Small retailers v Tool station/screw fix etc-how do you guys feel?

[brightspark]

Unless it's a training course

but who would want a trainee doing a job for them

 

[Spark plug]

I came across a perfect example yesterday I called into a small tool / hire shop to buy a 350mm diamond cutting disc. Simple enough I thort, only to be met with the reply "you can't get them" so I went the extra mile or so to screwfix quick flick through the catalogue, cupple of minutes later I had something you can't get in my hand. ​

 

[brightspark]

our local hardware shop is a last resort. i went in for 24 standard socket and switch screws and he said 12 quid 50 p each err i dont want the sockets as well i only pay 4 quid a hundred for em

 

[The Devils Reject]

As I don't buy stuff for trade purposes, only for my mindless dabbling, I will wherever possible, use a local shop/store for my purchases. Going to B&Q or Screwfix means a round trip of 40 miles. For the extra mileage and hassle I'd rather support local. OK, it'll cost a couple of quid extra but I feel all warm and fuzzy inside knowing I'm helping keep a family run business/small concern going.

 

[ukracer]

Interesting discussion, I think in this current climate when everyone wants something for nothing it has to be the cheapest place that supplies the quality and standard of goods you want.

If you need advice on something then that's what the internet is for or your mates or dare I say it a forum like this

As you say interesting debate. I have been looking for a replacement saw blade and to be honest I have been looking for the lowest prices. I could get one from a local place BUT even that is 15 miles away so in my truck it will be at least a gallon of fuel. So as I am being forced online I guess I feel like getting the lowest prices.

Strange really as only the other day I sold an item I had made. The guy who purchased it said.

Hi Andy, Its arrived safe and sound, nothing short of fantastic, built to last and then some! Haven't installed yet but looks super simple. Thanks again for a great service, you should charge more for these! Cheers, Steve.

And yet I have had them on ebay and they did not sell very fast so charging more would not be an option. lol

 

[Spark plug]

Screwfix must be opening loads of new shops as I now have 4 in a 8 mile radius opposed to 1 toolstation.

 

[fixerupper]

Yeah, it's not just tools and materials though... I lived in rural Suffolk in the 80s we had village shops ,bakers, butchers ,a dairy, green grocer. petrol station etc.... now in so many villages up and down the UK you can buy Queen Ann Dresser but not a pint of milk... It make these places impossible to live in unless you can afford to run and are fit enough to run a car ...
Here in a rural mountain village in Crete we get mobile Baker , Fishman , Veg man ,milk and cheese .I use them as much as possible cos' they make it possible to live here ... who knows (I'm 61 now) in a few years( at least 20 I hope) I might not be able to run me truck....So getting back to the OP... use local stuff cos it improves and adds to the local economy....jeff....

 

[MattF]

And yet I have had them on ebay and they did not sell very fast so charging more would not be an option. lol

Add something like shabby chic or steam punk in the description and double the price. Seems to be the way most people use for palming crap off at silly prices, so might work for you, (I'm not suggesting your stuff is crap, btw, but merely suggesting that some people are easily swayed/led with farty/fancy terms into parting with cash).

 

[MattF]

Yeah, it's not just tools and materials though... I lived in rural Suffolk in the 80s we had village shops ,bakers, butchers ,a dairy, green grocer. petrol station etc....

That also leads onto another point, namely quality. A pie or chop from a good butcher, for example, are worlds apart from any tosh you can find in a supermarket.

 

[ford34/2]

Being retired now, it does afford the opportunity to shop around, E bay, online wholesalers, etc. whenever I possibly can I shop local-armed with a few prices, If I dont like the price they say, they have a chance to match it or loose the buisiness, I do tell them I like to shop local and keep the money in the local commnity, If i dont shop local and every one buys online with "free" delivery then all the local suppliers whether they are national are small one man bands will be out of buisiness, A Company I worked for had a great DIY shop and we sold almost any building product you could name, before B&Q- well then locally it was Dickens I do know some of the unbelivable disscounts retailers can get from manufacturers. Evo-Stik in their original format regulary offered 1/3 + 20% disscount if you made a selection order up, I hate to think what the Big name national name retailers can demand from wholesalers.
Stan

 

[daleyd]

I've had a few trade places that have given me ridiculous prices for things so I tend not to use them anymore. I don't understand why they feel the need to blatantly rip off members I the public just cos they don't turn up with their @ss crack on show in a transit van?? We may be having an extension done soon so I'm hoping to negotiate a deal with a local builders merchants due to the amount we will be spending, I hope to rope in a builder friend to put in a word. We'll see how it goes...

For the bits I do Screwfix or Toolstation are usually (not always though!) pretty good value, and you know your not going to get messed around.

I do however use the local butchers as the quality of the product is far far superior to anything you get in a supermarket. Having used the supermarket for a good few years for our meat and then going back to the butchers was a real eye opener!!

 

[ford34/2]

I have often told the guy on the counter, I may not be his biggest customer but he is my only supplier and everything I want to buy he gets first chance. Sometimes works
Stan

 

[Parm]

If you're having to go somewhere so that someone can explain how you should do your customers work, you're in the wrong trade matey.

I'm not in any trade where I have to buy stuff, fortunately I'm salaried staff. I was just trying to explain a point.

All the local tradesmen round here all highlight that customers want the best at minimal prices. We have a builders merchant run by a religious organisation just down the road. Most of the local trades use them for the big stuff. All things like fixings etc are bought from discount places down the road. When you can't charge more for stuff you have to use the cheaper places so you can pay the bills and workers while trying to earn a living. I don't know what you do but it's a cut throat world out there as there are ten other people waiting to walk all over you

 

[dannyp]

i hate b&Q some stuff they are cheep on but they make up for it quick on the bits you wouldnt expect.

plumbing fittings may be cheep but the solder YEEEEEEEEEEOUCH

the local hardare shop used to good, they did a lot of good cheep kit and end of line , surplus stock ect. but now they charge way over the top for crap ... an good look in returning a duff item

 

[Parm]

That also leads onto another point, namely quality. A pie or chop from a good butcher, for example, are worlds apart from any tosh you can find in a supermarket.

That I totally agree with, meat always from a butcher

 

[langy]

Funnily enough I was in my local bolt shop today and talking to a guy that has been there at least 20 years, I asked for some 4.2mm split point dormer drills, he didn't know what a split point drill was !!!

 

[Wendelspanswick]

That I totally agree with, meat always from a butcher

I did a welding repair job for a guy and he paid me in sausages! I didn't complain as they are the best sausages I have ever had. He produces his own from the Gloucester Old Spot pigs he keeps.

 

[Robotstar5]

Funnily enough I was in my local bolt shop today and talking to a guy that has been there at least 20 years, I asked for some 4.2mm split point dormer drills, he didn't know what a split point drill was !!!

That's because it was a bolt shop, if you'd asked for some 4.2mm split point dormer bolts he would have asked how many do you want

 

[mart]

I did a welding repair job for a guy and he paid me in sausages! I didn't complain as they are the best sausages I have ever had. He produces his own from the Gloucester Old Spot pigs he keeps.

There was this guy that drove a flatbed 7.5 tonne for local drops, out from the place where I used to work. He was telling me how years ago he used to deliver bags of coal around Sheffield I believe it was, (own business), and some of the local women used to have it on the tick, as it’s called. (For all you young uns, that means buy now pay later).

Anyway, it got to the point that when he went again to collect what was owed, they still didn’t have the cash. He had to take “payment in kind”.

 

[TechnicAl]

My father in law was an Electrician and he wired up and lit a farmers yard. Eventually he got paid..........in Potatoes
We ended up buying a peeling machine and a chipper and turned the potatoes into chips that we sold to local pubs / restaurants..........bloody loads of them.

As for Wickes / B&Q if our local DIY shop stocks it they are usually cheaper and its branded rather than own branded.