Hardwick’s

I work in construction and really appreciate a good hardware store. I think this could be one, but is actually far from it. Yeah they have some cool tools, but I’ve gone there TWICE with gift certificates, FREE MONEY, and left with nothing because there wasn’t enough time in the day to get service. Some of the people in my community explain it away with appreciation for a place that doesn’t include friendliness in the good service model. That to me is acknowledging shitty service. Enough «take your business elsewhere» behavior, and I promise it will happen. It’s not cute, it’s shitty.
Go to Stone Way instead.

I can’t believe that I live in the neighborhood but had never gone to Hardwick’s until today. Treasure! I browsed around for about 20 minutes just to take it all in before getting down to looking for the specific things on my list. I have no idea what happened with some other reviewers because I got friendly, patient, and expert help. The gentleman who helped me find the tools I was looking for knew exactly where to look. I never would have found them on my own, but I’m actually glad because it would have robbed me of the chance to get really helpful advice about which options to consider. In addition to a couple brand new tools, I walked out with a vintage dowling jig that’s much better than anything I was looking at online — for $ 20! (Man, this thing is sturdy — it’ll surely outlast me and get passed down to the next generation.) I’m an instant fan. Hardwick’s will be my first stop from now on before driving to one of the big stores or going online. Now that I’ve finally clued in to how great it is, it’s high time I do my part to support this Seattle institution.

I’ve gotten most of my hand tools here, the prices are competitive with the warehouses but the service is infinitely better and its got a cool vibe. The only major downside is that they’re closed on sunday, which I get but at the same time Sunday is prime time for home improvement, so its a bummer.
Check them out

Best hand tool store I’ve ever seen. Extensive selection of tools from Japanese saws to hundreds of drill bits. I was surprised that a store like this could exist in 2015. Very unique compared to any other Ace or Do it Best I’ve ever seen.
Enjoy it while you can, I’m sure Amazon/​China will finish off the last of awesome local businesses soon enough. I’ll be back for some of those carbide burrs, they had a ton, I’m impressed.

Hardwick’s is definitely worth checking out when you need a hard-​to-​find fastener or a specific tool. A while back I went in there with an old staple gun that uses non-​stand size staples. The guy who was helping me rummaged through a cluttered drawer and pulled out an unopened box of staples that looked to be 25 or 30 years old (the same vintage as the staple gun) and voila! They fit perfectly and I was back in business. They carry a wide assortment of tool belts and tool holsters for carpenters and gardeners, and the store is also a great place to get specialty gardening tools like a hori-​hori. In addition, they carry kitchen goods and some secondhand furniture. Hardwick’s is a throwback to the days before big-​box home improvement centers, and it remains one of my favorite stores in all of Seattle.

The staff is extremely helpful and can tell you about almost anything. This place has so many cool things to look at. Came in to buy a hammer and ended up leaving with a couple of large boxes full of things. Hoarders beware!

Awesome store! I have been looking for years to replace my EasyDriver ratcheting screwdriver. It is a somewhat obscure tool that was only made for a few years. I have looked on Ebay with no luck. Hardwick’s had it! We needed conditioning oil for a butcher block and they had 4 types (from regular old mineral oil, to specially formulated products with wax and other ingredients). They don’t make stores like this anymore and I hope they stay in business for a long time. Friendly staff and huge selection of hard-​to-​find merchandise. Prices are good too (for a non-​chain store). If you want mega-​deals on imported, mass-​produced goods that are meant to be thrown away when used up, go to one of the big-​box building supply stores with the clueless sales staff. If you want to talk to real folks who know their inventory and you need that special item, go to Hardwick’s. You will find things here you didn’t know you needed until you see them at this store.

Hands down — Best hardware store in the Universe !
If you wanted/​NEED … that weird specialty item you didn’t find at all the other Hardware stores in Seattle — then 9 out of 10 .you can go to hardwicks and find it there.
Yeah …“one of the guys working the isles there” …can be a grouch… who cares? When you want what you want you are willing to put up with that as a minor inconvenience.
I don’t care how nice they are to me at Ace Hardware when they tell me they «don’t have it» .
And YES — some of the «old guys» there are positively rude and it almost seems like the business must think it’s cute or something.

BEWARE THE SAW TRAP
Countless shallow saw marks (between the deeper grooves where saws rest) indicate scores of customers gently test saws here prior to purchase. So I did, too.
Result is getting grabbed and yelled at.
Try to talk with the owner… even more rude… unwilling to consider anything I have to say and asks me how would I like it if he was over at my house and started sawing on my furniture… and insults me with some wise crack ego remark.
Well Mr. Hardwick, if I had a similar condition saw rack at my house, I honestly wouldn’t mind if you did what I did. No problem whatsoever. I certainly would not physically accost you or verbally abuse you.
But like I said at the store, you can rest assured it won’t happen again.

I came here to get a key copied for my bike lock. The new guy did a great job with cutting two copies of the key for me and it only came out to four bucks. All the staff I interacted with were very efficient and gave service with a smile, especially the young blonde lady who helped grind down the keys when I came back after discovering the metal was too thick. I think I’ve found my first Seattle crush.

I just moved to town and had an awful experience at Home Depot. When I realized I forgot something I decided to look for other options and I am so happy I found this place! I wish I had had more time to go down each isle. You never know what you’ll find.

The best hardware store in town for standard or exotic tools. They sell tools new and used. Great selection of knobs and latches for cabinetry. There’s a kitchen aisle with a great selection of cheap cocktail glasses. If you’re looking for a nonelectric lamp, also a great spot. There’s also a selection of new and used furniture that you won’t find at a normal furniture store. They have a good selection of fasteners, and a decent selection of plumbing and electric supplies. No lumber. Honestly, I can wander this place for a couple hours at a time, and frequently realize I desperately need a tool that I didn’t know existed. If you make things, you need to go here. If you’re Christmas shopping, it’s a required stop.

Those of us who grew up around here will remember Chubby & Tubby; Hardwick’s is like the C&T of hardware. Very rarely do I fail to find what I need there, and often find a few things I didn’t know I needed!
Friendly staff. I don’t know where people get the idea they’re rude. My guess is some of them just glance up from their cell phones long enough to make that snap assessment…

Hardwick’s is a treasure trove and may require a little patience and curiosity to find things, and to find things you didn’t even know you needed! Yes, it can feel unorganized, yes it can feel cluttered, but I never saw a pristine working person’s workshop!
This place is perfect. Well loved, and well used.
I have never had an unpleasant interaction with any of the staff. The girls who have been at the register are helpful and pleasant. The folks who help me find things have been darling! Never had a better conversation with a 6′ tall man than the guy at Hardwick’s who helped me find double stick carpet tape for my burlesque show.
Thanks! Keep up the charm!

Stopped by Hardwicks yesterday in search of some obscure window latches to match my original windows.
At first I was a bit blown away, this isn’t Home Depot. The place was stocked full of all sorts things that makes a home remodeler lose track of all time and walk through all the aisles like a kid in a toy store.
Needless to say, the fellow that helped me was like a library of knowledge. I recommend this place for anyone who appreciates learning something new while shopping

Fantastic place. I found a great selection of window locks, hooks, handles, handmade furniture, spray paint, and lots more stuff here.
Take your time and wander and browse and chat up the employees. If you are in a hurry they will sense it and things may not go so well for you… so slow down and be a person.

I’ve been coming to this store since I was a little girl, back in the 60’s when my carpenter dad brought me in. They’ve got everything I ever wanted and wayyy more! Everything from antique cabinet handles to candles, drill bits to laundry sticks, books to hooks, any size bolt or screw to spray paint, parts for loos, on and on. At first, the store won’t seem organized, but as time goes by, it all begins to make sense.
What doesn’t make sense is the rude attitude of the people that work here. They act like they are doing you the favor of your life just to ring you up. Don’t expect them to help you without snark. What a shame that the old Hardwick’s friendliness and great service are gone. Every once in a while, I stop in hoping they’ve gone back to their good old selves. Each time, I am more disappointed.

Well, I first came here to accompany a friend on an errand when I saw a beautiful 100 year old wooden trunk, which I fell madly in love with. Upon returning a week later for my new to-​be possession, it was a little hard to get some attention. After I did, I paid for the trunk and they helped me put it in my car. I have a Mini Countryman (the four door), so as you can imagine, it was a tight squeeze. But they literally squeezed it in and scratched the inside of my car in the process. After getting home, I placed my back seats down a tad further to make more room and rearranged the truck to face the opposite way (the skinnier way) and it fit with a good amount of room. Why they didn’t think to put it in this way is beyond me.
Then I had to get a copy of a key made a couple of weeks later. I literally waited 10 minutes after being told twice that someone would help me. I couldn’t believe it.
I wish I had better things to say about the service, but I will say that they have just about anything you can imagine there. All kinds of great knick-​knacks and a great 2^nd hand section. Very cool to just browse around it. Just pick up the pace please!

Hardwick’s is interesting. They have both new and gently-​used items in stock, ranging from Japanese specialty gardening tools to the regular-​old hardware store basics like screws & nails.
The service, as other reviewers have noted, is pretty erratic, sometimes being super helpful and knowledgeable, and sometimes just absent.
They sure pack in a lot of stuff in a relatively tiny area! Each time I’m in the U-​District, I like to take a peek around.

Clueless one-​star reviewers:
If you believe «the customer is always right,» you’re probably exactly the kind of self-​impressionable young dewdlet who will have your ego handed to you by the staff at Hardwick’s, julienne-​sliced and neatly arranged on a second-​hand (but only slightly chipped) serving platter. If you charge through the doors in a flaming hurry, you might well become a bit frustrated by the fact that nobody wears a uniform smock in a friendly, primary color with a tag that lets you address them by their first name without introductions — or that, when you do find a staffer, he or she isn’t going to cut short the $ 0.86 transaction with the old gal who just needs a couple of picture hangers, even though you’re OBVIOUSLY tapping your foot and waiting impatiently for that batt of insulation that they don’t carry.
Look, it’s not a home center, and it’s not all about you. Once described as «a finishing school for grumpy old men,» Hardwick’s hires employees who are more like tour guides than clerks. There’s a strong chance that not only do they know what you want and where it is, but can talk you through four or five different ways to go about your project — and show you which parts and tools (all of which they stock) can be used to complete it. Keep going back for 20 or 30 years — like ten thousand diehard customers before you — and Hardwick’s will change your life.
But if you march in there with a chip on your shoulder, they’ve definitely got the tools to cut you down to size. They were there before you blew into town, and they’ll be there after you’re dead. Besides, it’s part of the compensation package: nobody makes much money at Hardwick’s, but management allows their staff to offer real service WITHOUT subservience.
Be grateful for that. They’re teaching you what your parents should have taught you, years before you were blessed to walk through the doors of Hardwick’s: enough humility to get out of your own way and build something beautiful. Check your ego (and your backpack) at the door, take the tour, and have your eyes opened. Those grubby people ghosting around the aisles include boatbuilders, artists, Burners, millwrights, cabinetmakers, and the world’s most renowned antique motorcycle restorer. If it’s good enough for them…
Anyone can walk into Lowe’s and leave with a Kobalt Chinese spade and a cheap Stanley hammer. Go to Hardwick’s instead, and learn about hori-​horis, hard-​forged North Bay drawknives, laminated white steel pruners, and seventeen models of framing hammers. Like moving from Southern Comfort to single malt Scotch, going to a real hardware store instead of a hand-​holding «home center» requires the development of an adult palate.
Hardwick’s isn’t there to make your life easier. It’s there to make Seattleites’ lives better. You either get it or you don’t. It may take more than one visit, and it will certainly require taking your time.