Community Chat

[Icegoddess]

We had one of those hardware stores until recently.  Family owned business, but Covid pretty much did it in.  The man who was the most active in keeping the store running lost both his son and his wife to Covid and he never got over it.  He ended up dying from grief I think and the remaining partner was too overwhelmed.  

I remember my husband going there to find a part for our water heater that he couldn't find anywhere else.  I wasl always hearing stories like that about that store.  

@Marp , if I know I can get something locally, I'll do so.  However, if it gets to the point of me having to drive all over town trying to find what I want, I won't do that. I've been really disappointed too since Covid in the selection in the clothing stores.  I'd really prefer to shop for clothing in-store since I'm kinda hard to fit and would rather try the clothing on before buying.  But, I'm just not finding stuff in the stores I want.  That doesn't mean I buy a lot of clothing online though.  

I used to buy all my jeans in Kohls; now I can't find any in the style and fit that I want.

[Mom2Dogs]

DH and I are small business owners 40+ years.  We service business and industry and a few walk in customers. Online shopping has made a dent in our business over the years.  

Nothing irkes me more than a customer telling me they can get it cheaper on line....it always ends up hurting the small business owner and trikles down to the community.

We have had customers come to us after ordering online asking us to 'fix' what they purchased.

[Trailrun23]

We have a small hardware store near us...but they are a little higher-priced than the bigbox stores....DH always tries to shop there when he can. The manager always seems so grateful to see us come in...there is a popcorn machine with little bags and you can help yourself. i hope he never closes. 

[Trailrun23]

I shopped at Kohl's when I was working but I haven't there in years and it is in the process of closing. I don't feel the least bit responsible for its closing...they quality of the products went from average to junk in a short time; Covid just sped up the decline. They had a Amazon return kiosk that thy had hoped would bring in more traffic, but now it has shut down....so guess that didn't work out too well.

[MyShadowLove]

---

@Trailrun23 wrote:

We have a small hardware store near us...but they are a little higher-priced than the bigbox stores....DH always tries to shop there when he can. The manager always seems so grateful to see us come in...there is a popcorn machine with little bags and you can help yourself. i hope he never closes.

@Trailrun23 ...Same here...We have a couple of small family-run hardware stores close to us that have been around for years...They somehow manage to stock and organize their areas very well and we can just about find anything that we need and there is always someone to help out if needed...My husband and I love them.

They have three kitties that they rescued and one of their beds is located near the cash register so, when you go in, you will usually see one of the kitties sleeping or relaxing and ready to welcome you.     

---

[AuntG]

It is sad, but I can't think of a way to turn things around. On Monday, my DH and I shopped for a new suit at one of the stores mentioned in these posts. It was embarrassing to have two security guards following us, and one was in the car next to us as we loaded our purchases. Yet, there was not a clerk in sight to assist us. I know thefts are common in retail, but we're two seniors who were just carrying our wallets - we didn't even have a tote bag or bulky coats on to hide anything.