Ace Hardware

Walked in and was just stared at like I was an clown! I was sweating like a pig while looking for some bolts for about 15 – 20 min w/​o anybody asking me for help. The people behind the counter were just pathetically siting as if they don’t belong there. Customer is horrible in this store!

This is a nice size store. The person that works inside the store at the register was very helpful in locating the items that I needed. I was in a rush, so that was helpful, combined with the fact that at the times I was there around 5pm the store was not busy. I was not Ace Hardware for long, but all the items I view were priced correctly, and the store clean and well organized. The items in the store were fairly priced, meaning the prices were reasonable, but as I said I was in a rush when I went there.
Negative was that to enter the store, you have to enter though the garage, not on the main road side of the store.
Positive there is a sign on the Utica Ave side of the store pointing you to the entrance in the garage. A Bigger positive is that there is a private parking garage, be it not too big, it can be hard to find where Ace Hardware is located.

This is like my second church. I’m here every week and I give my 20%. The service is nice. I know everyone and if its a major job discuss the issue with them. They will go the extra mile to help you out. They have everything you would need to build a house.

Ace Hardware really saved the day this past weekend in anticipation of Hurricane/​Tropical Storm Irene. My mom’s lives and works in what was one of the mandatory evacuation zones, with her medical office right on the ground floor of her building, a mere 100 or so feet from the water. She was pretty nervous about potential flooding from the Hudson River and wanted to prepare her office as much as she could, so we were on the hunt for sandbags.
Calling Home Depot to see if they had sandbags in stock is certainly not a question I ever thought I’d ever have to ask as a long-​time New York City resident, but that’s exactly what I did. The one in Chelsea didn’t have any, but the one in Brooklyn did, so we ventured out. By the time we got there, it was probably almost 2pm and not only did they not have sandbags, they also had no batteries or flashlights. We bought some masking tape and heavy duty garbage bags and hoped for a Plan B.
My good friend, meanwhile, was calling hardware stores all over the five boroughs to track down sandbags for us. The Ace Hardware Store had some, but wouldn’t take credit card orders over the phone to reserve any, so we booked it there as fast as we could. Lucky for us, they had 12 left and we got there ahead of another lady who also needed sandbags. They also informed us that they were getting another delivery later in the day, so they were actually on top of the situation.
While they were loading up our car full of sandbags (another first for me), our friendly cashier Michelle was asking if we needed plywood too. We didn’t think we’d be able to board up the windows or door since her apartment building is obviously not made of wood, but they suggested we use concrete nails. The concrete nail idea ended up not being feasible, but of course we didn’t know that at the time, and we were willing to do whatever was necessary to protect my mom’s office. So we got the measurements of the windows and door from our building super and the guys at Ace Hardware got to cutting.
They took good care in securing the plywood on top of our car* (yet another first) and helped us safely maneuver out of their tight parking lot. We spent almost two hours there, watching many other customers come and go. They were swamped with other people also preparing for Hurricane Irene, and while they didn’t have everything in stock, they seemed to do the best they could to accommodate people. I was really impressed with how well they handled such a chaotic situation. They could have been really rude and grumpy at everyone, but that wasn’t the case. Our cashier Michelle was even joking around with my mom (which I’m sure also has something to do with my mom’s ability to charm & disarm people). Even though I’m sure they were frazzled, they maintained good customer service throughout, and that’s saying something.
Even though Irene didn’t end up doing any damage to my mom’s neighborhood or office, we were more than prepared for her, thanks in part to Ace Hardware. And now we know exactly where to go when the next hurricane comes blowing through NYC!
*This is in contrast to our visit to the 59^th St. Home Depot later in the evening to buy 2×4’s. When we asked one employee to help load the wood atop our car, he said he couldn’t because he wasn’t «trained» to do it, so we did it ourselves. Liability issues are a concern, I get it, but I’m glad that Ace put customer service first.

This place SUCKS. Customer service is horrible if not non-​existent. Don’t bother with this place. I called to find out if they had something in stock, the guy answers, «you have to come check it out». Come check it out? Seems they dont have the idea of a phone down pat yet. Its used to find out things without going to places first. They’re a bunch of morons.