We currently have a Home Depot; large Canadian Tire and now we are getting a Lowe’s.
Home Depot is a sore neck waiting to happen - too many things on shelves too high; and their service is not very good; Canadian Tire has good service but not a lot of stock, if I want six electrical boxes, they’ve usually got two; been to a Lowe’s in Erie - it seemed fine but I was just visiting for a few minutes and it was three years ago…so, I’m looking for opinions here. Tell me about positive/negative experiences from shopping at Lowe’s.
Home Depot is actually about half a mile closer to my house (though they are in opposite directions), and I’ll go there in a pinch. But I find that Lowe’s has a comparable selection of the basics (nails, paint, plants, etc.) and a better selection in the larger products (molding, light fixtures, plumbing fixtures, seasonal decorations, etc.). I never do any sort of heavy construction, so I can’t really compare the hard core building aisles.
The employees are also more helpful. I’ve had Home Depot people watch me struggle to load something into my truck, and they will not provide anything other than plastic wrap in order to tie items down. Whereas I’ve had Lowe’s people insist on loading items for me and providing rope and such.
The lion’s share of my experience at Lowe’s was when we were doing minor remodeling and extensive painting in our current house. I had never repaired plaster walls before, or worked with drywall (we drywalled some of the walls that were too damaged to save). The employees were helpful, informative, and remembered me from one time to the next. They knew what room I was working on next, and suggested paint colors that would look nice with the others I had chosen. I’m a big fan.
I think it is a local thing, but my experience with Lowe’s v. Home Depot is the exact opposite of the above posts.
Lowes came to my town, opening two stores just as unemployment rate hit absolute rock bottom. As a result they were left with the dregs of the dregs found in the vile black sludge at the bottom of the employment pool. Cashiers that literally couldn’t comprehend why I would be asking them to wait a second while I fished 2 pennies from my pocket when the total was $5.02 and I already had handed them a $20 bill. Plumbing associates that giggled when I asked for a close-nipple, didn’t know a compression fitting from a flare fitting, or that NO, a garden hose will NOT thread and seal on a 1/2 NPT thread, even though it looks like it might.
On the same items Lowes seems to be around 5-10% more expensive than HD as well. Unfortunately, they are just around the corner from my house, so very convienient.
Oh, and that round-the-corner store? They built it on the large vacant lot where I used to be able to run my dog…Bastards. OTOH HD is now CEO’d by a Jack “Neutron” Welch protoge’ so I expect the workers to become progressivly surly and less helpful as he whips the company into shape.
In my area, Lowe’s is closer, and we’ve had much better service there. Just after buying our house, we did some major remodeling, and except for the dining room light fixture, we bought everything at Lowe’s. At least 3 different times, we went to HD and had to search for help or information. We tried to special order a window, and gave up in disgust. Turns out, we got a window off-the-shelf at Lowe’s and it’s just right. We tried to get help when we were shopping for kitchen cabinets - and we could have gotten time with the one and only sales guy if we’d been willing to wait a couple of hours - at Lowe’s we were in and out in less than 30 minutes.
We don’t even waste the gas to go to HD any longer.
I’ve been to the local Lowe’s just once, but it’s about the biggest store I’ve ever seen. It’s much bigger than the Home Depot, with a bigger selection of appliances, fixtures and things like that. The employees seemed to be more helpful. I went there for a toilet, not for tools or anything like that, so I don’t know how they are on the basics. The Home Depot is much closer and good enough for those things.
One of my best friends works at a Lowe’s designing kitchens. I have no need to go there ever besides to visit him, but I know they have cool kitchen and lighting stuff. He comes home all the time with new lamps and fans and other home decor that is really quite neat. I know my parents always go to Lowe’s even thought there is a Home Depot literally across the street from the Lowe’s.
I’ve shopped at both pretty equally (and frequently) in the past year. I honestly couldn’t tell you the difference between the two other than HD is on THIS side of the traffic light and Lowes is on THAT side. I stop at whichever is on my way.
I’ve had negative and positive experiences at both. Can’t say I’ve ever been treated well or proficiently helped at either.
And both of their web sites suck ass when it comes to finding stuff you want. I can’t count the times I’ve gone to both sites to look for something, didn’t find it on either site, and ended up trudging to the store and it’s right there on the shelf. It sucks if you’re a pre-shopper like me.
From what I understand, Lowe’s business model is to open up near existing Home Depots, and provide better customer service and competitive prices. The only Lowe’s here is across town, though, but I prefer to shop there when it’s convenient.
I have a Lowes and Home Depot right across the street from each other and not far from my house. I tend to go to Lowes first for stuff for my home but if I need something I can’t find there, I’ll go to the Home Depot.
When buying stuff for my work I tend to go to Home Depot because we get a gift card from there for the handyman to use for supplies and I want him to be able to return stuff or buy the same things if we need more of an item.
When the Lowes first opened the local paper ran a comparison and their prices are pretty close. Lowes may have some stuff cheaper and HD may have other stuff cheaper. I find that HD tends to be more geared to contractors than do-it-yourselfers. Lowes also seems to have some nicer stuff. When Lowes first opened their service was a lot better than HD’s, but after time has gone by, instead of HD getting better with their service, Lowes has declined. Lowes still does have service people that are slightly easier to find and an eensy bit more helpful than HD on the average but sometimes it’s a crap shoot on who’s better in that department.
HD is closer, yet Lowes is my favorite by far. I did a pretty lengthy comparrison a few years back when I had several years of home improvement projects ahead of me and Lowes came out ahead in near every category. The difference wasn’t always huge, but wrt product quality, service, ease of find, plant hardiness, whatever… Lowes was my choice.
Mr2U does home improvement/remodeling for a living. He had an opportunity to visit a Lowe’s just down the street from a house he is currently working on - he said he will never go back and will go miles out of the way for a Home Depot so he can deal with someone who knows what they’re doing. I won’t even get STARTED on Menard’s.
In my opinion they seem like they are in direct competition but that is not exactly the case.
Home Depot is where builders shop, Lowe’s is where homeowners shop.
Of course the bulk of their customers are the same, the differences are on the edges. This is what makes a difference in the shopping experience between the two. Lowe’s stores are just a bit cleaner, prices are just a bit higher, these things appeal to homeowners more.
Had a couple of Lowes near me when I lived in the SF Bay Area, and now that they’re opening here in Toronto, my feeling is “so what?”… The customer service in both was non-existent.
I drove past two on my daily commute for years in California. I’m certainly not going to drive to Newmarket to go to one…
I’m still waiting for a box hardware store with employees who care… Used to be a hardware store near me that had been around for almost 100 years, was cramped, confusing and WONDERFUL… The employees had been there forever and could find ANYTHING you needed in seconds…
Lowe’s has wider and more brightly lit aisles and some higher-end stuff that HD doesn’t carry. Prices are comparable. HD is (slightly) better on contractor type items. Overall, I would say it’s about 6 of one and a half-dozen of the other.
On the plus side, since Lowe’s moved in, HD has expanded and remodeled most of their stores to compete with Lowe’s. They’re also carrying a better quality of hardware (generally speaking) than before Lowe’s was around. At first, Lowe’s was superior, but now it’s a wash