Ortwine Hardware & Appliance

My name is sandra and I’m the daughter of the owners of ortwine hardware. As you can see we have been in business since 1946. As of January that will be 70 years. I appreciate all you reviews and would like to take a minute to reveal why our store has hit a dusty snag in the past few years. Our family has been hit with a series of unfortunate events since 2010 starting with two cancer diagnosis. One for my mom and soon after my dad. Fortunately they were both caught early and they were both treated and are in remission. Soon after my brother was taken away from us to soon and year later my father suffered a stroke. My mother and I spent 2 years in and out of hospitals while trying to keep the store open. Things have finally calmed down and I hope January 1^st to start cleaning and giving our store a face lift with the support of our community. Thank you to all who have supported use and look forward to seeing you in the future.

Stopped in here after being recommended by my apartment manager. Since it was close to my place, I figured it would be really convenient to be able to shop here. I was greeted upon entering the establishment in a friendly manner. Unfortunately, it seems as if employees are able to wear plain clothes, which made me hesitant to start asking questions to a random person. While he was able to point us in the right direction, the dusty shelves seemed to be relatively bare and the drywall screws I was looking for were non-​existent. I’d suggest cleaning up the store, getting some uniforms, and restocking your shelves.

Any time my husband need a special screw, nuts and bolts, or any thing along that line he comes here. In most cases you will find what ever you want regarding tools and gadgets for minor repairs of toilets, showers, kitchen sink malfunctions and so on.
Now, in addition to all the tools and things you will find a large selection of craft items.
Fabrics, needles, yarn, sewing supplies, baking items, holiday decoration crafts etc.
In this same location you can have keys made and shop for various other products most of which are tool related (nails, hammers, wrenches etc.)
In a nut shell this is a modern day «general store» minus the food items.
That being said, the store is dusty, crowded, lacks customer service, the lightiing is dim, the staff were not welcoming, it wasn’t organized very well, some things look like the have been in the same exact spot for years.
Some of the fabric items show signs of damage and I think it from the dust, and lack of store cleanliness maintenance.
Overall, they have a lot of hardware merchandise and they seem to carry unquie items that you can not find in some of the other hardware stores.
This store has been around a very long time and I feel they have a lot of community supports.

This was a worthwhile visit and the store is indeed full of unique items. I am a knitter and the yarn is quite old. The selection includes mostly discontinued yarns for hand knitting and crochet. The 100% wool is a good bargain for a felting project, but it wasn’t colorfast. A friend found a 1970 sewing pattern for ladies underpants; what a hoot! And there are plenty of school supplies that took me on a walk down memory lane.
Be ready to spend at least 30 minutes browsing for treasures, and bring handi-​wipes. The place is so dusty, you’ll want to wash your hands as soon as you leave.

I love needlework. Hubby loves hardware-​perfect place for us. They had lots of DMC perle cotton thread in size 5 and 8. And lace! A wall full!!!
We had a blast looking around this old store. The staff were friendly and knowledgeable.
Just overlook the dust.

don’t go there for yarn or fabric. Everything is old, like they haven’t restocked notions in 40 years. On the other hand if you want to scoop up old notions, this is the place for you. It seems dirty, like a hardware store would be, so I wouldn’t buy fabric or yarn there. Friendly staff but I don’t understand why they have textiles there.

Crafters Delight! This is the most amazing little gem. Loads of vintage fabric, yarn, thread and patterns hidden away in a large dusty back room. I bought a big batch of white cotton light weight yarn that I am going to hand dye.

San Diego’s best secret! The owners are awesome~! They have a HUGE selection of yarn without all of the traffic. This place has serious old school stuff so if you are looking for vintage items come here.

I love Ortwine!
The owners are so friendly and employees are helpful. This place reminds me of what I’d imagine an «old school» hardware store to be. I am always able to find what I need (or be led to it). I also appreciate how they are knowledgeable about what the do and don’t have and they wont try to convince you to buy something you don’t need or try to convince you to buy a different product. This place is right in my neighborhood and absolutely perfect for hardware needs, also heard they have a large selection of craft items (though I’m not much of the crafty type).
Definitely check it out, look around, talk to the owners and at least browse… you might find something really great.

I originally discovered Ortwine Hardware because I was searching for a place that sold Orange Guard — a natural product that repels roaches, ants and other pests. They were listed as one of the closest hardware stores on the company website, so my husband drove out to procure the spray.
We were surprised and delighted to find that this is an awesome, old-​fashioned, family-​owned hardware store with LOTS of great items in stock.
In addition to the Orange Guard, we also got some keys cut, and puttered around the store oohing and ahhing over the unique selections. Want to buy seeds for a planter garden? They’ve got ‘em. Looking to start a few sewing projects? They’ve got patterns and fabric. Love to knit? They’ve got yarn galore. They even had a few old-​school pencil boxes, the exact same one I remember using when I was in grade 5!
Whether you’re there for the nostalgia or for practical purposes, this is a great hardware and general store. Check them out if you’re into DIY or craft projects, for sure.

Hi all! There is actually a separate Unilocal listing for this hardware store and I wanted to link them since this one has all the cool pictures :)

If you need it, they’ve probably got it. From kitchen gadgets, to nuts/​bolts, to thread-​all, to sewing thread and bolts material and lace, and everything in between. You can spend hours in the there and still not see it all. I stop by when ever I can to see whats new, and send people there every chance I can. The oldfashioned neighborhood hardware store is NOT gone !

Great service and lots of selection. I have most of hardware things I need here and they have been in my neighborhood for over 20 years.

I just went in there for the first time this afternoon. This place has lots of stuff including hard to find circuit breakers like Zinco. The staff varied a lot in age but all were helpful. You get good vibes the minute you walk into the place.

I love Ortwines! It’s awesome!

Yes, it’s a hardware store. But venture further to the back or to the right and it’s craft-​city galore! When you step into this place it’s like going back in time. They even have an old cash register and a rotary phone in the back… yes, rotary.
When I was a little girl, my mother and grandmother would go here to get all sorts of craft items and baking supplies. When I became of driving-​age, I took my grandmother here to get her yarn and craft items.
It seems as though they don’t update their inventory unless it’s gone. There are items from the 70’s that are still there. Scarily, there are some old food color gel pastes and baking glitter from that era, too!
I blogged about this place which prompted my mother-​in-​law and aunt from the Midwest include this on their places to visit while in town. We must have spent a good hour and a half at the store. I found myself picking up items and guessing what it’s used for. It could be a museum of household items from the past.
If you don’t need anything, visit this place – just to see it. You also might find something timeless and useful, too!

This store and the service is incredible. Having purchased an older home in the area, I have been faced with repairs that require «unique» and often hard to find parts. On several occassions, Ortwine’s has carried such items and the owners/​employees have guided me through the repair process. This store rocks!

This is a great old school hardware and crafts store, I would recommend them.
After being unable to find a jar lifter at any other 8+ stores that I visited I happen to be at the 99cents store next door and decided to see if they had them.
I got the last one for $ 7.99 On my way out I saw that they sell zippers for 50 cents, were else to they sell them that cheap nowadays. I will definitely be back. Thanks.