Found this old school hardware store (about an hour away) when I was looking for some flange nuts. Wow, and there was another row just like this. All the places with a good selection for fasteners vanished from my area years ago.
That's awesome! You can tell it's an old school hardware store just by looking at the worn out tiled floor, our neighborhood Ace has one that looks very similar.
Cool looking place. We have Fastenal and a couple other "bolt" stores, but they are crazy expensive (like $1.50/ nut). I can go to the farm store and get just about any "normal" size SAE bolt in whatever grade I'm looking for and they sell by the pound. I can get a big ole bag of bolts/nuts for just a couple dollars... all sizes are the same price/pound as long as they are the same grade so you can just throw all sizes and lengths together. Stainless a little more. Of course, they don't carry a lot of weirdo bolts/ screws.
The Ace store here in Granite Falls is in the original Theatre in downtown. Creaky wood floor goodness! They also have a small gun store, very cool place!
A whole hour away huh? I'd be happy if there was a hardware store like this in the entire state of Maine. New Jersey still has some old mom and pop hardware stores and they are priceless these days. Mainly because they know what they are talking about when you ask them a question.
Ha ha, it looks like all our Ace Hardware stores are like that. I have one five minutes away and I'm in there probably weekly when I'm working on a car project, although I finally halfway organized my fastener collection this winter. Last month, I bought a new Toro snowblower from Ace; it's probably a little more expensive than a box store model, but I like to do my part to keep the old place going.
Probably is a nightmare to keep drawers of hardware like that organized. You'd almost need a FT individual to police it and keep it sorted. Not a fastenal fan, but am guessing that they have the loose hardware, secured, away from the general public.
Our Fastenal used to sell individual pieces but now the minimum is a box of 100. Started in 1936, JE Rice True Value is the place - Manassas, VA
Virtually every time I need some kind of fastener, there will several other fasteners in the drawer that aren't even remotely close to what the label says is in the drawer. I usually relocate three or four fasteners back to where they belong. It isn't all that hard to put the damn things back properly.
True Value and Ace are both independently owned "chains". Ace is my last independent also. I pay extra to keep them close by.. I HATE trying to buy hardware at Home Depot. They have very little selection and no one seems to even know where anything is! Even their stupid App is brain dead. I spent a frustrating hour there last week, as I had put a new/different battery in a a car and I needed some threaded rod to change the battery hold down. They didn't have it. UGH.
We have a large mom n pop hardware that identifies as a True Value. They have a isle just like that but last few years no one has been restocking the smaller slide out trays that hold many of the speciality fasteners. So I spend 10 mins hunting for the correct tray , pull it out and then find the little box I need is empty.
Fraziers farm supply in whitesburg ky is a ace but its like that too. Been there as long as I can remember.
