Nostalgia and stores

Rob Keeble

Member
Messages
12,633
Location
GTA Ontario Canada
Talking about Nostalgia, I find myself wishing stores were the way they used to be.

So when you went into a hardware store you found tools and hardware.

When you went to a auto parts store you found auto parts and auto lubricants not coffee and kitchen appliances and garden furniture etc. :bang::bang::bang::bang:

i will not feel one ounce of pain when these stores end up closing their doors to online shopping, it will be entirely their own fault and i welcome the day regardless of the consequences.

I remember when i worked in a real hardware store as a 15 year old, it was a great store. They stocked everything especially the rarely sold slow moving items. Then the big hypermarket concept took hold and started selling the fast moving items that hardware stores sold as bread and butter, but they purchased in such volumes and used it to undercut the small hardware store. Of course don't go to them expecting help or to find that odd item or washer. That was the beginning of the decline. Now you try find a place where you can buy a few feet of chicken wire mesh or some other oddity and its becoming impossible. The time wasted, gas and frustration just aint worth it anymore.

And don't even think about trusting the help for advice. I still ask but kick myself each time for doing it because before i ask i know the answers. :doh:

Sorry Canadian Tire your days gonna come and it cannot be fast enough for me. This store is my pet peeve even their website is a pain in the rear. Its so sad we are doomed to such mediocrity.

Thank goodness for Ebay, Amazon and yeah Allibaba or rather Alliexpress.

Latest fad to hit our area retail stores is buy online and pickup at store. Like they just woke up to the fact that people are shopping online. And all the corporate lemmings are just the same, one does it and the rest all just follow suite without thinking about the implementation. :bang:

My apologies for the rant, some times the cup just boils over. :rofl: Guess i am getting old.

Roll on www.rockauto.com a company that understands service and their customers needs. A jewel in the rough. If you have never tried them for auto parts seriously give them a try you wont be sorry. They put Amazon to shame in my opinion for their category of trade.

And a tip to my fellow Canadians to help put a quicker end to the price gouging we experience here, check out a company called CBI http://www.cbiusa.com/ this is a warehousing and private mailbox company in Niagara Falls where you can have goods you purchase in the USA online and have them shipped within the USA at USA shipping rates. Then if you within reasonable distance you can drive down and pick up your goods pay your HST that is applicable and not only save a fortune but more importantly get what you after timeously. They will store a parcel for you for $5 per parcel.
Oh and there are practical legal ways around the US Paypal Account issue as well, just get your credit card company to add your Private Mailbox address to your card and then use a different email address to signup on paypal US and boom you away.
If enough of this happens, someone is going to wake up and take notice and do something about a parts store stocking coffee and sweets but not parts.:rofl: Roll on free market freedom.:thumb:
 
Rob, my friend, we brought this on ourselves, when we shop price alone. A product on the shelf does not pay salaries or the bills. Service as we would like it is not free, but yet we pay the lowest price from the least knowledgeable people. And even that product that gets shipped to the store after we purchase it on line has to be on somebody's shelf so it can be shipped. Now when the manufacturers no longer MAKE the slow moving stuff, we are real trouble, and that is already happening. Now we have this disposable society we already live in. Nostalgia is just that. Nothing's coming back like it was. My humble opinion.

Having a tough week, huh?!?
 
If you know who to ask in HD, you can still get good advice. Jus' sayin'.

I agree, although they are few & far between. Lowe's recently lost one of their "knowledgeable" tools/hardware people when Bob Gibson retired a few months back. He was the only one who knew what a left-handed monkey wrench was. Others would give me a deer-in-headlight look!:rofl:
 
Well, if you ever get down to Ava, MO, stop by Ava Drug (drugstore) and get yourself a coke for $.10 or a scoop of ice cream for $.05. My wife's grandparents are from that area, so we stop in from time to time. The first time I was there a festival was going on, so thought it was a throw back to the early days, but later found that it was what they always charge. :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYfyVvIM5tU
 
We are blessed in that we have a true value hardware store that is a franchise. The owner Russ trys to give the service that you are looking for and is very successful while we do have a HD and Lowes withiin easy drive I patronize this store because I know that he carries all of the nuts bolts etc in bulk container and all you do is select what you want put it in these little bags write the qty and price on the outside and the checker (typically the owners wife or other trusted person who has been there for the past 10 year) rings it up with no questions as to you honesty. One day some years back I decided I need some long clamps so I decided to make some pipe clamps out of 10 foot black Iron pipe. I went down to Russ's and got a length of black iron pipe and asked them to cut it in half and thread the end that was cut off. this they did at no charge. next I went over and found that they only had one piece of the hardware sets so I asked Russ if he had any more in stock. He looked in the computer and said no the inventory only calls for one set. I explained t him that typically if someone if making up clamps they are going to want a set and he said "well that would explain why I don't sell many of them." He thanked me for telling him and said he would change the inventory level to two sets. A few days latter he called my sell and told me he had the other set in stock if I still wanted them.
 
Having a tough week, huh?!?

Actually No Carol having a great week.:)

Even found an Auto parts store locally that does NOT sell nuts, coffee etc and had 4 choices of specialised grease for me to choose from (on hand) and i was happy to pay full price. Guy at the counter knew what he was talking about and even cautioned me on the price of the product before i paid. I just said no problem and paid with pleasure.

My point is with retail u cannot sell if u dont have stock, its not as if interest rates are at an all time high that we need just to late inventory control. :)

Wish these local auto parts guys had a better website but u cant always get what you want. :) I still prefer dealing with humans. :)


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