In what sense does such a thing as Home Depot not exist in Europe? In Ireland we have two chains of big warehouse-style DIY stores: Woodies and B&Q, sized around 50,000 sq ft. In both of them you can get power tools, timber, bathroom and plumbing supplies, garden furniture, paint, flooring, doors...
I've never been in a Home Depot but they sound pretty similar. Are they just so much bigger?
I always imagined most things in Ireland and UK in general as being smaller than the US. A quick search and yes, HDs are typically 100,000 sq/ft. Average grocery stores here are 50k and Walmart & Costco around 100k - 150k.
The new Ikea down the road is 344,445 sq ft in floor space over two floors - so about 170k in size - and it has a B&Q next door that's about two-thirds that size, although only one floor. That's within a few miles of the centre of London, there are bigger stores outside of towns and cities across the UK.
Supermarkets here can range up to 100k for the very largest, although they're apparently moving away from absolutely huge stores to stores in the 30k - 50k size. So
I don't know Ireland, but Home Depot is almost like the Costco of such stores. The most popular car in Europe is VW Golf, the most popular 'car' in America is Ford F1 truck. Consider what people are using such things for :). 'Mr Bricolage' in France is 1B Euros sales, Home Depot is 100B USD in 2018. Though Woodies is apparently large relative to Ireland's population.
The new Ikea down the road is 344,445 sq ft in size, it has a B&Q next door that's about two-thirds that size and there are at least three other shops selling DIY supplies within ten minutes walk. Plus a couple of large specialist trade-shops for builders. And this is within a few miles of the centre of London - there are bigger versions all over the country. What is unique about Home Depot?
I've never been in a Home Depot but they sound pretty similar. Are they just so much bigger?