Yes, these maga stores have chased most of the smaller, competent hardware stores where, after you were shown where certain items were, you could find them yourself on following trips, out of business. Only in large areas have a very few of what we used to call hardware stores stayed in business, supported by people with incomes enabling them to value expertise over a possibly lower price, but the people who remember good service, like the people who know the words to "America The Beautiful," penned, incidentally, by a lesbian visiting Colorado, are fading. Kids don't mind waiting because they have their IPods drugging their brains through the ear buds and the people who have never been treated like businesses gave a damn think it is standard operating procedure. Most stores are not self service. If they were, they would have indexes and maps at the boundaries of the major departments telling you that the item you wanted was on aisle 6 A, on the floor under the lowest shelf. Tracking down the one employee in a department, if he or she is even on the floor, is a time wasting pain, especially when you find him or her and there are three other would be customers waiting to ask questions. While it eliminated jobs, the self checkout terminals at HD have improved service, especially with a supervisor stationed up front who knows how to handle problems that crop up when the machine does not detect the small package of fittings in the sack on the other side of the scanner (it helps to lower your fist all the way to the bottom of the bag like you were giving the damn machine the punch it deserves).
