Lowe's and Home Depot seem like ghost towns these days

[Stinky The Clown]

Customers are harder to find than cashiers.

Store help with better than a subprime attitude is the hardest thing to find.

I'm seeing more holes in the shelf stock lately.

We're in the process of remodeling a rental property we've owned for a while. That process finds us in these big boxes more than normal - often several times a week.

Its grim out there.

[ThomWV]

1. I noticed it last week in the local Lowe's

Maybe a third of the people who were in there this time last year. I am in there all the time because we have ongoing remodeling activities around here. It is very noticable.

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. A lowe's just opened in the nearest big town to me. There was already a Home Depot and a

few locally owned hardware and lumber supply stores.

I don't get the reasoning behind the need for yet another one of these stores in such a smallish town.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

3. Has Home Improvement loan money been drying up?

I've never done anything expensive enough to try to get one.

[lurky]

8. A lot of people were borrowing against the increased

value in their homes to make improvements. If the value is falling, less to borrow against.

[QC]

4. I noticed it last night.

Went in both those stores and they were nearly empty. Wal-Mart and Target parking lots were very sparse, too.

It was like the town had been evacuated or something.

[onethatcares]

5. yeah, I'm a super for a construction company and

we have a lot of bids out for high end stuff, add ons, kitchens etc. No one is buying. For the first time in my life I think I'm gonna collect unemployment comp., 40 years of working and I've never drawn a dime. this is gonna get strange.

Oh, yeah, the box stores being empty. Home depot provided the contractors desk with new monitors and computers, they didn't get any raises.

[Johonny]

6. Not in my neighborhood

wall to wall people, couldn't get a parking spot this weekend.

[angrycarpenter]

7. Where is your neighborhood?

I may be looking for a job soon.

[Johonny]

9. LA

given parking lot limitations in LA it might be impossible for the parking lot to be empty:)

[angrycarpenter]

10. LA would scare me to death.

I have lived in the country almost all my life.

[Lorien]

11. Meh. Nearly every retail establishment I've been to in LA is crowded

Try visiting a Trader Joe's there. :scared:

[Trailrider1951]

12. I was in Target in a very affluent area

mid-morning last Wednesday. There were maybe 10 customers in the whole store (a Super Target). The staff was friendly, as usual, but I fear for their jobs....:(

[7 of 11]

13. What was scary was

When I went into Costco 2 weeks before Christmas and found the store nearly devoid of customers.