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I worked at Lowe's for a while. I think it is an interesting tidbit to know that Lowe's caters specifically to women. It is why they have the aisles set up how they are, the selection(which is great if you are designing a room, but poor, imo, if you need to find something kind of obscure--have better success at home depot with that kind of stuff), etc. They even stated this in training that their target was female customers. I am female and I can tell the difference based on where I want to go. If we are building something, I want to go to the non-frilly, nuts and bolts Home Depot, but if I just want to shop around for ideas or look at the nice things I can order, I will go to Lowe's. They both have their niche and actually the service, in this area--Ohio--has been better at HD in the past--don't know why.

I think that "the new guy" tries harder. Here in ATL, it's Lowes. In KY, where the folks are at, it's HD, and I usually go to HD first there. Actually, I do here, too, but only because there are two HDs closer than the nearest Lowes.

If I need real hardware, I have a Super Ace Hardware less than a mile from my house. It's hard to beat. Where else can you get a 14-1.25 metric die on a Sunday?

I went to a Design Center store run by HD (bought some towel rods). It is a big store with lots of great stuff to see - the higher end stuff. I've shopped at HD because of their warehouse/cost savings set-up. If they're trying to drive women to the more expensive Design Stores, they're going to lose in the end. They need to stick with what made them so great.