OPEN SESAME!

I'm getting rather frustrated with Lowes. The darned fools seem to have the garden center gates closed way too often for me. I don't know about you, but when all I want is a few bags of soil, I don't want to have to go thru the entire store to get to the garden center, load up a cart and go all the way back thru the store to check out.

One day last week, about 8 a.m., I arrived and the garden center gates were closed. Desperate for soil, I went into the main store and asked the cashier to get someone to load me some soil. Well, gee, he didn't know if they had anyone around who could, but after he checked out his other customers, he'd call around and see if he could find someone. I told him if he'd just open the gates, I could load it myself. Well, he couldn't do that, he didn't have a key. Frustrated, I told him to just forget it. I'd go to Home Depot. As I was leaving, I heard him yell across to customer service that they'd just lost a sale. I thought you're darn right!

I went back today at 8 a.m.--gates were closed. Went back at 10 a.m.--again gates were closed. How difficult is it to park ONE employee in the garden center??

Do y'all encounter this problem at your Lowes?

It happens at my Lowe's all the time! I think they are under staffed and I don't think they are hiring! The sign says they are hiring so they are either not paying enough or no one is interested.

I loaded 20 bags myself last week before someone showed up. He was really sorry though. LOL

A lot of days, my store closes up the return exchange area and makes you go in and wait at the customer service desk. They don't even have enough people to handle returns.

Have this problem at many of the stores in my area. Too many stores in the region, not enough people willing to work the hours and jobs and low wages. Solution? Build more stores! Ugh.

My wife used to work for Home Depot - they are BIG into keeping the gardeners happy. On the whole I also found that they tend to be a little cheaper and will always load it for you if you ask - shoot I just tell them what I want at the counter they get it down, and load it!

Signs of the times. Unfortunately.

Home Depot always has their gates open during gardening season! I can be in and out of there in 20 minutes on my lunch hour if I need something. That includes someone loading pine straw for me.

Go to HD!!!!

Nicole

Our Home Depot opens this week...Tomorrow, actually. http://www.newarkadvocate.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050802/NEWS01/508020301&SearchID=73216158713411

I really like Lowe's, especially since it's so close to our house and handy for quick whatnot runs, but I'm so excited that they'll have some competition. :)

I think you will find HD a little cheaper on plants - at least here they are a little cheaper and the plants are bigger!

Lowe's is closer to my house and they carry the organic humus I like. HD doesn't. I hate their soils. And I go thru a lot of soil.

I emailed the Lowe's headquarters and told them the problem. And do you know they sent my email to the Lowes here in town and the manager called me yesterday! He assured me that the garden gates should be open from 8 am to 8 pm and that I should notify him immediately if I went there again during those hours and the gates were closed. Soooooo, Lowes may have most of my business again.

HD doesn't quite have the variety that Lowes has. And they don't clearance anything! I even asked them about it. They said they can ship dead plants back to the company and get their money back, so they don't mark them down. I can often get plants at Lowes for 25 cents to $1 a gallon. Perennials, shrubs, trees, etc. Lowes Knows how to get me in there. LOL

N.

I might be bias - wife did work there.... but I still love HD...I am going to have to go to Lowes to see about cheap plants...

Another thing Lowe's does is sell the ripped bags of mulch, top soil, manure, etc. at a discount. I've gotten them for 1/2 price all the way down to 50-cents/bag! That's a chunk of change to save. We just look to see what's stacked over by the side, and tell the cashier we're buying the broken bags. Usually they let us have them for 50-cents if we tell them that's what we've gotten it for before.

I'm only telling you this because you don't live in my town. Those are MY bags, you hear?? LOL!!

It's never happened to me, because I'm still at home drinking coffee at 8:00 in the morning. I seldom venture out shopping until afternoon.

I've found that the squeaky wheel that goes higher up the food chain than the clerk on the cash register gets attention.... the managers of both separate deparments and the store in general, do care about individual customers.
~Blooms

Funny, I find just the opposite here - the Lowes is always open,with lots of people ot help. The HD gates are often closed, and I'll be darned if I can find anyone to help. Also, here at least, the selection of plants is MUCH larger at Lowes. I don't even got to HD any more..... But I didn't know about the broken bag thing. And since I'm in VA and not OH, I feel safe to start asking.... lol

Our Lowes and Walmart both will sell the busted bags for 50 cents or even 25 cents if you catch the right clerk. I found a whole pallet of them one day for 25 cents each. Greedy as I am, I took the whole thing and then asked for more. Surprisingly, they had about 1/2 a pallet more! All mine, mine, mine!! LOL

ButterflyChaser and Gardenwife sound like they might be related, don't you think? Of course, I only say that to tease my bestest buddy, BC... right, BC? She got a bunch of goodies last time she went rummage sale-ing and I mentioned going with her next time and she threated to "elbow" me out of the way, because the garden goodies were "MINE, MINE, MINE!" That's o.k. You can't call yourself a friend if you can't accept them as-is, right? Besides... I hate getting up at 5 or 6 am to go "shopping"!!!!

As for Lowe's and HD, I go to Lowe's because the location is more convenient for me. I've been to HD a few times and while I did see some plants that I hadn't seen at Lowe's, it wasn't enough of a difference to make it worth my extra time driving out there.

Gail

In the south they try to park their stores as close to each other as possible. So if you have one or the other, you can count on the other building nearby soon.
I got several great plants at Lowe's in Charlotte. I noticed last night I have evidently purchased a Threadleaf Japanese Maple 'Orangeola', that is grafted on a standard from Lowe's. The price was right at 50% off, and it is doing well.
sidney

My mom's as bad as me, too. One day earlier this summer, she called me on her cellphone to tell me there were broken bags and to get my butt down there RIGHT NOW. LOL There was another woman there making a fuss because she wanted them and saying they couldn't be held like that...So my mom and dad bought 'em so I'd be sure to get them. Gotta love mamma birds who look out for their young even after fledging. ;)

Our Lowe's & HD are right across the road from each other, still 30 miles from me.. I prefer Lowe's.. The HD here seems a good bit higher on most of the garden center things.. Have always gotten really good service at Lowe's....

Larkie

Gardenwife, you got the best mama!

My sister and her husband in OH built a new house a few years ago. And they asked me to bring some plants and come landscape. So I did. We needed dump trunk loads of mulch, so my sis's FIL volunteered to drive his dumptruck to a local nursery for mulch. I couldn't help but venture inside to see what kind of plants they grow in OH.

Well, much to my surprise, this gentleman was dumping them all in the trash can! When I asked why, he said he couldn't sell them, couldn't even GIVE them away. He said they'd called their best customers and none of them wanted them--it was too hot. It was around 4th of July--100 degrees here in AR, but only about 85 degrees in OH. Not too hot at all!!! So I asked could I have them. He said SURE, how many do you want? I said, how bout all of them?

So we carried them out to the dumptruck and the FIL was so shocked. I think he was really embarrassed that I had "begged" for them. He tried to make excuses like there's no where to put them. Sure there is, I said. Pile 'em up there on top of the mulch. We filled the dump truck and the cab of the dump truck. 20 flats for FREE! Most were annuals to OH, but in AR, some have been perennial. I kept a couple flats for myself.

The FIL told my sister that night at dinner, "I can certainly tell that she is your sister because she'll take anything she can get for free." LOL My sister was so delighted with all the free plants that she actually got out and helped plant them.

Don't we love our bargains?

Wow, you were really blessed with all those plants! How cool!