Prices - Menards vs Lowes vs Home Depot

[Kirk R.]

I'm a fan of Menards.  They always seem to have super good deals when things go on sale.   I haven't shopped HD or Lowes too much.

Since I'm a veteran I get a 10% discount at HD.  Then I've been buying a few HD gift cards for 20% off.  Combining the gift cards adn the 10% I'm still thinking even with the discounts - Menards lowest price will probably be lower.

Someone told me if I buy at Menards on Sunday - they have last weeks and this weeks promotion running so you can double dip?

Which do you feel has the best prices?  Or ideas to reduce project costs?

I'm not doing much volume so contractor desks and bulk discounts don't help much.

[Bill Thompson]

One nice thing about Home Depot is you can get electronic in-store receipts from their website.  All you need to do is go to their website, create an account, register your credit card and then, magically, all in-store receipts from purchases made with that card will appear.  The electronic receipts are downloadable in PDF format.  I found out about this last year and it saved my butt during tax season.  Lowes only maintains electronic receipts for purchases made online.  For this reason alone I tend to shop Home Depot more than Lowes.

[Pat L.]

Originally posted by @Bill Thompson:

One nice thing about Home Depot is you can get electronic in-store receipts from their website.  The electronic receipts are downloadable in PDF format.  

Ditto on the .pdf receipts its awesome for tax filing & them having it on-line makes it easy for returns without having to carry that receipts.

We have both stores within a couple of miles of each other & we have 'contractor' accounts at both. I literally troll the aisles looking for deals & if I need something I will push the dept. manager to give me a deal esp. on the many Special Order Returns etc. No deal I walk. I have a barn full of 'deals' that are planned for rehab jobs in any one of our properties.

[Jeremy Dolan]

I like HD better than my local lowe's or menards. Personally for my DIY projects I tend to do some online shopping. There are plenty of online stores which over a broad variety such as HD, at half the price.