Another Home Depot? Give me a break. How many of you remember Massey's Conejo Hardware? How about Newbury Park Hardware, Holiday Hardware, Robbs Hardware or Oaks Hardware?

Those, along with several others, have disappeared from our town as Home Depots have sprung up all over the place. I don't know how many of you need unusual items from a hardware store from time to time, but try to find them now. Certainly not at a conglomerate like Lowe's or Home Depot, where moving giant quantities of product is all that matters. These corporations are the main reason many of these mom and pop stores had to close their doors.

If I need to go to Home Depot, I can get to one of two in 10 minutes and yet another two in 15 minutes. I certainly don't need another one six minutes away.

Yes, and I don't want to see Do-it Center fail because that's just one less place to try and get those special hardware items that they do bother to carry. What's next? Another Home Depot three blocks from OSH?

Forget about traffic congestion; some form of sanity might be enough here to make the right decision. I don't want a world where my only choices are Home Depot and Wal-Mart, do you? Frederick J. Roth Thousand Oaks