Hardware Road

In the United States, it is unusual to encounter a small area where a Home Depot and Lowe’s are across the street from each other. Could you imagine them behind side by side?

I was surprised when, on the way to Athi River First Baptist Church, I saw not two, but seven or eight distinct hardware stores lined up in the same strip building.

While driving past, a few team members from the former trip informed me that we had frequented the one on the end: Hallelujah Hardware.

Here in Kenya, apparently it is not unusual to see scenarios where competition must be a drain on a store’s bottom line. I also saw this with furniture shops. I suppose there are furniture districts and hardware districts.

I do wonder at what point businessmen in America decided it would be a good idea to pay attention to the concept of market saturation. Possibly as they slowly went out of business. Perhaps in Kenya these firms do not go out of business because there are no other businesses to go into.