DIY store / home improvement store

meijin

meijin

Senior Member
Tokyo
Japanese
Hi, according to a couple of Japanese-English dictionaries I use, the type of store we call "home centre/center" in Japanese is called 1) "DIY store" or 2) "home improvement store" in English. One of the dictionaries says #1 in BE and #2 is AmE. Is this true?
Also, does a "home centre/center" exist in your country? If so, how does it differ from a DIY store or home improvement store?

e.g. (by me)
- Excuse me. Is there a home centre near here?
 
    • It wouldn't be clear what a home centre was. We say DIY shop or DIY store or sometimes hardware shop/store here. I'm not familiar with 'home improvement store'.
     
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    natkretep said:
    It wouldn't be clear what a home centre was. We say DIY shop or DIY store or sometimes hardware stop/store here. I'm not familiar with 'home improvement store'.
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    Same here in the UK.
    I guess I'd know what you meant by "home improvement store" but it's not phrasing we use.
     
    Across the pond it's the opposite. "Home improvement store" sounds normal if a bit wordy -- I'd generally say "hardware store." We know what DIY stands for and use the term in a literal way, but not as a metonym for the store.
     
    Thank you all very much for the replies. So, 'hardware store' seems to be the term commonly used in many English-speaking countries. Good to know. It sounds to me like an opposite of 'software store', and I'd have mistakenly thought that it is a type of store that sells anything hardware. :)
     
    meijin said:
    Thank you all very much for the replies. So, 'hardware store' seems to be the term commonly used in many English-speaking countries. Good to know. It sounds to me like an opposite of 'software store', and I'd have mistakenly thought that it is a type of store that sells anything hardware. :)
    Click to expand...
    You must be a young person:D
    The word hardware has been common in English forever - software did not exist until the first computers were invented, and then both words increased in frequency.
     
    JulianStuart said:
    You must be a young person:D
    The word hardware has been common in English forever - software did not exist until the first computers were invented, and then both words increased in frequency.
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    I'm not so young <:oops:>, and the reason for my statement in my last post is probably that we Japanese started using the English word "hardware" after the English word "software" became popular.

    sdgraham said:
    To me, "hardware store" means a relatively small building staffed by knowledgeable people and carrying hardware items that can be difficult to find elsewhere, e.g Ace Hardware.

    But then we have sprawling megastores like
    Lowe's Home Improvement: Appliances, Tools, Hardware, Paint ...
    Lowe's Home Improvement: Appliances, Tools, Hardware, Paint, Flooring
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    It's good to know there are two types. Maybe the relatively small ones are called DIY shops and the megastores are called DIY stores in BE.
     
    meijin said:
    I'm not so young <:oops:>, and the reason for my statement in my last post is probably that we Japanese started using the English word "hardware" after the English word "software" became popular.
    It's good to know there are two types. Maybe the relatively small ones are called DIY shops and the megastores are called DIY stores in BE.
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    The old-fashioned hardware (AE) store that SDgraham refers to is/was called an ironmonger in BE. DIY stuff is quite a recent moniker in BE but yes, shop is BE and store is AE, in general.
    (ironmonger /ˈaɪənˌmʌŋɡə/n BRIT a dealer in metal utensils, hardware, locks, etc US and Canadian equivalent: hardware dealer)
     
    I agree with sdgraham. For most of the last hundred years we (U.S.) have had hardware stores selling hammers and nails and home electrical items, etc. They were "normal" sized stores specializing in that sort of thing.

    But, a few decades ago, when the "big box" store concept began to take off, it affected hardware stores, too. Thus, the mega-hardware store Home Depot was born. It sells many of the same items as a traditional hardware store but also carries other items that traditional hardware stores probably don't and probably has a much bigger selection as well. Maybe I'm an old fogey but I have a hard time calling a Home Depot a "hardware store". It's a (semi-)completely different concept. I would prefer to call it a home improvement center/store.

    But, in practical terms, this is how it works in (my) real life.

    A: We need a new light fixture. This one stopped working.
    B: I'll go buy a new one.
    A: Are you going to Home Depot?
    B: No, I figured I'd just go to the hardware store. It's closer.
     
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    Yes, there is the distinction between a smaller shop and a bigger store in the UK. Sometimes the big ones style themselves as centres. Hence DIY shop, DIY store, DIY centre. But hardware shop is not unknown in the UK.

    The DIY store that I think of in the UK is B&Q. I was rather surprised when I went into their website to look at their self-description (B&Q corporate | About B&Q | DIY at B&Q) to see that they call themselves a home improvement and garden living retailer:
    B&Q is the UK’s leading home improvement and garden living retailer, helping customers have smarter homes since 1969.
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    natkretep said:
    Yes, there is the distinction between a smaller shop and a bigger store in the UK. Sometimes the big ones style themselves as centres. Hence DIY shop, DIY store, DIY centre. But hardware shop is not unknown in the UK.

    The DIY store that I think of in the UK is B&Q. I was rather surprised when I went into their website to look at their self-description (B&Q corporate | About B&Q | DIY at B&Q) to see that they call themselves a home improvement and garden living retailer:
    Click to expand...

    That's their jargon, but in everyday life I doubt we use the word "retailer" to describe the shop/store.

    In fact I think what we mainly call these big places in every day life is the NAME of the shop (which is often B&Q, or Homebase).

    I call the local/small places hardware shops, although I am familiar with the traditional term "ironmonger".
     
    Roxxxannne said:
    What's a DIY store?
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    Anything that sells DIY (Do It Yourself) stuff. From a smallish shop:

    glenn-house-dodgsons-of-dorchester.jpg


    to a huge warehouse-sized store:

    new-homebase-store-cheltenham-1216848.jpg
     
    Cross-posted
    There are plenty of DIYers in the US, but I'd call the smallish one above a hardware store. Your Homebase looks like Lowe's or Home Depot in the US. I don't have a word for those except 'big-box store,' and that term covers a lot more than places that sell electrical, plumbing, carpentry, etc. stuff.

    EDITED: I was confused by Zaffy's post #27, because I wouldn't expect an American in real life to go into a hardware store of any size and ask where the grocery section is.
     
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    heypresto said:
    Anything that sells DIY (Do It Yourself) stuff. From a smallish shop:

    glenn-house-dodgsons-of-dorchester.jpg
    Click to expand...
    I thought a small shop like that was more likely to be called a hardware shop.

    Roxxxannne said:
    Your Homebase looks like Lowe's or Home Depot in the US. I don't have a word for those except 'big-box store,' and that term covers a lot more than places that sell electrical, plumbing, carpentry, etc. stuff.
    Click to expand...
    If I'm not mistaken, a DIY store (in BrE) is called a home improvement store/center in the US.

    < Comment related to grocery stores here: Calling a supermarket a grocer's (shop) or grocery in BrE Cagey, moderator >
     
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    ewie said:
    I'm so hopelessly superannuated that I'd call that an ironmonger's :cool:
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    Pedro y La Torre said:
    It's lovely to see someone from the 18th century still with us. :D
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    The town where I live had two hardware stores until very recently. The one that has just closed had "hardware" in its name. The one that remains has "ironmonger" in its name.

    You can always recognise the eighteenth century shopper when they ask for the apothecary. :)
     
    meijin said:
    I thought a small shop like that was more likely to be called a hardware shop.

    If I'm not mistaken, a DIY store (in BrE) is called a home improvement store/center in the US.
    Click to expand...
    Big "DIY stores" in BrE may be called" home improvement stores" and "home improvement centers' in the US "officially," but I doubt that many people actually say "I'm going to the home improvement center to get a stepladder and a gallon of paint." They'd be more likely to say the name of the store: I'm going to Lowe's/Home Depot....".
     
    I had an iron mongers shop in my village as a kid, I used to buy pink paraffin from him to clean my bike. You took your own container and he filled it from a brass tap on the counter.
    Nothing like a DIY store, I can tell you.

    Being a lancashire lad, we have Booth's the good grocer store, but I always go to the veg shop, not the green grocer.
     
    MedievalElf said:
    I had an iron mongers shop in my village as a kid, I used to buy pink paraffin from him to clean my bike. You took your own container and he filled it from a brass tap on the counter.
    Nothing like a DIY store, I can tell you.

    Being a lancashire lad, we have Booth's the good grocer store, but I always go to the veg shop, not the green grocer.
    Click to expand...
    I also remember getting paraffin for our Aladdin heaters but that's all changed now:)
     
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