Why another Home Depot when the one we have is so ineffective?

I am the "do it yourself queen" of my cul-de-sac, yet I avoid HD like the plague. It is a place of last resort; aside from one guy in electrical and one lady in paint, nobody there can help you find anything or tell you what item is the best for your application.

Conversely, in the old Ace Hardware, which used to be on Wendy until they got priced out during redevelopment, or the Doit Center or Lowe's (my favorite), you get assisted by friendly, helpful, knowledgeable employees before you are 20 feet into the store. So why the heck would anybody want another Home Depot in our town? It's kind of like The Oaks mall when all the big stores were owned by the same parent company and all the clothes looked the same.

Are we trying to create jobs for people that don't know anything? Is that it? When I do go to HD, I usually ask contractors who are there shopping for help or advice- they know where stuff is and how it works- something the employees there obviously aren't taught.

If we're going to get another big home improvement store, why can't we get a Lowe's?

Then we'd have more variety in what we're offered, and even the Do-it Center would have to up their game to stay competitive.

Come on, people, how many times have you spent half an hour wandering the aisles of Home Depot, trying to find somebody to help you? And we need another one of these stores?

No, thanks. Lisa Renshaw Newbury Park