Ace Hardware

was not allowed to shop cashier demanded i leave my bag at her front register
and would not give me any documentation or tag saying they were holding my bag
cashier was staring at me after i left store

Cute little neighborhood hardware store; like any good local store, they stock a few specialty items the big boys don’t… but the prices reflect a little bit of the cost of local convenience.
The staff was friendly — even joking after the third trip back for little items (apparently the square drive bits I’d gotten a «deal» on elsewhere were made out of pot metal and semi-​sweet chocolate chips… grrrrrrr…). They didn’t have much in the stove pipe line (yeah, another stove project) and we had to head to Gurnee. That said, they did have a nice selection of cutting wheels for my 4.5 inch angle grinder that I did NOT find at the Big Box DIY stores.
The store was clean, well-​lit and organized; and there’s free parking across the street to the north.