There’s a warehouse-style building in the shopping complex nearest us, empty since we moved to the area in late 2020. I was under the assumption it was a Dollar Store that had closed long ago. Construction seems to have started this summer when we were away in Iowa. I tried to find out who the new tenant would be and in that search, finally looked at Google Street View for that corner and went back in time. Turns out it was an ACE Hardware store that closed right at the start of the pandemic. If only this store had been open during our home renovations!

There are none nearby now, but every ACE Hardware store I’ve been in has been filled with helpful and knowledgeable people who work with you to find the right approach to solving your problem, meeting you at your level of expertise. This has been my experience regardless of the employee’s age, across states and locations.

I’ve seen some of this at our nearest Lowe’s/Home Depot, but it is usually the employees over 50 with specialized experience, and their numbers are dwindling. The younger ones seem to prioritize keeping corporate happy and I’ve found them almost regimented with their impatience. To the point that the paint specialist at our local Lowe’s has different personalities depending on whether his younger supervisor is around the general area. He’s far more helpful when he’s by himself.

I find it remarkable that ACE, despite its co-op model, has been able to maintain a consistent hiring/training policy that seems to self-select for individuals with a far higher base level of empathy than the big box stores. Obviously Team Blue/Orange have a large chunk of contractor business to deal with as well which may skew the in-store experience.

Lowe’s seems to have recognized this though and some of their recent surveys have many questions targeted at this aspect of the store experience. Hopefully that results in some changes that help the odd novice DIYer. YouTube University can only do so much.