Home Depot and Lowe’s serve the masses, whether you’re someone who finds DIY home projects fun or you just bought your first toolbox. Both chains offer lumber, gardening supplies, tools, paint, and home appliances—but according to self-fixers, one home improvement retailer reigns supreme. Find out why homeowners are ditching Home Depot for Lowe’s below.
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Home Depot’s inventory may cater to professionals over DIYers.
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Customers agree that Home Depot is geared towards contractors, and Lowe’s is better suited for do-it-yourselfers. In a recent Reddit thread, which has since racked up nearly 1,000 comments, store employees and home improvement professionals shared why Lowe’s is more DIY-friendly compared to Home Depot.
"I'm a contractor. If you need basic building materials like lumber, plumbing parts, etc. it's HD all the way. If you want more consumer type stuff like rugs and lighting, then Lowes," wrote one person.
"They both sell about the same thing, but Lowe’s will have a better selection of things homeowners typically would buy," said another general contractor.
A third person added, "HD is aimed at professionals, Lowe’s is aimed at weekend DIYers."
"While both have contractor services, at Home Depot that was way more important than it was at Lowe’s," explained a former employee of both stores. "Lowe’s knows who they are geared towards…that’s why the fixtures, lighting, and color scheme is the way it is."
"In terms of selection, Lowe’s typically carries more DIY-friendly products for home projects. For example, when I was looking for in-cabinet pot and pan slide-outs, Home Depot had one or two options in-store, while Lowe’s had five or six," shared a Reditter.
"If I’m starting a project, I’m at Home Depot. When I’m finishing a project, I’m at Lowe’s," reads a comment with over 30 likes.
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Lowe’s might also offer a better shopping experience than Home Depot.
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For a clean and streamline shopping experience, shoppers seem to prefer Lowe’s. The consensus among homeowners is that Home Depot is "generally chaotic" and its staff "seem uninterested in assisting."
"Used to be a Home Depot guy, but the store in my location is always dirty, unorganized and in a general state of disarray. Started going to Lowes instead and my God it's so much nicer. Much easier to actually shop," wrote one Reditter.
Another said Home Depot stores are "usually pretty dirty and smell funny."
"Home Depot is Walmart and Lowe's is Target of the home improvement stores," a fourth commented.
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According to shoppers, Lowe’s has more variety than Home Depot.
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Homeowners appreciate that Lowe’s offers its customers brand variety and "does stock hard to find items" and "better brands."
"I'm so sick of Home Depot being out of stock of a very common item or they just don't carry it," ranted one person in a Reddit thread. "Every item or tool I need Lowe’s has in stock 99% of the time. It's crazy, after so many years of going to Home Depot, I'm just realizing how much better Lowes is."
"I went to three different Home Depot as they were out of shower drains, a certain tool I needed, and a few other things, and I could find none of the items I needed. Went to Lowe’s out of curiosity and boom everything I needed they had," shared another.
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However, Ace Hardware is sometimes better than Lowe’s.
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Ace Hardware may charge more, but homeowners agree the service there is better than any big-box retail chain.
"I know Ace is big overall, but man there's always at least one person working that knows every answer to every question and exactly where said item is," shared a customer.
"ACE is like the local small business version. You do get better service at the expense of higher prices," said one Reditter.
A third chimed in, "I am a Lowe's girl, [but]I do enjoy an ACE (the helpful place!) store."
"Honestly, I go to Ace for most of my stuff. The one by me is really good," said yet another shopper.
"The service is usually way better—like when the folks at Ace help me track down exactly what I need or order it in fast if they don’t have it," agreed another.
