Foster Ace Hardware

Y’all, I’m all about local, small business and this place is it. I seriously love these guys. Some days I can’t fathom wandering around the big chain home improvement stores and so I come here. It’s small, friendly, peaceful and helpful. They always seem to have that little thing I need and I leave so much less stressed. I’ve never price matched so I’m not sure if I’m spending the same or spending more, but you know what? Sometimes my sanity is worth a few bucks. This place is pretty cool and I think I’ll keep coming here. :)

PRO: SERVICE! (Remember that?) Gobs of products! Great prices.
CON: Not all the youthful staff can answer technical questions. But somebody can if you persist!
CONCLUSION: You’ll never wanna go back to the big home stores! Browse around to get in your head all the nifty stuff they have. Then later you can rush in, find that one replacement bolt or toilet part, then run home and have the job done! (Forget that big store!)

I can’t figure out how, in a relatively small store they can always manage to have what I’m looking for! And someone to help you find it to boot. My go-​to place.

Had a great experience at this Ace. Usually I’d wander around a Lowe’s or Home Depot until I found what I was looking for. At this Ace though I was asked by three different employees if I was finding everything ok, or if they could help. They weren’t hovery, just helpful. That meant a lot to me and was something I rarely experience at the big box stores.
Prices were a little higher though and so I only gave it 4 stars.

This is the first time I’ve Unilocaled about a hardware store. Of course this is the first time my water pipes sprung a leak and I found myself watching gallons of water cascading down the street.
Since it was hard finding an available plumber on short notice, I resorted to digging up the flower beds myself. It was fairly easy to find the leak, I just followed the water back to its source.
It was a cracked plastic thingie that went from one plastic pipe into my metal water line along the house edge. (I now know this“thingie” is called a CONNECTOR). I did know enough to turn off the water and to use a wrench to remove the leaking thingy. Righty-​tighty, lefty Lucy. (If you don’t know what that means, you’re really in trouble, home-​repair wise!)
So far so good. «Look, honey, I found what was making it leak!» I said as I proudly displayed this muddy connection thingie (CONNECTOR)
to my wife. «That’s wonderful. I’m so proud of you!» she responded. «But we still have no water,» she went on to pointedly. «And don’t even think about coming inside until you get all that mud off yourself.»
So I trotted my muddy little self off to the nearest hardware store, which happened to be Foster Hardware (a friendly Ace hardware store) located in Southwest Plaza, just off Little Road and just north of I-​20.
Going inside, in all my dirty glory, I marched right up to the first person wearing a Hardware patch, held up my muddy CONNECTOR and said, «I’ll have another one, please.»
Without a blink, a teenaged kid led me to a rack of plastic CONNECTORS, and after sorted through a few, picked out a match to the one I was carrying on his first try!
Huzzah! Now that’s the kind of service I expect in a hardware store, but seldom receive!
Now if they can help a two left-​thumbed boob like me, they can probably help you solve your home repair problems too.