Are Big Box Stores All the Same?
Which one gives you a free gift?
“Sometimes kindness isn’t in your face. It’s more subtle. It’s Kinda Kind.”
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“You can’t give away what you don’t have. If you don’t have love for yourself, then you can’t be loving to others.” ~ Wayne Dyer
Have you ever been to a Big Box store like Home Depot or Lowes? They offer aisles and aisles of ….well…. just about everything. And a lot of people will tell you that they’re pretty much the same. Same layout. Same products. Lumber at one end. Garden center at the other.
So why would you choose one over the other?
Mickey
The Friday before Thanksgiving Bill put some soup in Mickey the Microwave and pushed the start button.💥 Pop. Crackle. Psssst. It was the last gasp for Mickey. Plus Bill just about jumped out of his shoes, so there was that.🤣
Not panicking (eeeeee), even though Thanksgiving was just around the corner…. and what is Thanksgiving without leftovers…. I called our amazing handyman friend, Tony.
OK… he could install it on Monday. I just needed to go buy a new microwave. Easy peasy.
Home Depot
I tried Home Depot first. Microwaves are at the back of the store hanging out above the cooktop displays. I managed to track down a store clerk and explained to her what I needed.
She said, “We don’t have anything in stock. It’ll take five or six days to get one.” That was it. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Not even a sympathetic smile. 😔
“Do you think Lowes would have them?” I asked hopefully.
“I doubt it. We’re all pretty much the same,” she replied.
Well… that was awkward.
I decided to try Lowes anyway. It was on the way home.
LOWES
As I wandered in amongst the refrigerators and stoves a forty-something guy with a beard and a smile looked me in the eyes and offered, “How can I help you?”
“I really need a microwave. Mine just died. And my grandson is coming for Thanksgiving.” I don’t know, I thought maybe if I pulled out the ‘grandson’ card, it might make a difference. Silly me.
“I’m sorry to hear that. Tough time of year to lose your microwave. But don’t worry. I always keep about a dozen in stock. Let’s go check them out.” I could feel a little spring in my step as I followed him to the ‘microwave aisle’. Maybe that ‘grandson’ card worked!
Within five minutes Tim (my new best friend) had helped me pick one out, loaded it onto a cart and offered to wheel it out to my car. He also let me pay for it in the appliance department so I didn’t have to push the cart up to the main register. I was energized.
The sun seemed to shine a little brighter as we chatted on the way to my car. After Tim loaded the microwave into the back, he said, “It was nice meeting you. I hope you have a good Thanksgiving with your grandson.”
And then he turned and wheeled his cart back toward Lowes. It was like Santa delivering gifts and returning to his sleigh… even though it was Thanksgiving.
I got two things that day. A microwave. And kindness. The microwave is hanging over my cooktop. The other ‘thing’… well, I tucked it away in my heart and now I’m letting it ripple out to you. That’s how kindness works.
Box stores. Pretty much the same, right?
🐇 Lessons From the Rabbit Hole
From a business perspective, even if you have all the products that the ‘other guy’ has, you still need one more thing to be successful.
This story may have been about Big Box stores, but the lesson about doing everything with kindness applies to everything we do in life.
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Comments:
Have you had a good experience in a Big Box store?
Have you ever been helped by a “Tim”?
Hi. Howdy. Halloooo. Not sending a ‘micro’Wave….sending a ‘macro’Wave your way!🙋♀️
Just goes to show you that it's not the (big) box, but what's in it. You have to wonder about the corporate culture at these respective stores, whether it's inspired locally or nationally. Either way, what a difference a Tim makes!
Okay, I’m going to share a dirty little secret about Lowe’s.
I got involved in a project that donated almost 500 storage sheds built by volunteers for people who lost their homes in a Northern California wildfire. Thousands of homes and other structures were destroyed and almost 90 people lost their lives.
A nearby Lowe’s supplied most of our materials and donated the roofing and paint for the sheds. They got the roofing shingles from a supplier near Seattle and delivered them to us with a Lowe’s truck.
If we needed something, our Pro Desk person dropped everything to help. Lowe’s employees even helped built sheds when they could and Lowe’s sent trucks and forklifts a few times to deliver sheds to the new owners.
Here in Idaho, Lowe’s provided support for a major facelift on a residential youth ranch. The ProDesk person who helped us was pure gold. The project started during the time of Covid when everything was difficult to source, but somehow we never ran short of and materials because of her efforts, even when she was down with Covid herself.
So the dirt little secret about Lowe’s is that they are about more than only a bottom line. They really do help out with projects in their local communities. It’s probably a great way for them to build goodwill, but it also seems like a big part of their corporate culture.