Home Depot

Should the City of Eureka allow the Arkleys the build a Home Depot on the Balloon Track? And if a Home Depot is built, would it hurt local hardware stores?

My answer to the first question is "I don't know." The debate has just begun and I haven't heard all sides. Also, that's a big piece of property, so the focus shouldn't be just on the Home Depot, but all the land uses.

As for the second question, I would say yes. I presume that builders and contractors make up a large percentage of the customers for local hardware stores. If these businesses can go to a big box and get their supplies cheaper, I'm sure they would. I'm not sure if the local hardware stores could be competitive – or could they? I don't know.

In my case, I'm a loyal customer at McK Ace. I would continue to go there. But for big ticket items, like flooring, I would shop around and buy at the cheapest store in the county.

And one more thing – last time there was a big box debate about Wal-Mart, there was a lot of talk about how Wal-Mart would hurt local businesses. But, just last year the new Target opened. Target is basically a Wal-Mart, but nicer. I haven't noticed any negative economic impacts from Target. Has anyone else?