Buying local vs. huge chain stores

[jjmk98k]

just another example,

Chain and bar oil, Husq brand

Lowes         $7.45
Local shop  $6.25

[Cedarman]

A fellow who supplies one of the big big box stores was talking to a battery rep.  He said he would always buy his batteries at a regular store because the batteries at the big box store where a cheaper made battery by his company. He said check the packaging at both places and there should be a difference on the same brand.  Would be easy to test batteries from different stores to see if there is a quality difference.

[jjmk98k]

I did a search, there are

13 wal-marts within 25 miles of where I live.

8 Home depots

15 Lowes

15 dealers that carry Husqvarna products or at least services them ( not couting any Lowes).

yeah, its crowded around here

[Patty]

We have a little store about 10 miles from us that deserves to stay open forever. If it weren't for the Gingersnap, the whole town would have dried up and blown away by now. Patty, the owner, is a local gal, so she knows what it takes to serve the locals. She is open 7 days a week from 7:00AM to 10:00PM, and she sells everything. In her little store is a restaurant, a grocery store, a gas station, a hardware store, clothing store, and loads of horse supplies. (Patty raises Paints) She even sells the coldest beer in the area.  If a store was ever meant to serve the locals, it is the Gingersnap. This gal figured out that in rural Iowa you gotta be everything to everybody to survive, and survive she has. My hat is off to her, I can't imagine the hours that gal puts in, and we locals sure do appreciate her.  8)

[SwampDonkey]

Patty,

Except for the restaurant part, I was in a little store last fall outside of Moncton that sold everything. I got a pair of como letter gloves for half the price Walmart sells them at.  I'm still wearing them and the've been warm all winter. They aren't ment for handling wood of brush, I just wear them for warmth and all I hold is a PDA in the woods in one hand and a survey pole or wedge prism in the other. They are great for taking on and off alot, not bulky.

Anyway, to get back to the store, I wish we had one in every town with the stuff this place carries.  There used to be one out in the back country in the middel of a rural community that even carried chinaware, where my grandmother would go to buy 'Freindly Village' dishes. The store was 40 miles from her home. I think the old guy that ran that store was almost 100 years old before they closed it up. I know toward the end he could barely get around. :D