Living Car Free - Lowe's--Cyclist Friendly

I ran to Lowe's yesterday to pick up a few small things. I took my commuter, but I didn't want to take the time to take off and put back on my computer, pump, lights and tool bag, so I just pushed the bike inside with me. I had to ask where to find my stuff, but the staff answered my questions and said nothing about the fact that I was pushing a bike. I bought the stuff and left.

My wife and I have one car, but I hate to use it. Now I know somewhere I can go without having to spend a buck or two on gas.

Some of those big box stores are so huge now that I wish I could ride my bike inside them when I'm shopping.

yes thats great!
korger also allows you to lock up in thier lobbies (new style stores)..Meijer on the other hand..nope..and they sometimes ask to check bags.

At least, a positive from a big anchor store partly to blame for the car-centric culture in the USA.

i was riding one of the "bikes" that costco had for sale around the aisles the other day. it's pretty fun.

Many of the big stores let me push my bike through, Home Depot and Petco among them. It's smaller than a shopping cart, after all, and you're spending money there. Food places tend to like this less.

Yes and no. Lowe's in my area does not have a bike rack, but they make up for it by letting me stow my bike benind the constumer service counter, or just shop with it. Home Depot, on the other hand, has a nice bike rack.

every store is bike friendly, even the ones I freelock my bike against the building out front

My lowes has a bike rack. They chain expensive grills to it. :(
I lock up at the sports authority next to the lowes. It is packed on saturdays. I have no desire to try and push it around with a child trailer and a toddler.

Wow, good for you...Now, I used to work for Home Depot, and that was a whole other story:
There were about 5-6 of us who regularly rode to work. In home depot stores, there is a receiving department. I was looking for a spot to park my ride, as I did not want to store it inside. I noticed that there was a section that was NEVER being used, and this spot was about 6 feet wide or so, and deep enough to fit bikes. I asked if I could install hangers, those cheap little J-hook ones. I was met met with a firm "NO, we need that spot." I explained that I had been noticing it empty every single day for the past 2 weeks. Still, she refused(she was the S/R mgr at the time.) Once, I decided to just leave my bike there, and see what happens. Sure enough, it was outside when I checked on it about 2 hours later. I tried taking my cause to the store manager, and he said bieks don't belong in the store.
There was more things about that place bugging me, so long story short, I walked out on them in the middle of a Saturday.

Could be that hardware stores like lowes suspect you're buying a piece of hardware for your bike, and need the bike present so you can ensure the item you're purchasing will fit. Once I was looking for a way to rig something-or-another to my bike, and the lowes employee that was helping me told me just to bring the bike in so we could solve the problem together.