For my assignment I went to a nearby hardware store in my neighborhood which was Alexander’s Hardware & Locksmith located at 1606 Avenue M, Brooklyn, NY 11230, your typical local hardware/locksmith shop. The store mainly cater to small DIY home repairs to small private contractors.The store is one block away from the Q train and the B9 station at Ave M and there are some products chained outside the store so it fairly easy to spot at a distance. Inside the store they have products ranging from plumbing supplies, electrical supplies to basic hand tools and paint, lots of drywall tools. The store doesn’t have a wide range of products or carry any lumber but it does not lack in general repair/ improvement related products. They have common power tools but they are marked up, nothing like the prices you see in the lowes or home depot. This is the typical place where you get your keys made or needed a 2oft extension cable asap or perhaps snow salt/snow shovel.
The store is owned by a grumpy middle aged man Alexander who seems to be always in a bad mood so I didn’t bother taking pictures inside the store. The owner was pretty knowledgeable since he told me that he came from a contracting background, he still does some contracting work with installing custom window and gates from time to time. Alexander told me that he open the store because he lived in the area that didn’t have much hardware store and every time that he needed something simple he had to travel pretty far for what he needed so he open the store. The store overall isn’t big, things were pretty compact. Small parts like nuts and bolts were in small drawers stacked on shelves, you probably have 2 stores worth of products in that small of space. The only way to find a specific item is to ask or show them the hardware on your phone or better yet bring part that you’re looking for and they would assist you to finding the product.
