home depot: feel good and pay for it

in my wanderings today i decided to price some building supplies, mostly curious about how our new and very popular home depot fit into the mix of local merchants. so, i got prices from local plumbing suppliers, a couple local building supply houses and home depot. surprise: home depot had the highest prices. the impression i was paying more to support local businesses was simply untrue. my sample was small--i only priced a couple things: 1-1/4" EMT pipe, a 1" ball valve, and a sheet of birch plywood. for instance, the EMT was $9.90 locally, $12.59 at home depot. so my questions was: if home depot is more expensive, why so popular? i think the answer is in their slogan: You can do it. We can help." they're selling the idea that you can save money by doing projects yourself and they will make it easy and safe. it's the same idea behind a funeral home. you've got a problem, we'll help you deal. it works. i understand why. while our local building supply houses offer lower prices, they suffer in customer service, an area in which home depot excels. i wandered home depot for about fifteen minutes and was greeted and asked if i needed assistance about five times by different people who were clearly identified as helpers by their orange apron. even though i didn't buy anything, i felt attended to and welcome. this rarely happens at the local houses where i see customers frustrated, ignored and confounded by the lack of attention they get. the staff often treats inquiries as burdensome hassles. to be fair, there are some very helpful and friendly people at the local places, but it's inconsistent. interesting.