Unfortunately, I have to somewhat agree with the other yelper, Scott D.
For the most part, I try my hardest to shop locally for what I need, but sometimes you just need to grab a few things quickly in one stop. Well, last night I needed a circular saw... and it was Sunday at about 5PM. Needless-to-say, I needed the saw quickly before all shops closed up for the day.
Home Depot definitely pulled through with 1) being open and 2) having the saw I needed for a great price. Hello, $39!
Other than that, the visit wasn't so great. I wandered around looking for the saw and eventually, I found it myself, without any assistance from anyone else. I then proceeded to stand there, staring, hoping that someone would come over and give my some advice on the saws, differences between models, tips, anything!
Well, after standing there for a really (really) long time, someone did end up helping me--but it was another customer! He was walking by and told me he had purchased the same saw I was looking at and it worked great for just your everyday, typical home projects. That was all I needed to know and that guy's advice was the only reason why I ended up buying the product. He even gave me other tips that really helped me with what I was working on!
I then scooted to the self check-out, making about 15 middle-aged men stand in horror as I frolicked with this circular saw through the store. What's sad is that I was in, helped and out without any interaction with an employee, although I could have really used some.
I will also say that in the past, when I was "helped" it was by people who had no idea how to answer my questions. I wish they hired people who actually knew how to do projects and could give you real world advice on how to tackle your home improvement ideas. I've literally asked 6 different employees the same question and got 6 different, confusing and wrong answers.
*Sigh*, what a bummer.