Our local Ace hardware had a bunch of stuff that was sold out in the big stores already.
I went to Ace for my AC filters. I wanted to avoid the crowd at Home Depot and Lowes. There was almost nobody at Ace at 10am.
Sure, I paid higher prices at Ace. But Im beyond caring about that.
We have a bunch of Ace and other little hardware stores around here (northern CT). I have no clue how they stay in business since we also have Home Depots and Loews as alternatives.