CP closed its door around the Buffalo/Niagara area years before HD and Lowes came into the area. In fact we had no home improvement stores other than Valu Home Center for over 10 yrs which is very limited and had to go miles to get things we needed or have them special ordeed and pay double. I personally was thrilled when HD came into the area and now we finally have a Lowe's too. We still shop Valu Home Center for the little items that we need that we can get from them since it is closer but now we do have a place to get the bigger items that we have needed to work on our 1890 house.

Penny

I was very sad to hear that Chase Pitkin was closing as I loved their 3-1/2" potted perennials and bought many every Spring as well as their cedar mulch, among other things. I can't say that I'm not surprised though. I could never find anyone to help me in those stores if I needed it and if I did, they were usually quite grumpy or didn't know what I was talking about. I did go there this weekend and bought up a bunch of bonemeal, bloodmeal, plant tone and bulb tone as it is 20% off right now. I really hate HD but am very glad Lowe's has finally made an appearance in Cicero. I will probably frequent my local nurseries more for annuals and perennials and go to Lowe's for any other home improvement need.

sorry to hear about the chase pitkins. i went to college in rochester, ny --- and i remember the chase pitkin stores well (along with wegman's). i don't think people really consider so much about how much is lost when they give-in to the big box stores. they really DO have a devastating effect on the local community/economy. my favorite hardware store on canal street recently closed. it was so quirky with old creaky wood floors --- a far cry for the sterilized bland sameness of the home depot that opened recently on 23rd street. i don't care how low they lower their prices, the ultimate cost is at the expense of the heart and soul of the community. this is an issue that i think about a lot lately. i just re-watched a frontline program on pbs: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/walmart/ regarding wal-mart stores.

a friend of mine asked me to make a duplicate of the key to the house that she recently purchased upstate. i went to four different neighborhood hardware/locksmith stores, and each told me that they had no match for this particular key. i did a search on google, using the numbers/name brand on the key. it turns out that this type of key is made by special machines that are only available at box stores such as wal-mart and home depot. so now you can't walk into the local guy's shop, because they may not have the money to buy into this key system. this key was probably made at the wal-mart store upstate. just another example of how the box stores squeeze out the little guys...

please think twice before patronizing the box stores.

Lets face it, for the many who did shop both CP HD and Lowes, the customer service at CP was the worst. Their employees consisted of teenagers who knew nothing, and laid off grumpy kodakers that were pissed off at the world and didn't care if you were there or not. So if a poll were taken I'm sure tons of people would feel the same way about CP when they were in business, CP was more interested in paying their employees a low buck and not follow up with training their employees, while HD & Lowes paid more to provide what's most important to the customer and that's service. Now I'm sure some have had a hard time at HD & lowes but the consistent bad service at CP was put them out of business. I could tell you the many stories of my own I've had at CP but I would only waste time since their gone now. The bottom line is if you want to run a good business you need to train your employees and follow up with good customer service, if you can't do that people will go somewhere else. - Adam