Dorn True Value Hardware

The family hardware store has been disappearing thanks to the Big Box stores, but I don’t like the Big Box stores because more often than not the employees are not knowledgeable, plus the stores are cold and impersonal. I don’t often need a lot of hardware, but when I do it’s usually something quirky, and pretty much every time I need something quirky and head over to Dorn, I (A) find a helpful friendly person who knows stuff, and (B) knows what I need and where it is in the store! Today I needed a really oddball, very long, metric screw for an Ikea chair. The original sheared off and the chair was useless without a replacement. I brought the two pieces in, a cheerful young man headed straight for the correct aisle, opened the correct drawer, pulled out the correct screw (!!), and for a buck-​sixty I was able to repair my favorite chair. I’m sitting in it writing this review on my laptop. This is not the first time Dorn has worked a minor miracle for me, and I’m confident it will not be the last.

For many years I’ve come to Dorns because they are the type of hardware store that has lots of those little odds and ends to help me repair my older home. But certainly over the last few years I am impressed by the quirkiness of the people who work in the store. Typically when entering the store a couple of the employees talking with each other and they have a tendency to ignore you. In addition, some of the cashiers over the last few years have pushed the definition of odd. I certainly like the idea of an old-​fashioned hardware store, but they better catch on to a higher degree of customer service.

I have been coming to this hardware store for 20 years, since I was a kid and would bike there and pester them for advice on how to fix things. They have everything, including the small obscure screws and parts no other store stocks. The staff is knowledgeable and can advise you on most or all projects. They can do some small repairs in store. The prices are not outrageous, many items are actually cheaper than the big box stores. This is what you want a locally owned hardware store to be.