I would say that they're worse than local hardware stores. Not only is it really difficult to get help in a Home Depot, but they rarely have any even remotely specialized. Lets say you need a specialized gasket to fix your bidet. Home Depot probably doesn't have it, and if they do, they'll make you search for it for an hour, and then make you buy 12 of them for $10. The local hardware store will have a little white haired dude who knows exactly what you need, exactly where it is, will explain how to prevent it from going bad again, and will sell you one gasket for 37 cents.