I live in Somerville, Massachusetts. It is the sixth most densely populated city in the United States that isn't part of the NYC metro area. That's why the hardware stores are the size of closets. If I lived in a rural area--well, I grew up in Maine, surrounded by large hardware stores that frequently did have that sort of thing, like the Aubuchon Hardware chain. Home Depot is the only store in the city, and the only one within quick-trip distance outside of the city, that has a broad selection and services like rough-cutting.
(I do like Tags in Porter Square, but their selection is lacking. Great people though.)
In the outskirts of San Francisco (where I moved from), it's easy to find massive hardware and fixture stores that aren't Home Depot. The East Bay is full of them too. In LA and Sacramento there are literally giant industrial parks full of retail stores dedicated to specific home improvement niches. I once spent nearly a whole day walking door-to-door looking at flooring.
Of course, it might take you an hour to get across town if you time traffic badly...
The rich cities (basically just the ones around Boston) in MA basically don't have anyone who does things themselves so there's minimal need for hardware stores. All the nuts and bolts get driven in from the suburbs in the back of tradesmen's vans as they go to work for the day. Basically everything in the Boston area is optimized for white collar professionals and college students. There's only the bare minimum of everything else.
Meanwhile I live in a "blighted shithole" in MA and anything I could possibly want to buy is likely within a 20min drive. Like, I needed a CV shaft for a (not obscure but not common) 25yo car last week and four(!) different stores had it in stock, two stores had multiple different options. If I lived in the Boston area I would have been dragging my ass to the massive Autozone in Framingham
Most of the tradesmen who work for our property management business live in Somerville, Medford, or Malden, I think. I haven't done an exhaustive poll, though.
(They all spend half their lives at thay same Home Depot, too.)
The nearest one of comparable size is a Lowe's, which is probably 45 minutes away in favorable traffic. Too far for a lunch errand for sure, especially with Home Depot literally three stoplights from my house. I'm not aware of anything between a Home Depot/Lowe's and an Ace Hardware in my area.
There are a lot of smaller stores, don't get me wrong. But figuring out which has inventory, which can cut something so it fits in my car, etc. - functionally, Home Depot just wins. Which is a bummer, 'cause their service can be really bad. I try to know exactly what I need before I even go in, and try to minimize the need for stuff like cut-to-size services even though my hatchback isn't huge.
(I do like Tags in Porter Square, but their selection is lacking. Great people though.)