We just had a True value, local owned, hardware store shut its doors after 10 years.
The owner cited many reasons and did point out that they had comparable prices to the Home Depot about 8 miles away and said she did a fair business but no where near what they needed to ‘stay afloat’.
She did cite the easiness of sitting on your couch, eating bon bons and ordering over the internet with ‘free’ delivery the next day as a factor but only one of many.
I don’t know where you are, but my local Ace Hardware/TrueValue/etc., independent stores have learned to survive with order-online, pickup-in-store as an option.
Things such stores need to survive in this era:
1. Great customer service and product knowledge.
2. Significant marketing campaigns and targeted online advertising. A lot of people don’t know these stores exist as they really only know to look for HD and Lowes.
3. Knowledge to leverage tech at every point they can.
4. Doesn’t hurt to offer weird stuff that the big boys don’t bother with but somehow a lot of people end up needing.
5. Constant reassessment and re-evaluation of all the above.
There are several such stores in Dallas that *should* be dead but have survived the online onslaught through the above. Also, it doesn’t have to be delivered, it just has to be available online for order 24 hours a day, and accommodating hours for pickup at the store the next day.