Wilensky’s Hardware & Locks

We recently purchased a new home and were only given one key for the front door. The seller informed us that the key was a specialty key and «could not be copied.» Having only one key got old pretty quick, so we knew we needed to get a duplicate somehow. Wilensky’s was the first place that popped up on my Unilocal search. They said they could definitely copy the key and told me to come right in. Five minutes later, I had a second key. I was really impressed with how quickly they could do it and the employees were so friendly. It was truly refreshing to find this place. Eat your heart out, Home Depot; Wilensky’s will now be my go-​to.

Started frequenting Wilensky’s when I lived in the neighborhood. Though I have a née local hardware store this is still the only place I trust to have keys cut.

I locked myself out of my laundry room yesterday. I called a for a lockout service to let me in. The man on the phone started asking all sorts of insinuating questions and asked me if I had access to my own laundry room.
I’m not going to call my land lord and have him drive all the way out to me because I made a silly mistake. I have a great landlord but no, that isn’t his job when I can pay and take care of it myself.
I have all my work ware in my laundry room and needed to get to it for the next day. Thankfully, I called another locksmith that was extremely helpful and didn’t treat me like a criminal in a time when I was most stressed.

Actually zero stars! Needed lock out service & change locks. I figured as long as I had my driver’s license with address of property on it, that would be sufficient. The man who answered phone asked a series of invasive questions that were none of his business! He asked who was owner, was I authorized to change locks, what happened to my keys? When I told him those were a lot of questions from a locksmith, he claimed he had to ask or they would be «liable». Huh??? Sir, people breaking into a house do not call a locksmith. He ended conversation by hanging up. Try somewhere else if you’re ever locked out in south Philly. Oh, & at beginning of my call he told me I probably wouldn’t be able to get service the same day anyway. I should’ve hung up then!

Barry’s a true-​blue character who knows locks up, down, left, and center. Impeccable work with answers for every question. Why go anywhere else?

Had a couple of keys made here good.

Fast and efficient! Wilenksy made a ton of money off me last week when my keys were stolen — both house and work. I had no idea that my landlady was using the same people that I was contacting for work (I just Unilocal’d the highest rated locksmith in close proximity) and was relieved when my boss knew the company from working at Fleisher.
Both my home and work had new locks and keys before 2pm — that’s some fast work! I was also thankful that for both places they made some locks use the same key to cut costs on key-​making. My work is in a historic building on Rittenhosue and they managed to make everything look pristine and I was certainly thankful to have new locks at home (as they were getting old and terrible anyway… almost a blessing in disguise that I lost my keys!)
I put them down as the primary locksmith for work and have their info saved in case anything happens at my apartment. For their fast and professional efforts with reasonable prices — these are the dudes to call!

I had a very positive experience with Wilensky’s. Our front door lock had been getting tougher and tougher to open over the course of a few weeks — to the point where we realized we couldn’t leave the house without getting it fixed because we feared we wouldn’t be able to get back in!
I found Wilensky’s on Unilocal,gave them a ring in the morning and spoke with a friendly guy who said he would have their locksmith give me a call as soon as he was in. I received a call maybe an hour later and the locksmith said he could be over around noon, and he was.
Turned out, something in our lock had broken and needed to be replaced. This was remedied in about fifteen or twenty minutes and now our lock works perfectly. The total charge was $ 140 — eighty or ninety of that was the visit alone and the rest was for the fix. Yowza. Hopefully my locks will be good to go for a long time!

Copies for keys in like 2min I would have been happy to wait longer cause they have so much stuff to browse trough now that I moved into my own place. U can find anything u need there, they r nice n helpful fast…

LOVE LOVE LOVE. These guys are the absolute best, my experiences were both beyond excellent. Showed up promptly, fixed my hack job with minimal chiding (hehe), warm, funny, knowledgeable… An all around pleasure. Unlike another local locksmith who, like that magician Houdini made a large amount of my money… Disappear…

Walked in for a key and was in and out. Friendly guy workin behind the counter. Not being from Philly it was nice to go into a store with that hometown feel.

I am always happy when I lose my keys because it gives me a reason to stop in here.
This place has the best selection of decorative keys to choose from, seriously, if you have a hard time remembering what key goes to what lock than I suggest coming here and buying keys with very specific designs!
The owner might be one of the most interesting people I have discovered in South Philly, his presence in the shop makes it feel like a small town business.
I hope I lose my keys again soon.

These guys completely saved my sorry, stranded *ss yesterday! I was in Philly for work on Saturday, and just as I was about to get in my car to drive home, my car key caught on a doorway (a one in a billion chance!!!) and bent at a 90 degree angle. I tried to straighten it out, but guess what — it snapped in half. After calling around and getting absolutely nowhere I called these guys and stopped in 20 minutes before they closed. After a few minutes brainstorming ideas, the guy was able to clamp the two broken pieces in the key cutting machine and make me a brand new car key for less than $ 20!!! We weren’t 100% sure it would work since it wasn’t exactly a clean break, but I crossed my fingers and the ignition turned! These guys saved me a costly tow back to Lancaster.
You just don’t find old school knowledgeable guys like this anymore — guys who can think outside the box and really help a girl out! If I lived in Philly, this would be my first stop for ANY problem.

Great fan. I locked myself out of my car and the were there PDQ!

Great customer service and wide selection of hardware. I was looking for a new set of locks for my house, and the guy behind the register was extremely helpful. He directed me to what I needed, and he didn’t seem to mind answering all my questions. I have no idea what I’m doing when it comes to fixing things, but I feel like I can come here and get all my questions answered. I’ll definitely be back!

I was in a real bind Monday morning and gave a call to see if I could get two key tumblers replaced. The phone was answered and I explained my situation. I was greeted with professional, courteous service. Price was right and he promised to be here by 3pm.
The locks were changed and payment was made before 3pm.
Please give this small business your business. They are a gem in a sea of vultures.

OK — I’ll be honest: When I saw this Polish name, I, as a Pole, KNEW that it would be my favorite hardware store. But when I MET Mr. Wilensky, I just fell in love. He is so patient, learned, diligent, and accomodating… and fair. Not only fair in practice, but in price. I have read the other reviews touting his rescue endeavors with all manner of lock and key screwups, and I know who I’M going to call when I’m in a bind at 2 a.m. His store is stocked full with all the necessities and then some. Leave it to a fellow countryman to honor fine craftmanship, good business practice, and a neighborhood faithful following. Sto Lat!

Like an idiot, I locked myself out of my house this morning. I had just changed my locks two weeks prior and didn’t give out any spare sets to friends or neighbors, so I had to resort to a locksmith. Doing some quick online price comparisons, Wilensky’s seemed to have everyone beat by about $ 30 – 60 ($ 70 to come out and about $ 30 or so to get the lock open, if they’re successful). I called at 9:30 a.m., made an appointment for 1 p.m., they were there right on time and I was in my house by 1:15 p.m. Back in business. Thanks, Wilensky’s. I highly recommend these guys.

I recently purchased a used car and only received 1 set of car keys. I thought it would be a good idea to make a copy in case I happen to misplace it or lock my keys in my car one day. I did a little research and found out that my 4runner car key has a chip in it (transponder key) and that Toyota would charge me $ 100+ to make a copy of it.
After a little research I found that I could buy a blank key on eBay and have it cut and programmed at Toyota or a locksmith. I initially took my key to have it cut at home depot and was surprised how clueless their associates were and found out that they didn’t know how to make copies of car keys. The next day I took my transponder key to Wilensky’s and the dude at the counter was able to cut the key in less than 5 minutes. I also found out that they can program the newer type of transponder keys but unfortunately my key was the «older» type and that he wasn’t able to do mine. So now I’m off to Toyota to have my key programmed for about $ 30.
Transponder Key from EBay: $ 12
Getting the Key Cut at Wilensky’s: $ 3.50
Programming Key at Toyota: $ 30

I had a relatively odd locksmithing request: a lightly used car ski rack that I had bought on eBay for super-​cheap because it was locked with no keys. Obviously only worth buying if I could find a way to get new keys made for not a lot of money.
Not only were Wilensky’s happy to help me out (in fact, I had checked with them before buying the rack in the first place to make sure it was worth the effort) but despite having to special-​order the keys for me, Wilensky’s did the job for only $ 25! Thanks to them I got a $ 300 ski rack for a total of $ 60.
BUT…
A ski rack (at least the kind I have) has a total of four locks on it, all sharing the same key. After leaving the shop I tested all four locks and the new key worked on only two of them! I had to go back and point out the obvious failure in thought on their part that apparently prevented them from testing the key on all of the locks before pronouncing the job as done.
At first 5 stars in my head, then 3 for the big «miss» on their part, but back to 5 after they dropped everything and immediately worked to correct the problem (which they did).