[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by berettafan

the end game is ONE GIANT WAREHOUSE STORE THAT WE ALL SHOP AT FOR EVERYTHING (soap, nails, books, cars).

One problem......there's a lot of stuff that they don't stock. It's pretty sad when I need a fine thread metric nut, and in all of Home Depot's 150,000 sq ft of store they don't have any. But then I drive to my local Ace Hardware and they have everything I need. WTF?! There's even common items that we stocked at the small hardware store I managed that HD doesn't stock. Need a pre-cut and threaded galvanized or black pipe nipple? Good luck at HD, but my store used to stock 1" - 12" in 1" increments, 2" increments up to 24", then 30", 36", and 48". When I looked for the same item at HD, they had MAYBE 4 different lengths.

Not to mention, check the price on said small items. Bolts and nuts are typically more than double what you pay at a small store. Then they sell them in pre-packaged quantities, so you can't get one of anything.