The Home Depot

Our yard sprinkler pump died a few weeks ago after eight reliable years. The Home Depot was the only hardware store that carried it’s replacement. Having received the pump from an online purchase, we stopped by to pick up some PVC tubing odds and ends to complete the plumbing connection to our well.
We found an extreme helpful employee with whom we didn’t have to explain all of the minutia of what we were planning. He saved us a lot of time and effort in locating the exact joints and valves that were required. He didn’t seemed burdened by our questions. Some hardware stores make you feel like you’re imposing on their time if you ask questions. I’m looking at you, Lowe’s!
This store is located on the northeast quadrant of the intersection of Missouri and Ulmerton in Largo, FL. It’s just north of Largo Mall. I know that you probably think that all Home Depots are the same but they’re not. As with any establishment, obtaining good service is all about the people who work there! Please stop by and you won’t be disappointed!

I love Home Depot!!! I can get lost in here for sure! Glad I don’t have money cause I would spend it all in here!

This Home Depot has a very friendly staff that usually see to your needs fairly quickly upon entering the store. This is not true every time, but often enough to mention it. Sometimes the only attention one gets is from the people that want to sell you new cabinets. I suppose this just depends on the day you’re there and they day they’re having. The aisles aren’t set up like most of the Home Depots I’ve seen, also. But, as always, just follow the bilingual signs to find what you need. Why not learn some espanol while you’re at it? What could it hurt?!
The shining star of this review, and the impetus for scribing it, is the young man who works at the tool rental section. His name is (will be edited with actual name), and he certainly cares about his customers. I had to run a line down my stack twice in two weeks (son with autism who discovered that apples are cool to flush). This employee made sure I had the right equipment and, since he wasn’t sure about it, offered to switch mine out if it didn’t work. Now, he may not do that for EVERY customer, but he did for me. Everything turned out ok, after all (I’m not terribly inexperienced at saving money on plumbers, you know?), but the effort was there. I will rent tools from this location only, in the future.

I like how the Return area is in the front and out of the way. Service is always decent at these stores. This place is large than any ones I’ve seen.

The no-​frills, industrial-​like interior of this place suggests it’s for serious do-​it-​yourselfers who know the difference between a thingamajig and a do-​hickey, which is probably why I find it so intimidating. As someone who firmly believes a repair job should be no more complicated than calling the super, I need to be coddled by an obviously knowledgeable staffer who understands he needs to talk to me like the idiot I am if I decide to tackle a home repair project myself. Such employees are not to be found here. In fact, there are few employees to be found here at all. After wandering acres of aisles in search of assistance, I stopped at the customer service desk, where a clerk spent nearly ten minutes paging in vain. While I waited, I observed a long line of people waiting to pay the one working cashier, for whatever reason avoiding the several self-​service registers — which I myself boycott as a matter of principle — that stood empty and forlorn. Clearly, this store is not customer-​oriented. I finally drove two minutes away to Lowe’s (
), where I was greeted at the door, escorted to the section I needed, and then received concise instructions on how to replace the watchamacallit in a toilet tank. A professional contractor might rate Home Depot five stars, but from my inexperienced and helpless point-​of-​view, I find it difficult to award it even two.
03÷07÷06 Update: In need of a new microwave oven, I researched the local retailers on-​line rather than waste gas driving from store to store. Comparison shopping determined the model I had in mind was least expensive here. Knowing what I wanted in advance helped, because I was able to go directly to the appliance section, grab the item off the shelf, and head to the register without need of sales assistance. .. which is just as well, because there was none to be seen in the area anyway.