Boyfriend I caved yesterday due to krewe needs and I feel shitty about it.
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We have shockingly few local hardware stores and many have gone out of business.
The one good one left is in the French quarter where it is impossible to park.
I switched from HD to Lowe’s but they’re evil too now, right?
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Yes - the consequence of trying to avoid evil empires is that I am overall shopping less.
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I’m pretty sure still Lowe’s > Home Depot, but yeah, they cancelled some DEI policies back in August.
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So if I need gardening tools, I should try to find a local hardware store, or is there like a good online option?
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My searches have suggested Lowes is more bad employee experience and bad customer experience evil than actively supporting fascism evil (like HD and sadly Menards 
) affiliated donations seem to have leaned D and been less overall than HD (see: https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/lowe-s-companies/summary?id=D000027296)
Ace has a co-op kinda ownership structure so at least it’s decentralizing the wealth and power…which I think I support as a concept even if I know the owners probably lean conservative, esp in red states?
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Ace can be ok. They are franchised, but at least they aren’t huge Trump donors like HD
Edit: posted at the same time as Galliver, who said what I was trying to say about Ace more clearly 
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Ace as a whole is good, individually it’s really dependent (there’s an actively bizarrely red one near me, and then a perfectly reasonable one maybe 10 miles away)
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I also don’t think we need to super kick ourselves for breaking the boycott line in occasion? Kind of like we are seeing in the tariff discussion, even if we want to avoid Chinese made products (for quality/environment/human rights reasons as well as tariffs) … some things just aren’t made in enough volume or at a reasonable price to get elsewhere and sustain a business.
I stopped by CVS yesterday for a medication that doesn’t seem to be stocked anywhere else and I hadn’t ordered online due to life chaos of moving! And I picked up a few other treatment options for the same symptom, and $15 of toothpaste because the one we like was on BOGO sale. That may be a year’s supply. Maybe next time I will have more bandwidth to research options or think ahead. But for now it’s fine.
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This. I like to think about that graphic showing the drop in foot traffic business for Target. It’s about decreasing the volume. Every time you don’t buy a thing from them that previously you would have gotten from them, it’s a win. Any time you do, sigh, dust yourself off, and then get back in the game!
(eta apologies for sports-business speak, I just came out of a very corporate meeting)
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I think being thoughtful about your purchases is what matters the most! Sometimes it makes more sense to get it from a non-ideal place for whatever reason, but if you’re mostly shopping elsewhere it makes a difference.
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Maybe check a local garden store? Most of our garden tools are from the ReStore, though.
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Given this conversation, what I’m getting for tools and hardware is:
secondhand/local garden or hardware shop/tool library > Ace > Lowe’s > Home Depot
based on criteria of: DEI rollbacks + donations
Thanks for asking this, Feroz! We’re in “babyproof the house” stage which means I’m going to be buying so many little fiddly items for babyproofing (toilet locks, getting the one last unsecured piece of furniture secured, etc) and now I have a triage list to go from place to place lol.
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That also seems like a great BN ask? Can come from if kids outgrow the mechanisms or leftovers from a package. Great way to make connections for handmedowns 
PS I guess that falls under secondhand, probably. But. Additional benefits over a thrift store 
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I have 3 outlet cover boxes that I would be happy to mail if you want them.
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That is incredibly kind! DM me and let’s see if the postage to and from our respective locations makes sense haha
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What I’m noticing is that my recycling bin is emptier without so much packaging.
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Sadly, the very best babyproofing supplies are non-reusable adhesive straps. They are easy for adults to open one handed while being the last thing that little ones learn to undo, and they can be used for a huge variety of tasks.
I went to Ace yesterday and the traffic was soooo bad and all the carts shuddered terribly. I’ll have to try the other one that is slightly further in a different direction. They also sell way more toddler distractions.
Oh, and they do not sell LIGHT FIXTURES. What is the best place to shop for those?
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You may have a local lighting store if you want serious choice!
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