Fredericksen Hardware & Paint

I’ve come to Fredericksen Hardware a few times to pick up parts for home projects that I needed, but I’ve found that Orchard Hardware just has a much larger selection. It’s only about five minutes away and has a much larger selection of items, which ends up saving me an extra trip with Fredericksen doesn’t have the size that I need…

I want to second what Lucy C. wrote about the bad customer service of this place. I am so glad that I have only ever shopped here once, today, and it will be my last. The people here are really unhelpful and rude. I asked one Asian-​American worker where to find an item, and she looked at me in an extremely hostile, unfriendly manner and seemed really reluctant to direct me to the location of the item. Then when I was looking over the item, trying to decide if it would work for my purposes, another Asian-​American worker (by the way, I am Asian-​American myself) looked at me, and I started to ask him about the item, to which he replied: «Ask that guy over there,» pointing to a man at the other end of the store. Then the same worker who didn’t want to help me (now I know he was looking at me not because he wanted to help me but because he didn’t want me to touch the item) but asked me to find help from across the store said that I shouldn’t be handling the item the way I was. WTF? Don’t ever shop here. These people don’t want any customers. Maybe the workers have decided to shut this place down because they hate the owner. I don’t know. But they sure as shi# didn’t seem like they cared if I was a happy customer or not. What a miserable place with miserable workers.

Very good selection for such a small store footprint, but some of the rudest people working here, especially the Asian woman working the front checkout counter. That coupled with high prices. Guess they feel they have a monopoly since they are the only hardware store on the north side of SF. Hard to give this a good review and I want to.

Went in to get spare keys. The woman at the front desk asked to follow the «key» signs on the floor, which took me to the back. I rang the bell and a nice lady came in just minutes. I gave her my keys, and she made two spare copies in just a couple of minutes for $ 2 each. When i went to pay in the front, the cashier asked me to keep the receipt until i made sure the keys worked. I came back home and checked immediately; while one worked, the other was a little hard. I took it back the same day, and the lady not only fixed the key, she also made two extra keys for no charge, since i had to come back.
The four star is for the going back; otherwise i would have given them a straight five!

Excellent customer service with the Benjamin Moore paint selection. The sales lady helped me and answered all my questions with regards to paint. She also had great suggestions and spent a lot of time explaining. I will definitely come back here to purchase all my hardware needs. This place is great.

Sam is Sooo helpful here! Totally took the time to help me prepare my Halloween costume concept from a gear perspective. Not many stores left in SF with such friendly, knowledgeable and helpful people! :-))

Had to get some keys made. Followed the red keys on the floor to the back of the store. Keys cut perfectly first time.
Checked out at the register and was given the kind reminder that I needed to save my receipt until I confirmed that the keys all worked.
In and out in under five minutes. Perfect.
So great to have this resource on Fillmore!

The staff at the paint store are so helpful. I appreciate their color assistance when I have questions.

They have everything you could possibly need from a neighborhood hardware store. The customer service isn’t always on point — hence the 4 star rating.

Two weeks ago, I witnessed one employee tell an elderly man that he «isn’t her problem.» You are right, employee– he isn’t your problem. He is your CUSTOMER. Or, like me, WAS your customer. The lady behind the counter then repeatedly accused him of stealing a paintbrush that was in his back pocket— he produced a receipt showing he had already purchased the item next door at their Paint Center but she wouldn’t let up. The man was probably about 80 years old. Come on. That just isn’t right. Even if I love your store, I can’t stand by and support a place that talks to people like that.
As a neighbor: When Sur la Table was built, many in the neighborhood banned together to support Fredricksen because it’s always good to support the small, local businesses who also sell cookware and kitchen gadgets, right? It’s hard to admit, now, that I was among the supporters. Fredricksen’s attitude is almost as IF they don’t want customers and they don’t like the locals. Their body language, the customer service (or lack thereof), and their lack of genuine care for their customers speaks volumes. It’s really sad when you stand by a business… and try to continue to give them support by buying things — even coming back to give them business after they’ve treated you badly… really really badly… only to be met with more ill treatment or to witness that ill treatment on others. When this happens, you stop asking yourself, «is it just me??» and you really start to see the spoils of the way this place does business. It just isn’t right. And it’s disappointing. Not a big fan of Unilocal,but someone ought to know how they treat their neighbors… I guess Fredricksen is just soooo groovy, they don’t need to care about the neighborhood or the people who live in it.

Well stocked store with decent prices, but the customer service other than the cashier can be better. Maybe the owner should train them on greeting and ask «how can i help you?»

I’m upgrading them from 1 to 3 stars because I really do believe that my previous Unilocal review was taken to heart. There was one young black guy who worked there before who was awful and he’s gone. Hopefully fired. He was always outside smoking cigarettes and couldn’t be bothered for anything. I hated when he would be the one to show up to the key room.
I do feel like they’re getting better about serving customers with a smile. But most importantly I have had many keys done there in the past year, out of necessity, and they’ve all been good. I can tell that the key people know what they’re doing now. Perhaps they were all retrained or maybe they stopped sending just anyone back there.
Anyway, thank you for turning things around. To get your other two stars back you can train your staff to use two little phrases: «Hi sir have you been helped?» Or «I’ll be right with you.» That would prevent me from standing around wondering if everyone’s busy or just avoiding me cause it would mean they have to work.

They have literally everything here! Great service and awesome place.

Like many other Unilocalers I have come to realize that the owners of Fredericksen Hardware hire only staff that have worked at Home Depot before… like HD they don’t even try to show any customer service skills or interest in helping you.
But they appear to be great at stocking the shelves but then again how difficult it that…

Day made! Genuine great customer service and supplies.
Rocky and Lester went above and beyond to help me with a creative solution to a hardware problem. We had just gotten a new ID tag for our puppy that came with four small pieces and one rolled away (painfully) leaving me unable to assemble the tag to his collar. Since we were leaving out of town the next day I didn’t have time to re-​order the part from the manufacturer. The fabulous team helped me figure out an alternative solution and even assembled it for me.
Best part: The only charge was for the additional small part, which cost 38 cents.
I wasn’t even sure I was going to be able to problem solve this was absolutely awesome.
Thanks so much to Rocky and Lester for their help!

Tried to buy some wood/​lumber signage materials from this store for our wedding, but they don’t have any. However, they do have a cat.
On our first visit, the cat didn’t give us the time of day. Too many people around I guess.
On our last visit, my fiancé and I follow it around the store trying to pet it. The cat seems to like him more than me.
We also saw one aggressive cat lady petting the cat’s belly by grabbing the cat and pinning it on the side. Whoa there! I was surprise the cat didn’t bite her because I would have!

I journeyed into Fredericksen Hardware to find some grill cleaner… 30 minutes later I reappeared with a bag full of stuff! This place is a pretty classic old school hardware store. They have a huge selection of just about everything you could ever want. They have several different «rooms» with each playing different music.
The staff was friendly and I was able to find everything I needed. Would definitely recommend checking this place out!

Staff is unhelpful and apathetic. Every time I go in there they act as I if I am interrupting them or creating a real inconvenience with them. Worse, they seem to say «that’s not possible» or «I don’t know» instead of «I’ll find out». Rude.
Find another local business to support. This one doesn’t want or deserve your business.

Customer service is extremely poor. They have a good selection of paints and anything else you may need, but they need to work on how to treat their customers.
I have been in twice and both times I was not greeted nor was I asked if I needed any help. It’s SO rude to be ignored in a store. It left a very bad taste in my mouth What is the hell is the matter with these people?!
The first time I went in I waited about 15 minutes by the paint until I finally had to ask someone who was apparently on his break to help me mix the paint.
The second time I went in to pick up something, I asked the surly sales associate a question and it seemed as if I was bothering her. She was curt, short, and unhelpful.
Forget this place, I would only go here again if I was desperate. They made me feel unwelcome and from the looks of their reviews, I am not the only one.

Let’s be honest, when you have no competition it’s easy to get lazy about working very hard. That’s pretty much the environment at this fabulously stocked hardware store. They carry pretty much everything anyone would need, but when you ask them to locate a particular item, the employees’ responses make you feel like a nuisance. It’s absurd.
They price some things fairly, but with others you will be paying for the convenience of not having to go elsewhere. This store has room for improvement in the proper appreciation of customers and dropping the bad attitude.
TIP: This is the first store I’ve been in that asked to see a driver’s license when someone tried to hand them a credit card.