I have been to my fair share of hardware stores: Home Depot (of course), Metropolitan Lumber, NY Replacement parts, etc. They are all great, have a wide variety of materials and parts, and have knowledgable staff. For this assignment though, I decided to try a different type of hardware store. I chose to visit my neighborhoods local hardware store, Kings Highway Hardware (although the sign out front now says “Staphos”). It’s a pretty small mom and pop type of shop that seems to focus more on home needs.
I unfortunately did not get to speak to the staff during my visit since they were busy – I of course did take a look around however. The focus of the store did seem to be on basic home needs. They had some of the basic tools and accessories like hammers, screwdrivers, nails and screws (as you can see in the background of my “amazing” picture). They did not have any power tools that I saw though. Some of the other things carried were basic home needs like a selection of lightbulbs, cleaners, and numbers to post on the outside of your home.
Nothing about the store was spectacular or made it stand out. And the name change on the front of the store threw me off a little bit. If I were take anything away from this experience , it’s that now I know where my nearest hardware store is.
Nearest usually is best when you are on a time crunch for a project. It might not be perfect, but when it is 2 hours before curtain on opening night and you need to fix a set piece, just knowing where the closest store is can be very valuable.