Today, while purchasing hardware for a project, we were amazed to find that one of the local hardware stores was 4-5 times more expensive for a turnbuckle (to tension wire rope) than all of the other hardware stores in the area.

This particular store is consistently outside of the cost range of their
competitors. In a commodity business like hardware, you better either be competitively priced (or look out for pressure from stores like Home Depot- often nick-named “Home Cheapo”) or offer better than average service. In the case of this particular store, both are missing.

Business author Tom Peters underscores the point, have the most competitive prices or offer the best in terms of your product or service.