The wife and I went to the local Home Depot /Yardbirds tonight to see what kind of discounts they were giving for power tools….a whopping…hold on to your seats….whopping 10%. The same discount for toilets and sinks.
So lets see the $219.95 Porter Cable that I have been wanting after 8.5% sales tax would have cost me around $214.00.
If someone has an in with HD/Yardbirds tell them if they want to move inventory you gotta discount it. My wife did ask an associate if there were going to be further discounts before the store closes on April 1st and he said that there will be one more price reduction but he did not know when.
Oh…the sign on the cash register said “All Sales are Final.” Uhmmmm there is a big box HD on the other side of town…you mean I couldn’t return stuff there if I needed too???
(FYI…HomeDepot / Yardbirds is in the San Francisco Bay Area)
“Projects beget projects and projects beget the need to buy new tools and that is what the cycle of life is all about.”
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Circuit City doing the same thing. Going out of business sale, prices dropped as much as 10%. Big wow.
"...craftsmanship is first & foremost an expression of the human spirit." - P. Korn
bakersfieldremodel.com
Circuit City doing the same thing. Going out of business sale, prices dropped as much as 10%. Big wow.
But not before marking stuff up at least 25%. Consumerist.com has been riding that hobby horse for some time now. These liquidation outfits come in, buy the works, then sell it off only after marking stuff up to MSRP.
They did it w/ CompUSA and Linens & Things as well. Kinda sleazy if you ask me.
Jason
Liquidation sales are usually a bad deal.
Don't waste your time at Home Depot just go to Lowes, when they run a closeout they always discount it at least 50% . Lowes does not keep old discontinued stock around, I've seen 2 year old discontinued DeWALT stock selling at Home Depot like current year stock.
I agree. I've gotten some sweet deals from Lowes. Bought a display paslode gas framer for $100 and a 40' Werner ladder for $50.
Family.....They're always there when they need you.
and a 40' Werner ladder for $50.
Man, I kiell you!!!
It was funny, I just bought ladder racks for my truck that week. I walked in and there it was. Some one bought it, got paint on it and returned it.
I bought that one on principal alone.
Family.....They're always there when they need you.
ooohhh... I'm salivating.
A Lowe's is opening in my area, in the same block as the HDepot actually, next week.
Well, maybe not, but I will be very happy not to go to Home Depot any more!
I cannot resist 'deals' when they really are deals.
around here it is very common for Lowes to mark stuff down 90% first markdown i have filled my Forester to where there was only run to drive ... with light fixtures i knew i would need... regular $69 for 6.90ea they also sell their mistint paint $5 gallon... that is regular $23... i got a load of kitchen sinks... normal $144 for $21ea
Not all the stores mark stuff down the same... same item will be full retail at one while 90% off at the other...
hope your new lowes has some deals for you
p
hope your new lowes has some deals for you
That's what I'm afraid of!
ha, made a Lowes run yesterday for some pvc and got to roaming, you know, long as yer there, snorK*
when I hit the tile aisles and saw some Bottichino 4x4inch tumbled marble tile there were selling closeout at 49cents a sq ft to a box, normally $5 and change. Slew of them. Othe tiles nickel apiece yadayada
Ended up with the truck driving away like a low rider.
Ya, stop in for some pvc.
We have a local outfit called "Jerry's."
everything the big boxes are, except local. I like 'em.
Anyway.. EVERY time I go in, I walk briskly back to the 'tool closeout' area--a lonely place at the end of an aisle.
This has netted me many an 8$ fatmax tape, or 5$ 'grab bag o gloves'
The gloves thing was amazing... A stapled shut grocery bag FULL of gloves. All types...from cheap cloth ones to expensive ninja turtle construction gloves....
Don't miss it...
It pays to know somebody who works at Lowes.............they can hook you up to some sweeeeet deals!
Sometimes those corporate policies crack me up.
They'll be some special price yellow stickers on different items giving the now price and the before price. Now $9.74 and in smaller print beside it see Was $10.58.
On occasion you'll see both the before and after prices marked the same.
Asked the clerks what that was all about and they said they didn't know.
94969.19 In the beginning there was Breaktime...
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I can attest to that. Its funny but at the Lowes I normally go to, I feel like "Norm" at "Cheers". Everyone knows me by name.
Family.....They're always there when they need you.
My wife mentioned going to Home Expo to see if they were letting stuff fly out the door. Thanks for the heads up, saved me the 10 minute drive.
Mike
Small wheel turn by the fire and rod, big wheel turn by the grace of god.
FWIW, I looked in the Expo up the road from my office. At least for now, it isn't a liquidation company. They have signs up that everything's 10 to 30% off, but stuff isn't individually tagged. A co-worker picked up a door knocker she'd wanted and it was 30% off. But I suspect that Viking-labeled, stainless-clad, Big Green Egg isn't that much off.
I've been to a new lowes a couple of times recently. Man they have alot of stock.
I was taking it all in and thought. what if they bought all this inventory and we had some inflation.
If they bought all this stuff with their buying power and there was some inflation everything would have just made them a lot of money.
Earlier this week, I bought some doors at a San Jose HD and the millworks guy showed me a company memo that said they were only closing the Expo Centers and the Yardbirds stores.
AFIK, Yardbirds is only in the north bay and all of their stores are closing. Three Bay Area Design Expo's are closing - one in Concord, one in San Jose, and one in ??
I would expect that as much Yardbirds/Expo inventory as possible would be moved to the remaining HD stores rather than dump it at fire sale prices.
You are probably right and where the inventory will just collect dust. At least some poor hired sole will have a job dusting it all off from the top tier where no one can get to it.
When I got home I went to Toolking.com and can get that PC Biscut Joiner for $170.00 reconditioned.
I remember when HD bought Yardbirds...inventory was moving out the door and the stores were packed with shoppers looking for deals. Last night there were only a handful of people in the store and nothing was moving.
Let the inventory sit...cash is king...I have waited more than three years to buy that tool...I can wait a bit longer."Projects beget projects and projects beget the need to buy new tools and that is what the cycle of life is all about."
I'm sure that every store would have their own ideas about what to do with the inventory, but their "rules" will be different than ours. We can wait as long as we want to pull the trigger on a purchase. (I've been looking at cabinet saws for a couple of years, but still haven't mustered up the stones to go for it. - lol). The name of their game is inventory turnover. Shelf space costs money.
Third one is in Oakland/ Emeryville. It seems the Expo's would have more reason than Yardbirds for liquidation as Yardbirds is really just the same as Depot. Expo has a lot of designer type stuff. Mike
Small wheel turn by the fire and rod, big wheel turn by the grace of god.
Thing is, not all HD's are closing. I imagine the stuff that sells and moves will end up at stores that will remain open. Other stuff that they don't want to move gets unloaded at a discount (maybe)!
Thing is, not all HD's are closing. I imagine the stuff that sells and moves will end up at stores that will remain open. Other stuff that they don't want to move gets unloaded at a discount (maybe)!
You'd think that, but maybe not.
My closest HD relocated (by about 300 yds) a few years ago. They had a clearout sale at the old one and there were actually good deals to be had. I don't think they moved any of the stock to the new store. There were deals on tools, definitely, if I'd been there first thing. But I walked out w/ 10lb of stainless Spax deck screws and a couple pieces of red oak lumber for 50% off and thought I'd done well.
Home Depot has a somewhat irrational way of moving merchandise. I think that they develop some kind of ownership feeling for their products. They could learn a lot from the Chinese.
Once a product is manufactured and goes on the shelf, IMO, it is no longer an item, at least in this economy. It becomes just another form of money and can be a cash-generating asset or cash-costing inventory.
If you want to move something, just dump it, like Lowe's does. This cleans the shelf space for something that people are willing to buy. Also, their employees can stop wasting time moving this stuff around the store. I really think they spend more employee time messing with some of their slow movers than the possible profit justifies. Meanwhile, work that would actually help generate profit gets sidetracked.
Accurate prices are not posted, items are not returned to their proper place, and much more. This morning I asked an HD employee about the cost of an item with no price tag. He seemed eager to stop what he was doing. It took about ten minutes of his time to get me the price, which was around $7.00. I didn't buy the item. He didn't bother to put a tag on the item to avoid future price checks. Considering wages, taxes, benefits etc., that item just became a liability to HD. Even if it sold, it would cost more than it brought in.
I saw at least ten or twelve HD people walking around. They all said hello and asked if I needed help. Evidently their policies overrode my body language. Meanwhile, the store could have quite obviously used their attention in many ways other than standing at the entrance and giving me the WalMart greeting. Let's face it, just about everybody in the country knows where everything in HD is located by now. Yet they evidently pay millions to ask us if we need help finding something.
But what bugs me personally is the A/C ambush that I have to deal with every time I walk into the store. Although I have gone into this store several times per week for years, I still get ambushed by the person who wants to sell me an air conditioning system. Now, I generally walk back around the aisles to avoid this situation because I am worn down. I don't want to greet employees and I don't want them to greet me. I just want my stuff. I know how to ask for help and expect them to be actually helpful when I ask. Otherwise, I think they should know that I don't come to the store for social interaction.
Did I just rant? Well, maybe someone from HD will read this and get a clue.
We can only hope that they do...Knock...knock...anyone home at The Home Depot???"Projects beget projects and projects beget the need to buy new tools and that is what the cycle of life is all about."
Some really great observations there. Not all of them apply to the HD near me, for example, they're understaffed and rarely does an employee ask if help is needed (except for the few who know me, but that doesn't count).
As much as I criticize HD, they also serve a valuable purpose, especially to a generalist like me. So I hope they take the right steps to weather this storm.
I completely agree in the value of having HD here in town. I just think that many of the negative vibes in the store are avoidable.
I walked in one morning while they were having their meeting late and the manager was making them promise to greet every customer they meet throughout the day. I have nothing against a friendly greeting if it is genuine; but I don't like the counterfeit big-business version. I used to be able to turn away and avoid being asked if I needed help or if I was finding everything I was looking for. Lately, they will boom out a "HELLO!!" from two aisles away and try to get a response out of me. I have considered just ignoring them totally, but that is powerful medicine that hurts people's feelings. I don't want to do that to the employees when it is the management that is being unreasonable.How can you understand God if you can't understand people? How can you understand people if you can't understand yourself?
"They all said hello and asked if I needed help."Yeah, I love that. What gets me is if you actually take them up on their offer for help. Then they get this pained expression on their faces and generally are no help whatsoever.Am I being negative? On the positive side HD is open 'til 9:00 p.m. and on Saturday and Sunday. I find myself in there more than I'd like to admit but like some have said here, I don't see the really great deals at HD.
i have been thrown out of two hd's for climbing.
it seems like the employees always want to help when the merchandise is chest level but, once they need a ladder they disappear. My wife almost left me at the depot last week when we were looking for new exterior lights because i was "talking loudly" can some employee help me for five minutes. Although, when you do not need help they are always there.
I would go to the local electrical supply house but since i am a trim carpenter they have never met me and will not give me an electricians discount. So, i guess i will just have to yell at the depot to get help.
Also, what is a yardbird i am from the east coast and it sounds like a California thing.
Yardbirds was orginally a hardware store chain based out of Sonoma County, just north of San Fancisco. They had 10 stores not only in Sonoma County but also Marin and I believe the SF East Bay. It was a pretty good store to go to. A couple of years ago - in 2005 - the owner sold to Home Depot .
Here is an article from the Santa Rosa Press Democrat from November 29, 2005: http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20051129/NEWS/511290375 about the sale.
Hope this helps.
"Projects beget projects and projects beget the need to buy new tools and that is what the cycle of life is all about."
There are specific hours during the day when the focus is customer service, not shelf maintenance. This is also the time when the greatest number of employees are scheduled to be in the store.
The number of employees goes down after or before these time periods, and there is no shortage of work to be done or putting stuff away- not to mention in addition to customer service.
The tasking has gone up while the manpower to do so has gone down in cost cutting moves.
"Dumping" product costs money in the form of markdowns. Apparently, Lowes may be more willing to take the loss, or has better arrangements with their vendors. There are limits to markdowns.
Making new labels? Tech maintenance is spotty- plenty of the label printers do not work- if you can find one that operates/is charged/is complete/has paper/has ribbon... and, you can't do it during those hours dedicated to customer service.
The counterpoint is why do people need to know the price of an item that is just a few dollars? Just buy the dam thing.
As far as the A/C person goes, that is the job- to generate sales leads. That person has to ask the questions. The customer being asked merely has to say "No Thanks" and be done with it.
The cashiers have to ask customers about opening a HD credit card and offer those "extended warranties". They are not asking for the fun of it- their jobs depend on it. All they have to do is ask the question, and yes they are being watched.
If it upsets you so to be asked, just imagine how that person feels dealing with the rude and inconsiderate masses that come through the door.
Seems like your rant goes against the grain of your tag line.
Easy there, Big Fella!How can you understand God if you can't understand people? How can you understand people if you can't understand yourself?
Ha, yeah! What the frig was that all about anyhow?
94969.19 In the beginning there was Breaktime...
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Don't know, don't c... well, I do care a little bit.
I'm still wondering why my positive comments about HD didn't get noticed.
I thought it was clear that I blamed management policies, not HD people.
What I really wonder is what any of that has to do with my tagline!
How can you understand God if you can't understand people? How can you understand people if you can't understand yourself?
The last time I was asked about extended warranty was at Lowes 2 or 3 years ago. Don't remember what it was, but something that was classed in the computer as a "tool" and cost maybe $10.She said "Do, oh no you don't want that". Then I had to asker what it was and she said that it was an extended warranty for $19.95..
William the Geezer, the sequel to Billy the Kid - Shoe
all the talk of the HD slow down has me and the helper shaking our heads.
we're working near a ghetto HD.
that place is packed morning, noon and night!
can't believe how busy they are.
last week I was out looking for a 4ft ladder that was on sale at Lowes ... over the course of a week I hit every Lowes in my area ... nothing but me and the crickets in the aisles ...
the helper has 2 HD's near his house ... said the same thing. Both dead last coupla times he'd been in.
But this one in the middle of the Hood has lines all day long.
Bet that store manager's glad he drew the short straw when they first opened!
Jeff
Jeff
Buck Construction
Artistry In Carpentry
Pittsburgh Pa
I have a friend that works 30hrs a week at the local HD. I sent him an email on Tuesday, asking him if he knew of any special end of the month sales. This store is West of Ft. Worth, Tx.
He wrote back saying: "They don't tell us anything...until...maybe... the day before." He would ask and get back to me.
Having heard nothing from him, I called the store. The lady that answered said she had not heard of any special sales, just the normal clearance and closeout yellow tagged items.
I went to that HD yesterday about 3:00 pm and saw that she was right... Clearance items aren't marked down much, either. Mostly, 5" size tags are placed over the items shelf price that say "New, lower price.", which means 85cents to maybe $2 less off the retail price and that these aren't going to drop much more.
Except for yellow tags, I'm getting the feeling that any big deals found are going to be at EARLY arrivals at garage sales and flea markets...
Bill
Edited 1/30/2009 11:07 am ET by BilljustBill
I was in a HD today and there were lots of large piles of stuff in the aisles wrapped in black plastic and marked with large signs "do not open until Jan 31, top secret sale" or something pretty close to that. so I guess something is happening tomorrow.Hope this helps. Rich