The Fleet Farm near my Cedar Rapids home opened today, one day ahead of the published opening date. I noticed the gas price was 20 cents less than the surrounding stores at 2.39. The new Kwik Star opens tomorrow, but I don't think they'll sell much gas at the prices on their sign. 
As far as my initial impression of Fleet Farm after a quick walk around. Ho hum. My expectations were much higher so it may not be fair. It was a large store, but large sections are devoted to products I'm not interested in like the hunting and fishing areas. It also has some packaged grocery items and clothing, that also take a lot of the space and is not the kind of thing I'm interested in when I come to a store of this type.
In retrospect, I don't remember seeing any major appliances, so I either missed a large portion of the store, or they don't sell those here. I saw the vacuum cleaner aisle, but it didn't seem like much of a selection. No Dyson vacuums, and no Roombas. That left the impression that they aren't selling higher end products at this store.
It looked like they had a large hardware section with many trays for screws, similar to a hardware store, so that might be a place I run to when I need something for a project. I prefer to support the local hardware stores, but when it's a mile away instead of four miles to the closest hardware store, it's going to win if they have comparable stock and it's easy to find what you are looking for.
This is just a first impression. I may come to like the place as I get more familiar with it. And since it is so close to home, I'll probably stop there often.
As far as my initial impression of Fleet Farm after a quick walk around. Ho hum. My expectations were much higher so it may not be fair. It was a large store, but large sections are devoted to products I'm not interested in like the hunting and fishing areas. It also has some packaged grocery items and clothing, that also take a lot of the space and is not the kind of thing I'm interested in when I come to a store of this type.
In retrospect, I don't remember seeing any major appliances, so I either missed a large portion of the store, or they don't sell those here. I saw the vacuum cleaner aisle, but it didn't seem like much of a selection. No Dyson vacuums, and no Roombas. That left the impression that they aren't selling higher end products at this store.
It looked like they had a large hardware section with many trays for screws, similar to a hardware store, so that might be a place I run to when I need something for a project. I prefer to support the local hardware stores, but when it's a mile away instead of four miles to the closest hardware store, it's going to win if they have comparable stock and it's easy to find what you are looking for.
This is just a first impression. I may come to like the place as I get more familiar with it. And since it is so close to home, I'll probably stop there often.
