Johnson Hardware

Staff is ALWAYS pleasant and HELPFUL the minute you walk in this VERY well stocked store ! If you don’t want to wander down mile long aisles hoping to find what you need, this is the place.
They couldn’t make a certain duplicate key for me, so they mentioned a business within ¼ mile, and handed me a slip of paper with that shop’s name, address and phone number. (wow — that’s customer service!)
The closest thing to a small town hardware store you will find in or around Minneapolis.

The staff is hit or miss. The man you need to talk to here is Mitch. He’s the most knowledgeable person I’ve ever had the pleasure of talking with. He offers amazing advice, and creative solutions to just about any problem /​project you might have.
There are a bunch of grumpy old men who work there. Had some expensive keys cut (not ones with chips in them or anything), and some just in overalls cut them for me. None of the 4 copies of that key he cut for me worked and my employer was not pleased after I spoke so highly of Johnson in terms of getting keys cut as opposed to Home Depot or Menards.. didn’t make me look the greatest.
Good place to get windows /​screens fixed though! Lots of helpful advice. Don’t be surprised if you need to ask for help, they have more supplies than they have space for so things get a little whacky in terms of finding a home. Might not be the best place to get paint, I would probably default to one of the big stores for your painting needs.

First off, the guys that work there are very funny. I almost always leave there cracking up. They sometimes seem like they are grumpy but if you actually talk to them you find they are not at all, they are just working away.
When you get sick of searching the caverns of Home Depot and Menards these are great guys to go to. They will help you solve your problem and it will be cheaper than you expect.
On the service side — they repair lawnmowers and snowblowers and windows and of course make keys. I have had them fix windows, my snowblower and it’s the only place to go for keys in this area.