Hardware Store Nostalgia
 

Researching what happened to Ole's and Builders Square led me to this site:

https://truthrambler.wordpress.com/2011/08/18/defunct-home-centers-lumber-yards/

I've been lamenting the fact that my only current choices in hardware stores are Lowe's and Home Depot, both of which I consider to be overpriced and thin on selection. Menard's is a far superior store if you have one, but they aren't a national chain. I haven't been able to find anything independent and local to me. (Well, there is ACE, but it's a crapshoot if they actually carry the thing you need.)

What's funny is that the list the guy gives is mostly just a bunch of big-box also-rans.

From what I can tell, most of the real hardware stores are gone. The ones run by the grizzled old-timers, where you can bring in a fitting from your 19th-centure house and he'll hobble over to a dusty cabinet and fetch all of the parts you need to rebuild it, or better yet, an exact replacement for it. The guy working there will know the difference between metric, SAE, and Whitworth. Those guys are gone.

Luckily I have two ACE stores not too far from my house; the closest one is kind of small, but they have 95% of my random hardware needs, and I can usually get the remaining 5% at the other one. If I need bulk materials (ie fencing, lumber) I have to go to Home Depot or Lowes.

We have a Menards, which is like a Wal-Mart of hardware but they have a good selection and we also have a Blain's Farm and Fleet which has the good stuff when you need it.

Farm & Fleet is the other one I miss.

We had a huge, old style hardware store situated down town that had been there since the late 1800's. You could go there and find anything you could think of. The store was old with bins and bins of items lining the walls. If you couldn't find what you wanted, the staff would help find it. They vacated their old location down town (which was a great disadvantage because of parking) maybe ten years ago, and moved to a more suburban location. They no longer have that old store feel, rather they stock very upscale items and fixtures. It's a great place to go for ideas and see beautiful and unique things, but nothing like before.

we have a couple around still, but are dying off and the service isn't what it used to be 20 years ago when I was running around chasing parts. Most of the employees who work there are a bunch of guys from south of the border with limited understanding of how things are really go together, but they are learning. The days of the typical looking flannel shirt, long beard man who can ID something as soon as you walk into the store is going away fast. They are mostly likely the owner. I love those places. Get in, they go and grab it for you and out of there to start my 3 hour lunch.:D

they knew the hipsters are coming

These places are incredible. They spend 15 minutes tracking down some obscure bolt by going through endless bins, find it, and then charge only 15 cents for the bolt.
Amazing.

This also reminds me of old bicycle stores- Same thing, rumaging through bins to find some 50 cent bicycle spoke or ball bearing.:)

what's even more amazing is that they know exactly where that little bolt is in a sea of mess. This was the same bolt they saw two months ago while digging through it for something else entire different.

Fulkerson Hardware in Somis, Avenue Hardware in Ventura and Whitaker's Hardware in Moorpark and B&B in Camarillo. We are blessed. The one that I miss was in Newhall, the old reliable, Newhall Hardware.

Years ago I went to a local hardware - appliance parts place. Computers were just taking over and everyone now knows computers are only as good as the programming and the database that gets loaded. I walked in with the control timer for my old dishwasher. The young computer guy typed and typed and was finding nothing. The old grey walked by and saw my part on the counters and said, wow, an old Wj-59B or or whatever that part number was. He said I have not sold one of those in years. He then reached into a bin right by the front counter and blew a half inch of dust off of the part I needed. The young guy looked puzzled and said but nothing like that is in here, pointing at the computer.

That part still had a mail in warranty card in it.

There's also Patterson Hardware in Fillmore. Wood floors, old scew and nail bins and helpful people. I've spent a few bucks there!

^^^ This.
We've got two Ace stores close by. One has the almost anything I need for house/ranch projects and can give good advice on what will work or not. Love going in with some strange part and going through the pull out drawers to find it. I was working on one of the ranch ponds Saturday and was having trouble with a fitting. Walked in, greeted at the pipe section and showed them my part and was told they don't make that one any more but we have one that will work. It did. One of my better buys for $7.

There is talk of a Tractor Supply Store going in about a half hour away, but I don't know much about them.

My father in law owns such a store out in small town central KS. He is also a contractor, so if by chance he doesn't have it, there's a good chance he can head back to his shop and make it. His father started the store, pretty much every one of his 10 kids has worked there, and I managed it for a few years. Nail and screws sold by the pound, lots of old dusty bins, hand written statements, credit accounts billed monthly for locals. No computers, no credit cards. He only carries what he will use, so he typically has really good hardwood, higher grade lumber, and high quality paint. It's a cool place, but when he retires I doubt anybody else will want it. There's three chain stores only 20 minutes away, most people prefer to buy cheap junk vs quality.

I have a Menards and Home Depot within 5 minutes, but will drive 15 minutes to Ace. Amazing how a little hardware store always has what the big box stores do not.

Tractor supply is really for farm stuff. Lots of clothing, feed, and the stuff the average ranch or farm needs. The sell baby chicks, welders and lots of stuff for trailers.

AMEN brother! I've lived in Newhall for about 30 years. Newhall Hardware was amazing. Woodruff keys, saddles, guns, and every nut and bolt, including Whitworth taps and dies which I once bought for my 1930 Rudge Whitworth Grand Prix Ulster.

I asked once if there was anything they didn't sell and the grizzled old guy said "Hamburgers".

few years ago, i got a bug up my butt to find USA made bastard files. i knew Nicholson had an american run so i ran off to find them.

i found some neat stores along the way. EAMES was one of them. merchandise was hooked to the walls up to the ceilings. one of those old school ladders that ran on a rail all along one way..an old dude with reading glasses that he had to peak over. super cool stuff.

i ended up finding one single USA made file. and it was at an ACE by my office. i leafed thru many MEX ones and found a single packaged marked USA. of course i had to my a phillipines made wood handle for it. :)

vash, make the handle yourself then it will be completely made in the USA. It will just be made by a bunch of minorities:p

Hah! But true.

The tractor supply near me is like a cross between a harbor freight and a tractor store. It has a lot of cheap chinese stuff, and lightweight farm equipment. A lot of the stuff (like aerators and such) are no better than the lowes stuff and will break in short order. What I do like about them is that they have a good nuts/bolts selection, a better selection of steel tidbits for welding, they have a pretty decent selection of tires for garden tractors, and link bars and pins for 3 point hitches and stuff right next to their trailer supplies. Before I buy anything at Lowes/Tractor Supply/Home Depot I always like to look it up on their websites and read all the negative reviews on what a piece of @#@ whatever that item might be. I can then find a more obscure and expensive alternative somewhere else and buy it there. :)