Florida Guide > Miscellaneous
Home Depot. The big DIY store
So you think B& Q is big, well try Home Depot.
As a seasoned veteran of many DIY stores and builders merchants here in the UK I thought I had seen it all. But on a recent trip to our villa in Florida we decided that we would install some solar powered lights in the spa area of the pool. We thought that it would be relaxing to have it subtly lit, so we could sit in the spa and sip a glass of something cool to relax after the sun goes down.
So we jumped in the car and trundled up the 27 towards Clermont and duly arrived at the Home Depot. Now we are veterans of the Wal-Mart stores and so we were expecting a large store. Well we were not wrong. We parked up alongside many of the huge pickups that are so prevalent in the US, these trucks are Great for transporting things about in and simply dwarf my Land Rover (although I reckon I get a little more to the Gallon than them)
As we walked through the entrance there were lots of John Deer ride on tractors for sale at much reduced prices that you see herein the UK, and boy did they have good stocks of them there must have been 50 of these ride ons!
Once inside your first impression is that its like a huge B& Q but a little more orientated to the tradesman, in fact it’s a bit weird because you have the elderly couple doing their Sunday afternoon routine wandering round looking at the patio furniture or plants along side the overall wearing tradesman, such as Randy’s plumbers etc, its not what we are used to in the UK.
The sheer choice of trade items available for anyone to take home is astonishing, the store was full of average Joe public consumers and tradesman alike, but this was trade items for all
Most noticeable is the helpful and yet friendly staff, being British and unsure of how exactly how certain things were fitted and wired in the USA, help and advice was sought. As with all things in the USA helpful and enthusiastic advice was freely given, another positive to be admired by us Brits, Americans really do like helping people.
The range of light fitting and ceiling fans was huge and as we needed an electric drill to fit the lamps we headed over to the power tools area. The Americans sure do like their power tools, they seem to have a tool for everything, anyway the array of drills was mind boggling and we plumped for one of the cheapest which seemed to be really heavy duty and well made.
We headed for the checkout happy in the knowledge that we now had everything that we needed to do the job properly and within an hour or so of getting back to our villa all the solar lights were installed, if only we had an Home Depot like this at home in England. We enjoyed a cool beer in the hot bubbling spa, under the gentle light of the new lamps the next evening……magic!
A man could spend a few fascinating hours browsing in this store; perhaps it’s better to send the wife for some new shoes while you do it!
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