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Non-Tech : Home Depot (HD) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Xpiderman who wrote (170)	5/22/1998 11:32:00 PM
From: JCS	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1169

I agree that HD is the dominant player but LOW is doing an excellent job of differentiating themselves from HD. Remember, GM was the dominant force in autos, Kmart in retail etc. My observation is that the HD management appears to be continuing to fine tune operations to maximize margins unlike what GM and Kmart did in the past. As you suggest, LOW is highly leveraged which affects margins. HD should be able to win the low price leader battle. Link is evidence to me of HD's focus on margins but would welcome opinions from insiders as right now my money is on HD. The question is how much value does the customer place on the shopping experience? WalMart seems to prove that low cost works although I personally will shop Target instead of WalMart because of the "feel" of the store. Although I'm a long time HD shopper, right now I shop LOW because it's more convenient. HD is building near the Lowes that I go to so it will be interesting to see which attracts me when I have a choice without driving an extra ten miles. biz.yahoo.com

To: Xpiderman who wrote (170)	5/22/1998 11:37:00 PM
From: Randy G	Respond to of 1169

Does LOW own Home Quarters(HQ) Stores? I live near St. Louis and until recently we only had HQ. For the past year, Home Depot is aggressively taking on the St. Louis market. I work near the newest HD location and it is only a block away from HQ. I also pass another new HD on my commute to and from work. It is only a mile away from another HQ. This seems to be a repeating pattern in the St. Louis area. I know of at least two additional HD's within the past year are so. Each are within a mile or two of HQ. I think that takes a lot of guts from HD and a strong belief in what they are doing. I've shopped at both, and it seems that HD is more customer friendly and has lower prices than HQ. Any thoughts?