Business Insider/Jessica Tyler We visited the Home Depot store in New York City's Flatiron District and compared it to a nearby Lowe's.
- Home Depot and Lowe's, the two top home-improvement stores in the United States, offer similar product workshops and installation services.
- Though the stores sell almost all of the same products, Home Depot's setup appears to be geared more towards professionals - contractors, interior designers, and the like - than Lowe's is.
- After visiting both stores, it was clear that Home Depot had more to offer than Lowe's.
Home Depot and Lowe's have been the top two home-improvement stores for decades.
The two stores stock all things home improvement - everything from kitchen and bath fixtures to lighting, paint, gardening supplies, and tools. Both stores offer same-day delivery, installation services, do-it-yourself workshops, and store credit cards. They even have similar return policies and will accept returns on anything with or without a receipt for cash or store credit, respectively.
Lowe's has been in business 30 years longer than Home Depot. There are 2,269 Home Depot stores compared to 1,840 Lowe's stores.
Lowe's stores are typically bigger than Home Depot stores, with the average Lowe's having 112,000 square feet of enclosed space compared to 104,000 square feet at the average Home Depot. However, when we visited New York outposts of both stores, we found the Home Depot was significantly larger than the Lowe's - by an entire floor.
The stores' target market is one of the most notable differences between the two. Home Depot traditionally appeals more to professionals - whether they're contractors, interior designers, or plumbers, for example - while Lowe's typically welcomes a more do-it-yourself crowd. When visiting the stores, we noticed Home Depot felt like a massive warehouse, whereas Lowe's was more like a traditional retailer with floor displays and bright, clear labels.
Here are some of the biggest differences we spotted when visiting a Home Depot store and a Lowe's store in New York City: