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A friend was in home depot late Saturday night. Talking to the guy sweeping up at the end of the day. The hd employee told my friend that everyone working there was told to be at hd at 6:00AM on Sunday for a meeting. And HD was closing 70 of its stores.
Nothing ont he news, nothing on the hd website. Any info? Just a rumor?
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Jeez, maybe I better dump that stock in the AM. Or maybe if they are closing stores, the stock will go up. What to do?
*Haven't heard that one either, although I heard Office Depot doing something very similiar. Maybe your friend has his depot's confused?
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View Image © 1999-2000"The first step towards vice is to shroud innocent actions in mystery, and whoever likes to conceal something sooner or later has reason to conceal it." Aristotle
*Wow....Proof that you should buy and sell your life savings from internet chat scoops...Great rumor!near the stream almost jumping,aj
*I was in 2 separate hd stores in Sacramento and the places were empty... I don't know what happened to the customers but it didn't look good to me. I know of at least 2 that will fold soon. And there goes Ridgid...fv
*When depot is empty, you have to figure the boom is about over. So many people around here can't remember what life was like in the last recession, when there were no home starts and no remodelling. All those kids now, who think that it's an effort to return a phone call, will go begging. Time to start planning for the future. Again. Till the next turn around. Wonder if Alan Greenspan needs a renovation?SHG
*SHG, AlGore's rental units need some help. He'll probably be thinking about sprucing up the main quarters too. Joe H
*I know of at least 3 news stores under construction in Toronto. They are so close together it makes you wonder where the business is. The two closest to me, one existing and one about to open are only a 10 minute drive apart. In the same area are two competitors!This is particularly amazing since we are not used to big box stores on every corner. Most of our retail is human sized.
*They don't intend to keep all the stores open forever. They move in enough stores to corner the local market, then once the competition is stifled, they close down some stores, and raise prices.
*Not Home Depot, but HomeBase. Closing 22 of its 89 stores. Converting the remaining 67 stores to a home furnishings warehouse called House2Home. The closings and conversions will be completed by December. I suspect Home Depot had a lot to do with HomeBase's faltering business.
*Happened to me when I locked the keys in.fv
*Where are you Rein ? And where are they building yet more HD stores ? I'm up in Unionville: closest HD is at Woodbine & 7, but the stores at Young & 7 and Markham & Dennison are close. Have you been to the Building Box yet ? How about the Revy box over on Weston Rd. ? (bit of a disappointment that). I also shop at the Lansing on McCowan and the Lansing box-store down on Kennedy and the 401.
*Don't know about the areas you are talking about, but I get better service and prices at Lowe's.Lowe's - Contractor service desk (for contractor only)HD - Pro Desk - everybody & his brother asking questionsLowe's - Contractor discount (varies depending on items) (will match competitor price plus discount)HD - no discount ever (will only match competitors - for builders)Lowe's - has not charged for deliveries yet & normally can get delivery same/next day (only once had to wait 2 days)HD - wants to charge for delivery unless full load and usually need a week before they can deliver loadThe list goes on.VinceLowe's -
*Phil, I'm surrounded! I'm at Eglington and Mt.Pleasant. The existing store near me is on Curity between Eglington and St.Clair near Victoria Park. There is a new one going up on Laird and Eglington. There is another existing over on Ellesmere, a bit far for me.A Building Box showed up on Eglington and Warden. It stinks. I checked it out recently. Prices are high, inventory selection is poor, staff is not up to speed and most of the products look low end.There is a Revy around the corner from there. I feel sorry for them. It is a good store with good staff. They are, unfortunately, off the beaten track on a side street no one knows exists. Good for me, the store is always empty I can get in and out fast. Bad for them!There is a new HD opening on the south end of the Downsview airforce base at Wilson and Dufferin. So they are propagating elsewhere too. By the way, before HD bought them out, my mom was a development planner over at Beaver/Aickenheads. I seem to remember her telling me about the careful research they did on planning stores and the areas that would support the business. What I am seeing now seems counter to that planning.
*But is Lowe's open 24/7 like some HD's?
*i I seem to remember her telling me about the careful research they did on planning stores and the areas that would support the business. What I am seeing now seems counter to that planning. Rein,They have done very careful studies to tell them where to place a store, yes. They have also done very careful studies to tell them how to place enough stores in any specific area in order to catch as much of the traffic as possible. If they can catch the customer on the way to the competitor, and at the same time undersell the competitor, eventualy the competitor will go under. At that time they will close whatever stores they can, and start saving some bucks, while raising their prices to make up for all that underselling they were doing.It makes sense, in a cut-throat sort of way. They have enough working capital, they do enough business overall, that they can afford to put in stores that will later be shut down, just to drive the competition out of business.
*Hey .. lots of guys from the Toronto area. Maybe we need to start a Southern Ontario Chapter.A few HD's that used to be 24 hours in greater toronto area have reduced hours in the later fall. I know 'cause I buy my volume lumber there between 1 and 5 AM when there are few customers. In November I went to pick up an order after midnight and they were closed (Queensway store in Etobicoke).The stockmarket picture for HD is bad. In 1999 the toronto stores made about 80,000,000 $'s and I think they were heading for a billion until the summer of 2000 when things started to dry up. They got a lowered investment rating last year and have talked about restructuring and closing some stores. My store is still open but suffering from Revey. In western NY Lowes, Lumber 98 (?) and Chase-Pitken are competitors.
* (In western NY Lowes, Lumber 98 (?) and Chase-Pitken are competitors.)In the Buffalo area, I know of several HD stores, including a couple less than a year old. Some are open 24/7. I have never seen a Lowes, and the Chase-Pitken chain folded a couple years ago. 84 Lumber is a real lumber yard, not a big box.
*>The stockmarket picture for HD is bad. In 1999 the toronto stores made about 80,000,000 $'s and I think they were heading for a billion until the summer of 2000 when things started to dry up. They got a lowered investment rating last year Not true. December 22, 2000 analyst Spencer Clarke upgraded them from 'Hold' to 'Buy'. December 6, UBS Warburg upgraded from 'Buy' to 'Strong Buy'. Same day, Goldman Sachs upgraded form 'Mkt Outperform' to 'Recomm List'. As for the earnings, true that they lowered their earnings expectations, but they did meet those lowered expectations. Same-store sales still grew 4% over the previous year, compared to flat for Lowe's. Granted, it's not the $1B they hoped for, but still a nice chunk o'change. Some analysts have predicted the big-box market (at least in US) won't be truly saturated until 2003 or so. Their rating had been lowered in late summer or so, but a lot of retail was at the same time. A new CEO later, as well as the turmoil the market has seen lately, and they're still strong or stronger.
*84 lumber is somewhere between a lumberyard and a big box. They're like any other franchise in that you only can get the whopper or the big mac but they can't special order the other. Our local one has help that can't help you unless you already know what you want and how much of it. Sort of like HD.
*84 Lumber, Wickes, Sutherlands, they & others like them played big box until the real big boxes came along. But I still can't quite put them in the catergory of a real lumberyardBarry
*>Our local one has help that can't help you unless you already know what you want and how much of it. Sort of like HD. Our local HD has help that can't help you unless you speak Spanish. ;-) -- J.S.
*b WBA At Your ServiceHome Dopey just opened their third store here in a 15 mile radius. The nearest Lowe's is in Reading which is about 40 miles. Lowe's would like to rehab an old shut-down Durkee spice plant in Bethlehem, but the neighbors are fighting it because of the traffic increase. I find that a little weird because the site is right at a four lane highway interchange. I would welcome the competition. Anyway, I have been in HD many times, yet I have never been to the contractor's counter except for a tissue to blow my nose. Nor will I return to the counter for anything but another tissue. EVER. Anything I need that would come from behind that counter can be purchased and delivered for free from at least 20 different suppliers in my area with no aggravation. It's nice to be able to go in and get a circuit breaker, a towel bar, a tube of caulk and a slimshade, but a special order Andersen window ? No way in hell. I love the welcoming smiles from the staff of our areas many lumberyards and I would be happy to pay a little more for their quality service.
*Once upon a time I lived in the great city of Toronto! Used to love to shop Atlas Tools, a wonderful store downtown which hopefully hasn't been killed by HD yet. The owner once told me he was going to stop selling certain tools (like the standard makita screwgun) because HD was selling them for less than he could get them for wholesale. When these little stores go under, you can still buy a cheap Makita screwgun, but kiss your speciality tools goodbye.
*Atlas was still there a few months ago. So is Active Surplus. That is the trendiest part of the city now, so the rent must be killing them!I used to deal with some other small shops that have vanished. The big pity is that these little guys had great services like sharpening and repairs. These services are now being done mostly by the tool rental shops. The rental shops vary from decent service to outright destroying your tools.I don't really trust the big boxes for repairs, they seem to be more into selling refurb blades than putting new teeth on your good ones.
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A friend was in home depot late Saturday night. Talking to the guy sweeping up at the end of the day. The hd employee told my friend that everyone working there was told to be at hd at 6:00AM on Sunday for a meeting. And HD was closing 70 of its stores.
Nothing ont he news, nothing on the hd website. Any info? Just a rumor?