Grigg’s Department Store & Ace Hardware

A little hard to get back to writing local reviews after being in DC, but here goes.
This past weekend, for kicks, I took a walk around downtown Pasco and checked out Grigg’s. Downtown Pasco has changed massively since I was a kid. Back in the day, Tri-​Cities shopping was centered in downtown Pasco, anchored by the triumvirate of Grigg’s, JC Penney and Sears. At the time, Grigg’s was the Tri-​Cities’ undisputed retail leader. Everybody headed over to downtown Pasco for shopping on Friday evenings.
All that remains of that era is Grigg’s. Retail shifted to West Kennewick with the addition of Columbia Center mall in 1970. After that, Pasco’s economy really hit the skids. It reached its nadir in the mid-​1980s when business was so bad, that one time, the city awarded «business of the year» to Roger Forbes and his Liberty Theatre, a seedy X-​rated cinema and bookstore. But Liberty Theatre was the only downtown business doing business. In the 1990’s, people of Mexican heritage moved into Pasco and became the majority population. Their dollars brought a revitalization of the local economy.
Grigg’s started on the corner of N. 2^nd and W. Columbia, then expanded west and north, eventually taking up the entire block. Grigg’s was doing so well that they even opened another store in the Richland Y (replacing Valu-​Mart). I think they even had a store for a few years on Jadwin in Richland. Grandfather and Father Grigg were fixtures on local TV ads, to be replaced in the ads by grandson Charlie Grigg.
But in the new age of mall and big box shopping, Grigg’s struggled. The Richland stores closed and all that remains is the Pasco location. Several years back they painted the Pasco store with Mexican-​style colors in a salute to the new population, but now the colors have oxidized and faded. The store has never been remodeled.
The first thing you notice when you walk into the store is a pungent, ancient and dusty smell, kind of like lubricating oil and old rubber. The second thing you notice is that there are a gazillion store employees in red shirts, but very few customers. However, the inventory of clothes, shoes, hardware, home improvement supplies, toys, sporting goods and other sundries remains impressive.
I don’t know how much longer Grigg’s can hang on, but it will be sad to see this Tri-​Cities institution go. Three stars for the store as it is today, plus one more star for the memories.

Griggs hardware in the guns and ammo department has been the worst customer service I have recieved in a very long time. These people are very rude when calling. I had called to check on a pick up for a gun i had bought which they said it would be about 5 business days. at this time it had already been 12 days (the 20^th). they said very rudely that it wasnt in and that he would do a call back but he had 100 people at his counter so he didnt have time to help. it has now been 3 ½ weeks (the 31^st). so i called this morning and a lady answered and told me also being rude as they always are when i called, that they called me on the 17^th to let me know that i could come pick it up. That really upset me because why when i called on the 20^th the rude guy sarcasticly told me «Its not in and i and everyone else here will call you when the paperwork comes back you dont need to call us». Very rude and liars

I’m a contractor, and while I am all for supporting the local guy, the Richland Ace’s prices are out of control and their customer service isn’t very good at all.
I’ve consistently noticed that I pay 70−200% more for items at Ace than at Home Depot. Even with gas and time to drive to Home Depot, I’m still saving money by shopping there.
Very rarely do I get greeted upon arriving at Ace (I’m always greeted at the box stores), and the person at the Ace checkout is almost always rude and irritated.
There are hit-​or-​miss items that I can find for a reasonable price at Ace, but 90% of the time, I find that I’m just wasting time stopping there on the way to the Home Depot. I’m sure the Ace staff on a whole is fairly knowledgeable, but a couple times I’ve been given advice that I know isn’t correct, and that could actually be dangerous.

Best customer service in the hardware department, hands down. Their paint department is the «only store who’ll shake paint no matter where you purchased the can.» If that’s completely true, then that’s even more awesome. We took a pail of what we thought was the same color paint to them to color match because unbeknownst to us, my father had it mixed. With their modest computer technology and patience, we got to resume our paint project with a perfect color match. Since we need one more can, we plan to purchase it from here to support the business.
They are an awesome little place especially if you’re in the Eastside and don’t want to drive all the way across town to Lowe’s to get any house project needs! Great prices, great service.

customer service is terrible ! They hire people that do NOT want to work !

This place is huge! Imagine working here!
It’s chock full of much which one may need to live and work in many facets of life inthe Tri-​City bowl. Clothes for work, lower cost clothes for school. Acres it seems of items for hardware, house repairs and more I didn’t get through. I found a cute top in a sale pile! HAHA