When you spend your hard-earned dollars at a family-owned
business in your area, you stimulate your local economy by providing that
business with the means to pay their employees and purchase wares from other
businesses in your area. When you shop
online at a small business, you are also helping them by providing them the
means to continue to hire and keep employees.
Big-box
home improvement stores such as Home Depot and Lowes lure customers into the
store with the promise of saving money by buying in bulk. But do they really
pay off if you are seeking specialty products used by professionals, or can you
get better deals by shopping at smaller stores and local shops? In other words,
is shopping big worth it for you for specialty construction materials such as
surface protection? Here are some pros and cons to consider.
Price
Price
is often the biggest factor when choosing where to shop. Big box stores
targeted to homeowners don’t carry most surface protection or dust control
products required by professional builders.
The small inventory they do sell is often marked higher than your
surface protection specialty store.
Although you may save hundreds of dollars on electronics, appliances,
and other major purchases at a big-box retailer, if you need specialty
products, shop small.
Selection
Big-box
stores typically carry items in large sizes or quantities. Discounts are for
large purchases such as multiple pallets of the same product. Smaller stores can offer discounts on mixed
pallets of many different products shipped to the same address or purchased at
the same time. Small surface protection
companies purchase from a large variety of vendors and carry a much larger
number of protection products. For example, Big Box stores carry only
paper-based floor protection products that have a very short useful life. Protecting a wood floor with these products
can result in disastrous and expensive damage as the protection does not hold
up well to construction traffic and must be secured with tape. A small surface
protection supplier may offer 12 or more floor protection products including
those specifically designed to protect wood floors for the duration of the
construction or remodeling project. These
small retailers can also have products drop shipped to you directly from
manufacturers or distributors to save you shipping costs.
The
Shopping Experience
Big-box
stores attract large crowds during peak shopping hours, which can mean long
checkout lines and mobbed parking lots. Sending a construction superintendent
to a large box store with the hope of saving a dollar or two on surface
protection doesn’t make sense. Consider
what paying an employee to stand in a long line will cost in time and money.
Customer
Service
When
it comes to customer interaction, big-box stores can be very different from
your typical local shop, retailer or on-line retailer. You may need to walk
through 4 or 5 large aisles before you can find someone to ask a basic
question. The big box store employee may
not have the expertise to guide you on how to best protect your interior home
finishes from damage. Visitors to small stores can expect helpful and
knowledgeable staff that can describe what products will work best based on the
customers’ needs. Ask yourself which
you prefer, anonymity or up-close and personal attention. Your small specialty
store can also order products with your logo and company information in order
to help you advertise your business.
A big-box chain doesn’t have the same commitment to customer
satisfaction that a family-owned business does; if one of their customers isn’t
happy, they still have a million other customers in other cities and states to
fill their coffers. A company owned by someone in your community depends on the
business they receive from their friends and neighbors.
Conclusion
When you spend your hard-earned dollars at a family-owned business
in your area, you stimulate your local economy by providing that business with
the means to pay their employees and purchase wares from other businesses in
your area. When you shop online at a
small business, you are also helping them by providing them the means to continue
to hire and keep employees. Your money
won’t be spent on a millionaire’s golden parachute.
If you are looking for the most selection, helpful
customer service personnel and great pricing, purchase your surface protection
and dust control supplies from a specialized small business either in person or
on-line.
