>1/10 the size of Home Depot, yet always has what I'm looking for
>Someone always asks if I need help finding something
>located in neighborhoods and not giant clusterfrick shopping developments
>Employees are knowledgeable and not some vapebrained zoomer
>Is there a more based place?
yeah, your own home with your wife and children
so your wife manufacturers hardware supplies from home? interesting
,>he buys chinesium
>doesn't visit various suppliers specialized in American made products like electrical, plumbing, lumber, etc
There aren't any Ace's near me but there is a True Value like 2 blocks away. I always go there for nuts, bolts, washers and the like because they sell everything in eaches.
I enjoy buying nuts and bolts at these small hardware stores.
Like I look forward to it and I get enjoyment from being in the fasteners aisle and finding what I'm looking for.
It's my happy place.
I'll go to Home Depot or Menards if I need a box of deck screws or something, and I feel nothing. But if I need a small bolt and a couple washers or something, I go to the small hardware store, and it feels like Christmas. Like I really enjoy looking in the little drawers and finding bolts.
That's normal, right?
Yeah it's normal because you get the right fasteners and only what you need. This is how you beat planned obsolescence. Good fasteners that don't strip make your stuff much more repairable.
When I was 16 my favorite part of my summer job at Ace was stocking the hardware aisle. I know the feeling.
local music, lumber, building supply, aggregate, pottery, weld, gas and auto paint shops can still be pretty based. local greenhouses can also be very based. pretty much everything else is a shining example of corporate mediocrity or industrialized rip offs. just go into random local places - you'll be a lot happier.
Local nurseries are definitely worth it for getting the best plant cultivars for your area, especially for things like fruit and nut trees....and that goes for anywhere.
Smaller hardware stores can be awesome but especially in smaller markets can be extremely mediocre and get away with it based on few options and social pressure to be loyal. All too often they appeal to shopping local to support the hometown but make excuses when they don't have what you need and they don't feel like making an effort to get it for you even if you pay up front.
They cop an attitude like it's too much to ask because hey, we're just a little store. Then when you go to a larger retailer or online they get pissy like you betrayed them.
There's a little hardware store by my house that's convenient as hell and has a nice range of stuff, but they also have a part B hardener for a gallon epoxy kit with no part A resin that's been on the shelf for at least five years that I know of.
I would LOVE to be able to buy epoxy locally and only know about that incomplete kit because I looked there...
no matter how I tried to explain it though, they refused to do anything but sell me that gallon of hardener and will not order any more epoxy of any kind until they sell what they have on the shelf, which will never happen since it's only one part and way past its shelf life.
Their attitude is basically buy that, or frick off...so I order better epoxy online for less money and UPS delivers it to my door.
Sorry mom and pop, enjoy your unsellable $50 can of hardener and enjoy being cut out of the loop any time I need anything else you don't stock and grumble about having to order.
Mine had a bunch of 7.5 swiss and AR lowers.
Had
The crabby lady that works at our Ace always has what I need. And I have grown to look forward to her crabbiness
>closes at 7pm
i stopped going to hardware stores irl altogether unless theres an emergency
they only stock the cheapest shittiest chinese noname items and mark them up 400% when i can get the best brand/variant for the same price off amazon
the big hardware stores like home depot and lowes have brand exclusivity agreements as well, making them even more useless
and getting anything delivered from home depot or lowes is always awful (lowes barely delivers anything, home depot will lie to you and not ship your fricking package)
>1/2 the size of homosexual depot, everything they stock is outright inferior or exactly the same but 50% more expensive
>maximum two employees in the building at any time and one is always the dipshit cashier but admittedly if you can find him the other will always be the mystical hardware wizard with the answers to everything in the universe
>located in the same sorts of areas as the other big stores, but just older and kind of tired like the boomer clientele that apparently keep this shitshow afloat on brand loyalty alone
>see above
The only time ACE has ever been my first choice for anything was when I was looking to cut a spare key for my car (they were the only store I knew for a fact had a key cutting station) and they wouldn't do it because something about no guarantees on the size of blank required (it's a long key) or maybe the guy just didn't feel like it so I fricked off to WallyWorld instead and was in and out with a perfectly functional spare for $2 and 3 minutes of my time.
>Someone always asks if I need help finding something
this can be very annoying, since not just one will ask, but almost everyone in the store.
>Employees are knowledgeable and not some vapebrained zoomer
only if they are over 40. some stores have zoomers and yes they don't know shit. can't find anything without consulting their phones or using a computer.
>prices 50-100% more than home depot, 250% more than online
>google maps says all the local ones are "LGBT friendly"
I stopped going to mine because they hired two or three blue haired freaks.
I only go there if I need a key copied
get gud homosexual this is hillbilly wonka's.(aside from the vapebrained zoomers, there seems no escape from that disease)
If you ever actually get into a real project, they're actually missing 1-3 key items in every department
They usually have what home Depot has tho.
I shop at Menards because I know what I'm looking for and I know that Menards has it.