[Villages Kahuna]

I will admit that the Home Depot in TV is better than the average HD elsewhere. But I still experience long waits to check out and even more frustrating, a very high level of out-of-stock conditions. I took a count last year and for the 12 items I went into HD to buy over a two-month period, they were out-of-stock on 7 of them. That's unbelievable for a store as large as HD.

One item I can recall were the mounting brackets for some wire-type shelves I was buying. First it took about 15 minutes to find someone who could check the overhead stock. Then that person had to take another 10 minutes to find someone who could check the computer to see when the brackets were expected to arrive. They gave me a date of the following Monday. I came back, only to find that the ETA for the brackets had been extended for two more weeks!

I swore I'd never go back to Home Depot and proceeded up 441 to Lowes. It turns out they carry exactly the same brand of shelving and had all the components in stock. And as I was about to buy the items for my project, a very knowledgeable Lowes associate made a suggestion that made my project even better.

It's Lowes for me! In fact, I sold my Home Depot stock and bought Lowes.