Charles of Glen Cove

Ive live in Glen Cove for 20 years. I am a single woman and ALWAYS went to Charlies for all my hardware needs. They always had correct, friendly and professional advice. Its true they are expensive … but I alway felt they were worth every penny. However, lately, they seem to be hiring people who don’t know what they’re talking about. I recently went in to replace the flusher handle for my toilet. I even brought in the broken piece for comparison. There were about 10 different flushers to choose from. I asked what the differences were. This new guy arrogantly answered my questions with a «wadda ya talkin about attitude» and told me they were all the same except some were plastic and some weren’t. EVen though this was a stupid answer, I purchased the one that looked the nicest because by this time his impatience was becoming uncomfortable and intimidating. So went with his suggestion to «pick one. any one» Long story short: Its doesn’t fit my tank and now I have to go back and exchange it. Im giving Charlies the benefit of the doubt — they get one more chance. But, if this is going to be the their new business model, Ill be finding a new hardware store.

Owner Doug and the rest of the crew are VERY knowledgeable about a lot of home repair matters. I don’t mind paying a small premium for the fabulous customer service and convenience of a local hardware store.

Nice local hardware store, but prices make shopping here unpractical.
If you do, exercise extreme caution and 1^st determine the fair market price of your item.
Expect EXTREME markups over most any competitor, such as Ace Hardware or of course the big ones like home depot or Lowes (which you would probably expect). And don’t expect any leniency from the store or price adjustments.
Our Example: One of my family members recently went locally to purchase a 4′ fiberglass ladder. They charges them $ 200 ($ 199 to be specific).
Ace, another hardware store carries the exact same model for around $ 85.
Home depot is around $ 57.
After they returned, I called Charles of Glen Cove to ask if the sticker price tag was possibly a mistake, and no. It was really that much.
I definitely appreciate the value and chrm of a local, independant merchant, as others discuss, and am OK paying more to the «little guy» to maintain there existence, and maybe can even see a 100%, doubled price, over the other guys, but 3 to almost 4X the competition? And absolutely no customer service where they will even consider an adjustment? (or at least politely pretend to to make you feel better…)
In my opinion, something isn’t right here.

Let’s be serious. This is hands-​down the best hardware store on Long Island, and maybe the whole country. It is family-​run and family-​staffed, and has been in business since well before I was born, and I am not young. It has a fabulous, wide-​ranging inventory, and the friendliest, most-​knowledgeable customer service you could ever imagine. Warm, genuine, old-​timey caring. Everyone is treated as a friend. You tell them what you want, and they know instantly where in the nooks and crannies of the store it is hiding, and then they go and get it for you. And since they have been around forever, they are an unbelievable source for hard-​to-​find items, which are still sitting somewhere in inventory. The owner once told me that a regular customer came in one day with a key that he wanted copied — to a 1950s auto. He brought a few key blanks along with him so that the store could cut the keys; the customer had purchased the blanks on eBay for north of $ 20 each, and was happy to have found them. The owner said, «Hang on a second,» went in the back and returned with a handful of those exact key blanks; he told the customer that he would have just charged him the regular price for a key if the customer had come to him first. You can’t bottle this kind of pride, knowledge and genuine caring; if you could it would be quite an elixir!

This place is unbelievable. The people at the counter really know their stock and know exactly where to find something. They go off for a moment to retrieve it from their shelves and return with product in-​hand, rather than send me on a wild goose chase. They also know the town and local businesses very well.
Seems to be family run, and they usually have a very well-​behanved pet dog in the store – always a big plus with me. HUGE difference from the big-​box stores.

Hardware /​Housewares.
Yay for old line, small town hardware stores. I love these places and they are fast becoming extinct due to the big-​box retailers like Home Depot and Lowes.
This place has everything you can imagine under that roof. It is pretty deceiving when looking at it from the street — it looks pretty small — but as you stroll around you come upon a new room here and there with even more stuff in it.
They really have a large selection stocked from floor to ceiling — prices are average but the convenience cannot be beat.
Parking on street or in nearby muni-​lots.