The complaints about Home Depot continue. The biggest problem for large retailers is maintaining quality. It's easy to enter a market with a big splash, keep the shelves fully stocked and the store personnel helpful and friendly. But with the high turnover rates in the retail industry, maintaining the same level of service is very hard to do for the large retailers:

It's kind of an egg-on-face situation for pro-business media talking heads like myself. When the superstore comes in with lower prices and better service, and everyone whimpers about the injury to small business, we tend to lecture about the laws of economics and the benefits of economy-of-scale competition. If bigger means better prices for the consumer, it's good. But if the big superstore drives out the competition, and then becomes a hellhole, is that a good thing?

OK, talking head answer: It provides an opportunity for small business to make a comeback.

How do you make the comeback? Hire good people, treat them well and pay them a little more than the competition does. Happy employees make for happy customers.