The Home Depot

As a new home owner, I underestimated how much I would appreciate having a Home Depot within a mile of the house, and placed directly along my commute to boot. Just as convenient as the geography are their hours – 6am to 10pm. I have taken advantage of that early start time more than once. The number two advantage of this HD is self-​checkout. I have never seen a line for these machines, ever.
Otherwise, this is a typical Home Depot – i.e., the layout is confusing, it’s hard to find anything that you want, and noone wants to help you. You will see a legion of employees wandering around, but none will stop to ask if you need assistance. However, once you initiate the conversation, most are helpful.
The best use that I have made of this store is for light bulbs. Typically I have the expired bulb in hand, and with only one exception so far, they have always had the right replacement. (This is one of the many revelations of home ownership – who knew that there were so damn many kinds of light bulbs?!)
One more note on Christmas trees. For fifteen years, I have bought my tree from a Home Depot (quality, selection, and value cannot be beaten anywhere), but 2015 was my first at this location. The trees live in the parking lot rather than inside the garden center like elsewhere. While this is a slight advantage for getting the tree to your car (more on that in a moment), it must make tree shopping rather unpleasant during inclement weather. (Not to mention the tribulations of the employees out there.) I happened to go on a sunny, 45-​degree Saturday so it was no big deal… but that is hardly typical for mid-​December.
Because the tree area is in the parking lot (or perhaps because this is the genteel and indolent suburbs), the tree guys were telling people to bring their cars around for professional loading. I appreciated the high level of customer service, and it’s true that the guy lashed the tree to my car faster than I would have. However, the tradeoff was waiting in a line several cars long and then waiting for a guy to become available. This was after I had already waited in a line to have my tree trimmed and wrapped, and then waited in another line to pay. So much waiting! I am a very busy and important person. I should have simply asked for my tree right away so that I could carry it a few rows to my car and tie it on myself.
So the lesson is, if you don’t want to wait, just ask for your tree right away. If you don’t mind waiting, enjoy the VIP service.

Overall the place is fine. Decent selection and prices. Usually the help here is better but they were off today. One person couldn’t help me and the next guy had trouble prioritizing customers. Apparently yelling and being rude works.
Checkout is fine if you don’t mind scanning your own (I prefer this).

This is by far the worst Home Depot I have ever been to. My husband and I are redoing our house and have spent so much time and money at the Depot. But in comparison with other home depots this is the worst. The people working were not helpful, hard to find, and I had no one to answer my questions. Go to a different location.

I have been working on my front yard. I purchased shrubs and wildflower mix. Now I wanted to purchase decorative stones. So the landscaping genius I am I didn’t buy enough stones on my first trip so I had to back. I needed a lot more. So I should have bought the bulk amount and saved money. So the nice girl at the service desk set me up to get bulk rate and 24 more bags of white marble stone. They loaded all of them into the back of my SUV. I should say the nice man did. I wish I knew their names. They deserve a shout out for exceptional customer service. Earlier today another employee John L. Was helpful too. Took me right to the products I needed. So thank you to all the people who assisted me today.

I have been here three times for paint, and each time I waited in line 45 minutes to an hour. I’ve tried going real early or late in the evening, but it’s always the same.
Not sure why there is only one person behind the counter when there is always a line of people waiting.
It’s not good for the customer, and I can’t imagine how stressful it is for the cashier.
Home Depot you can do better!
For future painting projects I definitely will not go back. I think after three visits it’s safe to say there are other companies that can and probably do better by a long stretch.

THERAPY ANYONE… or HOW ABOUT SOME DRUNKEN MONKEYS!
My review is based on their Garden Center only. Whenever I come here I feel like I am getting free therapy. Yeah, it is very therapeutic for me to get my garden going in the Spring and Summer and spending time in the Garden Center makes me happy and motivated to get my garden projects going at home. This garden center is very well stocked, nicely organized, and the selections are very versatile. The plants appear to be well taken care of, and I have yet to see any dead hanging baskets, perennials, annuals, trees or shrubs at this Home Depot. However, the people who work at the Garden Center are not plant experts. Make sure you educate yourself before going here and dropping several hundred dollars on your garden needs. The employees who work in the garden center here do NOT know a lot about plants (in other words they are not majoring in Horticulture or Landscape Design or hold a degree in Botany).
Make sure that you know what works best in the shade, and what flowers/​plants work best in sunny areas of your garden. Hint: Read the tags inside your plants. Yeah, it is that easy, but I am amazed how many people DO NOT read those tags and then wonder why the «F» their plants are wilting and not doing great in the sun! Duh!!! Uuuum, cuz the plants or flowers you purchased should have been designated for a shady spot. Oh yeah, you forgot to read the tag. Make sure you read the tags to know whether or not what you plan to purchase will do best in a shady area and/​or a sunny spot.
Customer service is A-​OK and not over-​the-​top spectacular. I have also shopped inside the store and have NEVER been asked if someone can help me. Maybe it is because I am a woman and not a Contractor spending thousands of dollars. Maybe it is because I don’t look like I can drop several hundred or several thousand dollars here. I really do not know the reason behind it, but I really don’t give a crap since I have managed to find whatever I needed on my very own. I give customer service THREE stars.
The garden center has everything that you need (from soil to fertilizer to containers to watering cans to perennials and annuals). I have been here several times over the years, and if I act like I am «Lost» and act coy, I might get some guy to feel sorry for me who may actually ask, «May I help you find something?» Another tactic that I have used is wearing my yoga pant which shows off my J-​Lo tight butt. Wow, I am amazed how many guys zip over to me to ask me if they can help me. Works every single time, ladies!
The parking lot here is cray-​cray psycho nutso! Sometimes I wonder if the people who come to shop at this Home Depot are high on crack cocaine or maybe drunk from cracking open a few beers cans. Why? CUZ, they sho’ drive like drunken monkeys in this parking lot. In fact, my brother-​in-​law who is legally blind can drive better than half of these jerks! You’ve been warned about the crazy drivers in this parking lot, so be extra cautious when you are backing out of your spot or your car could get slicked in half like a ham and cheese sandwich!
TIP: If you want to replenish your hanging baskets go at the end of June or right after July 4, when all their plants start getting marked down. You can purchase hanging baskets for as little as $ 5!

Stopped in with my husband on Sunday and did my own thing; looked at all the
girly stuff while my husband shopped. Maybe, I just looked out of place in a home improvement store and the staff felt sorry for me as I wandered the isles looking for my husband. I was greeted excessively by the staff asking if they could help me find anything (o.k. I give up already, where is the cement board).
Staff was attentive in the tile, rug, window and paint departments as well. No staff shortage here.
Stopped in to pick-​up some cement board for tiling and some misc. items.
Staff was friendly, helpful and loaded the cement board into our car. Nice.

This place has everything you need to get a job done. Except finding what you need is time consuming and there’s rarely anyone to ask. Last time I went, got a couple new hires to help me eventually, shouldn’t take 45 minutes to find hoses. If it’s gonna rain, get here early and stock up on all your flood cleanup needs. it will be wiped out as soon as the rain hits the street!

I was shocked to see such a low star rating for this Home Depot. Although its not my regular location– my husband and I end up here when running errands north of our neighborhood. I’ve only found their staff to be pleasant and helpful. They make sure they say hello and show you where to go if lost on where a product might be.

Went there today and needed a lot of things to fix up our house. Had no idea what I was doing in there but found that the workers there to be pretty helpful. Told them I was a budget, so they recommended all of the affordable items. Left with everything I needed for a good price.

Sometimes this place is OK, usually not. Here’s an example from a call I made there today.
HD guy:
«Home Depot, plumbing. How can I help you?»
me:
«Hi do you sell bathtub overflow covers? I need one in nickel with the trip lever for the drain stopper.»
HD guy:
«Uhhhh…»
me:
“Do you know what an overflow drain is on a bathtub?“
HD guy:
«Not really.»
Enough said. I hung up and bought it on the internet.

Some of the worst customer service I’ve ever had. I’m rather polite and considerate when asking for assistance, so to consistently encounter such bad service really irritates me. I only come here because it’s about five minutes closer to me than Menards. Never again.
Asking a question here is apparently against the rules. If you happen to shop here, please don’t engage the employees. They really don’t like to be bothered.

Very friendly and helpful staff. My father and I were able to find everything that I needed for my DIY bathroom light fixture swap. We came the first day and bought the light fixture. $ 18 for exactly what I was looking for. I was very happy.
We successfully take down the old fixture and find out that the mounters are the wrong size and we need something flat and wider. Another trip here and we found what we were looking for. Well, we asked for help and a very competent gentleman showed us to the correct area, shuffled through the options with us and stayed by our side until we made up our minds. Very nice.
Part of me wants to give them five stars simply because I still can’t get over the fact that everything is in English, Spanish AND POLISH! «Witamy,» indeed! I told my dad that I could learn all the Polish I need right here. He said, «Well, all you need to do Polish half assed home projects.»

Though it’s closest to home, this is one of my least favorite locations. I come here if I need to fix something at home since there’s really no better option nearby.
First off, if I don’t know where to find something, I’m better off wandering and finding it myself. I’ve been misled by their equally befuddled staff many times. Most recently, I needed a doorbell and the helpful person led me to the section with the different doors. When we didn’t see the doorbells, he then got a call and had to run. So I went wandering and found doorbells (in the light fixtures area, not by the doors you idiot!)
Then there was the time I needed a specific part for a faucet. I went to the kitchen area. The person at the main counter there was talking on the phone for maybe 10 – 15 minutes. I ended up going to another store since it looked like he was the only one there and I was not the only person waiting to see him.
And then there’s the garden center. Need to do spring planting and have no clue on raising plants? Well, neither do these people. They have plenty of broken, withered, and drippy, overwatered pots for sale during the growing season. Why have your plants die in your garden when you can buy them pre-​killed at the store? Need potting soil? Chances are, the bags have little tears in them or the whole pallet is still shrink-​wrapped and you need to rip it with your bare hands to pull out a bag. And watch for those giant puddles and leaky hoses all over the place. The water especially tends to collect near the outdoor checkouts.
For most of my basic garden center needs, I’ve found a much better Home Depot near my workplace, at the corner of Lincoln & McCormick by Lincolnwood.
And finally, what happened to those orange race car shopping carts? I have not seen the orange carts for a couple months now. Yes, some of them had broken parts and seemed a bit dingy, but my 4-​year old was very disappointed when we came on a slow day and not a single one was in sight.
Home Depot… You better hope that Menard’s or Lowes doesn’t eyeball that abandoned Dominick’s over on Greenwood anytime soon.

Having been here a number of times, including many trips while in the middle of a kitchen remodel, I’ll say it is usually difficult to find help. Once while waiting in line, someone else cut in on me; the salesguy waited on him first (the other guy: looked like contractor; me: not so much).
Another time, my hubby & I were there to get paint for the kitchen — we were torn between a couple of options and wanted an opinion. The 18 year old behind the counter couldn’t offer us any; we asked him point blank what he thought and he just shrugged his shoulders. OK then.

I found this Home Depot a lot to be desired! First off, parking is very large, but crowded, and some areas are now taken up by the garden stuff. It was very hard to find help once I was inside, and if you speak Polish, you’ll be in heaven here. Seems to me that most of the currently new Polish contractors shop here, and I will tell you that the ones that I ran into were very pushy and without manners when I was trying to get help. My brother, who is a contractor, found this store worthless to him, also. He gets better results in the store located in Civic Center Plaza.

Was my first choice for a Home Depot location!
Let’s see (grunt grunt), tons of tools, hardware, wiring, plumbing, and everything else you need for your next home improvement project. I’ve got a second floor addition and about 50% of the materials were bought at Home Depot sites. This location is nice and clean. Register lines are never long and it’s easy to find help here (note my update MAY 2006). On another note, since it’s a suburban location the security staff is not as tenacious as the inner city sites. I stop here often even though it’s not as convenient for me as some of the other locations.
Update:5/2006 — I stoped here with my grandmother the other weekend, since I was installing a new kitchen floor for her and we needed some supplies. We found it really difficult to get any kind of help. In fact at one point one of the service reps was actually rude to my grandmother! (being rude to me is one thing — BUT TO GRANDMA — oh it’s on now!!!) So I’ve lowered my rating from 5 of 5 to 3.25 of 5.
Pros: Clean, Fast, Lots of parking (lots of cars)
Cons: Far from the City, Attitude
Overall Rating: 3.75 of 5 (NOTE: was 5 of 5 — before ⁵⁄₂₀₀₆)
Recommendation: Slightly Recommended

They may be «the man» of hardware stores but I have to admit they are a really quality store. Any one of their stores is always packed, so that tells me they have alot of loyal customers.
Of course they have tons of hardware supplies and home improv. items, but I was surprised how much outdoor or yard items this location has, such as sheds, patio furniture, and tons of gardening supplies and plants.