Thumbs sideways. Our roving reporter hit the new Home Depot yesterday and reported very mixed feelings. Yes, it is big. Yes, it has many things. Yes, it is cool and clean. But no, it offers nothing really new. Here are his words:
Went to Home Depot this afternoon. First impression: theyve used most of the Ralph Lauren white paint that theyre selling on the outside of the building. It Gleams.
The first thing you hit in the entrance are rugs hanging from ceiling racks for convenient browsing. On the left of the entrance in the front, is a very large selection of lights. What you do not immediately see are tools and lumber, etc., instead there are potted plants. As far as the rugs go, most of the styles are awful. Its sort of a Crate&Barrel / Pottery Barn selection, but larger and not as stylish.
Its an excellent place to beat the rush on snow shovels.
Bottom line: Im sure the place will do good business, but it doesn't bring anything truly new to the table. Its a mixture of Bed Bath and Beyond, ABC, and a hardware store. All of those things already exist. The best part may simply be that its convenient and clean and spacious.
I am, however, worried about the help. They seemed a sort of eclectic, recently-trained lot. How much they know about the peculiar nuances of do-it-yourself apart ent living remains to be seen. OHR
Yes, it was very home decor focused - and I think we were all hoping it was going to be more of a place to go to save on hardware, tools and do-it-yourself projects - but once you venture past the sea of rugs and light fixtures, finally getting to the hardware department (I actually had to ask where it was) - WOW! Great assortment, well organized...and the maze like set up (a little annoying) seemed to go on forever. I just hope their "free" do-it-yourself classes stay "free".
The recently-trained, slightly clueless help isn't a Home Depot staple as far as I know. I've never found HD help to be particularly knowledgeable.
Probably the new and different thing here is the fact that Home Depot understands that it can't just be the same suburban mega box store in such an urban context.
I don't know why anyone had expectations of anything new and innovative from this creeping giant.
Went this weekend. I agree it has a great harware section and you could save a ton of money with closet shelving. A friend who recently bought Elfa stuff was particularly pissed with the much cheaper priced Home Depot stuff.
One thing to note, while you would think they would've expected and been well prepared for the crowds, checking out was a bit of a nightmare. Stretching a line straight across the store was a nice touch, then right when you get to what you think is the cashiers it forks. They didn't say what side did what and suddenly you're on self-checkout as opposed to having a person at a register. The self-checkout process is a bit backwards, as I bought speaker wire and there was no bar code so I had to have a cashier type it in anyway. Then, they had been handing out coupons at the front door and thought to not include bar codes. So they had to type that in as well.
To sum up, the store is great for all the stuff you need for putting together an apartment (cheaper than around the city on most things). Just make sure you aren't buying anything too complex when checking out yourself.
I was kind of excited to check out the store, even though it is a bit of hike for me to get to, but then I read today's MUG....
http://www.manhattanusersguide.com/archives_content.php?contentID=091304&category=services