Downtown Ace Hardware

Great store to have in the Gaslamp/​East Village area. It is definitely walkable for folks like us that live in the general area. There is plenty of street parking in the area, just be prepared to pay a few quarters or bucks depending on your stay. Having a «city» hardware store is such a treat.
My husband and I have been in several times to purchase household fix-​it, to-​do, kinda items and to make keys. Very convenient location.
The staff here is always friendly and helpful. It’s a great looking store. Always well kept.

excellent service! staff are wonderful.
call ahead make sure they have the parts you need or the tools either way they will point you in the right direction.

This is a great and convenient downtown hardware store. It’s small but had most of what a city dweller would need.
I have come here a few times and always have been promptly helped. Small watering can, check. Hooks and nails to hang my pictures, check. Advice on how to hang them, check. Organic spray for my aphid problem, check.
The only con is that this store doesn’t have a garden section, though they sell some succulents. But if you’re downtown, you probably don’t have anything beyond a few potted plants.
Overall, a great store with some of the best customer service I’ve ever had from a hardware store.

This ace hardware is a very complete hardware store. They also rent out tools to help you in your project. The people here are super nice and friendly. I went to make a copy of my house key and I took longer to find parking than what it took the associate to make me the spare key. In and out in less than 15min. The only downside of coming to this hardware is the parking. Since it is in downtown parking can be challenging.

Cool little Ace. Stopped in looking for patio furniture a couple weeks ago. They didn’t have much of a selection yet but they were very helpful in showing me what they had. I was greeted upon entering, and asked numerous times if I needed help with anything. The store was cool. Definitely a matchbox car compared to a Home Depot but it looked like they had everything you could possibly need around the home and the service was great.

After searching numerous stores for a fan (apparently San Diego sells out of fans the moment they hit stores), I called ACE Downtown to see if they had any. Steve answered and checked their inventory. Luckily they had one tower fan left. Steve was kind enough to leave the fan at the check out counter for me. Great customer service! I always receive exceptional customer service at this location.

Very helpful people, staff, and always ask you when they walk in «what are you looking for?» they have a hands on approach to helping the customer get what they need. The only problem is parking is sometimes hard to find in downtown (but that’s all of downtown). The prices are obviously more expensive than Home Depot but I suppose that’s the Franchise model and they can’t change it.
I always have a great experience at ACE Hardware Downtown.

Everyone here is always so incredibly nice and helpful. You can’t walk 5ft without someone being courteous and assisting you. If you are familiar with the disappearing act employees do at Home Depot you will not get that experience here. A+

Why trek down to Home Depot when this local ACE Hardware has everything you need? From tools, to paint, to dog treats (random), to getting keys made this ACE hardware has had everything I’ve needed and saved me the time of driving down to Home Depot and wandering through aisles of construction materials looking for the one small item I can’t find without asking for help.

Unbeatable customer service. The guys here are ON POINT. Any question, any time. You can’t wander around the aisles for more than 30 seconds without a helpful person asking if they can be of assistance. Little pricey but for the customer service, convenience and cleanliness of this place… literally can not be beat.

Great customer service, and the location is so convenient! Loved that it was an all female crew when I visited. I will definitely be back! :-)

Ace is like an oasis in the middle of downtown San Diego.
If I have to buy a single nail? I will have to travel at lease 5 miles out of downtown to get one, but Ace Is a life saver.
Ace has everything you could imagine for homebuilding and renovation, it has plenty of helpful staff for help, they are all very knowledgeable and experienced.
Yes, there is one reason why I have given them four stars and not five, its their prices, I have compared there prices with stores like Home Depot and Dixieline, they are a little bit expensive, I try to go here for my immediate use only, I’m not sure what the reason is behind the high prices, I know the rents are not cheap in downtown but that is not a real good excuse for prices being high.
I hope Ace management would do some comparative market analysis, research and compare their prices with their competitors and hopefully reduce their prices on some of the items.
Ace is a convenience for us the residence of downtown, I just hope they survive, Good luck Ace Hardware…

Ace hard wear is seriously the best! I wish I had more reasons to come in bc the staff is just so nice! Very helpful and I always find what I need. This one has a tiny section in the back with plants. All the plants are beautiful! Thanks ace!

I live downtown and have been shopping here since it opened, but I recently found out how little this store appreciates loyal customers like me.
They mailed me a «reward» coupon good for $ 7 off a $ 20 purchase. I went to buy a toilet seat for $ 18 and a drink for $ 3. At the register, the hipster-​ish «shift leader» told me I couldn’t use the drink to get to $ 20, even though there was no exception for food or drink listed on the coupon.
Apparently it was just a secret «store policy» that the guy was dead-​set to enforce against me, even though he admitted recognizing me from the frequency that I shop there. Then he told a real whopper, expecting me to believe there was no way to manually override the big mean cash register so as to apply the coupon to my purchase. Later that day, I called to speak to the top manager about this transaction, but he was already gone by 4:00 p.m. on a weekday. I left him a message but received no call back.
The whole experience was really off-​putting: despite years of shopping there, they nickel-​and-​dimed me with a dubious «policy» not written on the coupon, and then didn’t bother calling me back when I called the manager to inquire about it. With prices as high as this store’s, I expect better.

OUTSTANDING customer service. Brent was helpful, funny and cut my keys quickly. This Ace Hardware is the BEST!
A great place to get hard to find key sizes without needing to go to a locksmith.
Thanks Brent.

I have never been back to Home Depot or Lowes. I love the downtown Ace store. The staff are always super helpful and everything is priced so reasonably. I’ve even ordered lamp fixtures online and picked up in store.
The staff was super helpful when I decided to paint our bathroom They guided me through the process, the cheapest way to get it done right and even picked out all the supplies I would need!
I love running over when I have any issues around the home, because they always give you practical and easy guidance to do it right.

I manage a restaurant in the downtown area, and frequently need to pick little things up to keep my business running smoothly. I probably come here 1 – 2 times a month and they never fail to take care of me. The ONLY time they haven’t had exactly what I need (this week ironically), they referred me to another local plumbing store for the very specific pipe fixture I needed.
The customer service at this small, but efficient, store is SIX star quality. They always greet me within my first few steps through the door and someone is almost always there to guide me to the right area immediately!
However, the main reason I am writing this review is because of the phenomenal service I received in the key department from Alyssa! I was in need of some extra keys for my restaurant and had come two days prior to get some copies made. At the time I didn’t realize that when the keys say «Do Not Copy» on them, some places take that seriously. So Alyssa informed me that I needed to get a letter of permission from our building manager, and then she would gladly make a million copies for me, if that’s what I needed.
Well, after I secured the letter, I returned two days later to find Alyssa again working at the key counter. She not only remembered my name, but also how many copies of the key I wanted. In addition, I had nicked my finger a few minutes prior to leaving to get the keys, and my cut began bleeding a bit worse than I had expected. I asked her if she had a band-​aid and she brought me out, not just a band-​aid, but also an antiseptic wipe as well. That was something totally unexpected and awesome!!!
All in all, my whole experience left me walking out of there with a big smile on my face. To top it all off, Alyssa came to the front to help check people out (there was a little bit of a line), and I once again had the pleasure of being assisted by her!
A big thank you to Alyssa for making an otherwise dull errand enjoyable, and also to the whole Ace staff for being so helpful. YOU GUYS ROCK!!!
And did I mention Alyssa helped me?! Haha.

AM real happy to bump my rating of ACE hard ware downtown to perfection ! Recently I’d bought some drain cleaner and putty-​type wall hanging product. Unfortunately neither had the desired performance so, somewhat embarrassed, I brought them back to see if the staff here on 6^th Avenue had other options.
Did they ever ! Not only did they quickly locate another drain cleaner & dual-​sided tape hanging tape, BUT they insisted on refunding me the credit of the original purchases.
As I NEVER intended to ask for credit on products that I’d opened and used (i.e., almost all the drain cleaner) this wasn’t my intention… I merely brought in the packages for staff to see what didn’t work in my particular residence.
And finally, when my new purchases totaled over $ 5 less that the old, the cashier INSISTED on giving me a credit slip for this difference towards my next purchase… which there will be many, MANY more for sure at ACE Downtown !!
I love supporting the smaller neighborhood businesses that are the backbone of our economy. Try these guys & gals out… I don’t think you’ll be dissapointed.

Absolutely an Exceptional Business Establishment.
Clearly, from my perspective, the «best in the west» but we can settle on «best in SD» /​/​the customer service is excellent and the staff is extremely polite & friendly + the store layout and comprehensive inventory of A-​Z make this my go to place for any and all home DIY.

Shopping downtown is always an adventure… you never know what kind of characters will walk through the door (including me!). I came here yesterday to have a key made for my pet sitter. I love local independent businesses and this one is typical of a quintessential local business… they tend to know their regular customers. I didn’t mind waiting a couple of extra minutes while the guy cutting the key for the person in front of me chatted with his customer about her new place and when she was going to have a house warming party :-)
After getting my key made and waiting in line to check out, some guy popped his head in the door (while still on his bike) and asked if they had window air conditioning units… getting an affirmative answer, he then parked his bike and asked if he could store his CVS bags behind the counter. Laid back vibe at Ace Hardware obliged. Such is the joy of a neighborhood hardware store.