Remember the neighborhood hardware ...

Remember the neighborhood hardware store? Its shelves were crammed with all manner of profitables The owner and his veteran staff knew principally of their customers by name and could find what was urgencyed in a moment while doling public practical counsel in response to the vaguest questions about to what degree to fix a "whatchamacallit."

Well, many of those neighborhood stores have disappeared, as "big box" residence service centers expand across the United States, painfully challenging morn-and-pop hardware, garden center paint and lumber retailers. Within this highly fragmented and mature industry, domestic circle Depot and Lowes have experienced tremendous shooting and now dominate ...