortgage Loan now!Comments
5 Responses to “Lowes vs Home Depot”
Leave a Reply
Search
Custom Search
I went to Home Depot this weekend for a batteries. I left with 48 (yes, 48) CFL bulbs, a cordless hedge trimmer, 4 replacement air filters, and a garden hose storage unit. Naturally, I forgot to put the batteries in the cart.
It probably wouldn’t have happened at Lowe’s — they would have reviewed my list with me at checkout, right?
They would’ve said, see you in a few hours Mr. Green
I always “forget” things at Home Depot or Lowes. Somehow when I’m tasked to go to Safeway I never forget.
Very odd…
Our Home Depot stores here in Charlotte, NC are open ’til 9pm M-TH; 10pm FR-SA; 8pm SU — so perhaps Lowe’s only gets a .5 point! So there again, dead even! There are a lot of Home Depot stores with people who are really knowledgeable … finding them might be tough. But when you do, whee! it’s wonderful.
My fiance and I closed on our very first home just yesterday. We had dinner to celebrate and then ventured to… I25 and Arapahoe for some major consumerage at Lowes. It was 9 p.m. They were closed! Distraught, we ventured to Home Depot right across the street. Closed. So, I suppose, they both lose on that one now.
Lowes has good parking because no-one is there, even when it is supposed to be “Busy.” Coupled with Home Depots new focus on customer service thanks to their new CEO and their more financially sound methods of inventory control I guess the location of the restrooms is one of the most important things. Hours vary location to location as well. This analysis is lacking anything that would render it an effective analysis.
They are both box stores, but when Lowes underperformed on Walstreet they blamed the consumer. I know I would rather shop somewhere that doesn’t blame me for it’s troubles…