Jay sends along this link to this great Huffington Post article featuring Intown Ace Hardware that details how the store has succeeded in the “shadow” of Home Depot on Lawrenceville Hwy and their plans for the impending Suburban Plaza Walmart.  Here’s a taste…

Then, Home Depot arrived.

“We were right in their shadow,” said the 59-year-old [Dave] Jones, who co-owns Intown Ace Hardware with Tony Powers. The giant retailer moved in less than two miles away in 1995 and was selling acres of all the same items that the mid-sized Intown was selling — for a little less. Intown’s sales took a hit. “When they started, we were doing a mini version,” Jones said.

But what happened next serves as a lesson for any mom-and-pop shop out there living in fear of the day Big Box comes to town.

John Kessler reports that The German Bakery, which sits floating in a sea of strip malls on a small side-street off Lawrenceville Highway up by the Home Depot, is closing its doors forever tomorrow after 48 years in business.

And judging by Kessler’s conversation with the owner, it doesn’t sound like a voluntary retirement…

“I hate to be leaving, but there’s really not much I can do,” said owner Gary Welshons, when reached by telephone. “It’s been a rough couple of years.”