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According to J.D. Power, it is Ace Hardware: http://www.chainstoreage.com/article/whi...mp;mid=10266385"[...]When it comes to customer experience, home improvement shoppers have established a long-term favorite. Ace Hardware ranks highest in customer satisfaction with home improvement retailers for a 10th consecutive year, according to the J.D. Power 2016 Home Improvement Retailer Satisfaction Study. The study measures customer satisfaction with home improvement retailers by examining merchandise; price; sales and promotions; staff and service; and store facility. Satisfaction is measured on a 1,000-point scale.[...]"
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I love my neighborhood Ace, but I would not classify it as a home improvement store. Home repair, certainly. As for the staff/knowledge aspect, they are much better than most similar stores. Several years back, a Lowe's was being built about 8 blocks away on the same main street. The Ace manager was a bit nervous about it, and he mentioned the worry one day. I told him to spruce up and keep the staff level up for 6-8 months aftyer the Lowe's opened and the blush wore off and his customer volume would increase. He looked at me askance(there ya go Bingo fans) and disagreed. I explained that after the opener staff went away, the specials tapered off, and the normal day to day traffic started, folks would find Lowe's did not have the things he carried, their staff would be inept, and folks would dislike the huge parking lot and the too long store. Must be psychic, because that scenario is exactly what happened. What torqued me was his traffic got so much better, I had to stand in a check out line after that, instead of breezing through unimpeded.   
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I really liked Home Quarters when they were around.
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fixtureman said:
I really liked Home Quarters when they were around.
Yeah, and I like Montgomery Ward when they were around too.
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our Ace is great, but its clear across town.
Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. - Philip K. Dick
Mark
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meackerman said:
our Ace is great, but its clear across town.
All within 3 miles of my house: Home Depot, Lowes, Sears. Page Lumber (a large local competitor) is about 20 minutes away and is closed at noon on Saturday and all day Sunday. Williams Lumber is similar and keeps better hours but seems to offer no advantages over the first three mentioned. I avoid Home Depot; they often have just one teller (the rest are self-check out) and not too infrequently they have only self-check out. I never use the self-checkouts.
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we have a Meeks lumber in town. They seem very proud of their lumber (even with the 5% contractor discount) but they do have sizes not found at the big boxes.
Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. - Philip K. Dick
Mark
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I go to our Ace just to support them, but they are horrible. I went in there the other day because I needed a 1/4" compression fitting. They had the nuts, but no rings. Asked a salesman, he said they had 22 in stock. I just don't understand that, it's the same all over the store. The most common thing is out of stock. I'm not sure I believe that other stores are better, but I'm sure it depends on the person running the place
A while back, they cranked up the price of their hardware in the trays so that it's far cheaper to go to McMaster. If McMaster wants $2.50 for a bag of 10, Ace wants $2.00 for one. Granted, if you just want one, it's better to go to Ace, but for a project of any complexity, I just go to McMaster
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When I was visiting lumberyards/big Boxes/hardware stores on almost a daily basis, I found the system for determining which store I could get the most bang for the trip this way:
Lumber for a big project---Yard first, HD second. Reasons? Prices at the yard, quicker delivery from HD(next day usually). The difference in lumber is you get some scrap from the yard. You can hand pick at HD.
Specific material project(stair treads/exotic lumber/etc.---lumber yard
Plumbing supplies, hardware, and so on---hardware store(Ace first, others second).
Small construction supplies---Home Depot. Very seldom did I have to order materials. Lowe's never had everything I needed. Ever.
Upgrade fixtures(plumbing and electrical)---Lowe's. Better selection, but had to be careful about needing other supplies for those areas.
Now, those were based on about 7 Home depots, four Lowe's, three Ace Hardware, 2 TruValue Hardware, three lumber yards, and four independent hardware stores, all over the greater KC Metro.
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the lumberyard I've been using to build my 1200 sq ft shop and just now finishing up a 400 sq ft out building didn't send me any scrap. Even with delivery they were cheaper than picking it up myself from HD.
Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. - Philip K. Dick
Mark
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