With the closing of Lowes, the Twittersphere and web were buzzing about its full impact: what it would mean for area contractors, to the out of work employees to local hardware outfits?. On the latter, this Tweet had specific advice :

“…Local hardware stores have opportunity to step up and open on evenings and Sundays”.

And shopping local was on the mind of blogger Joe Steiniger, who suggests we think first before taking our business to the next big box store.

Unfortunately this tactic is typical of their big box business model: Barge into a new market; force as many of the local competitors as possible to shutter their stores or scale back, then tabulate the results. In this case, still not enough top line $ to make sense, so fold your hand and move on to the next "target" market. We should all remember this before we go shopping at Lowe's in Glens Falls or Plattsburgh again. Think Local first!

What do you think? Share your thoughts in comments.