Gun screws... in a hardware store?
- Thread starter josquin
- Start date
If you mean Hardware Sales (??), they do have an internet division, (hardwaresales.com) but I think it's mostly for larger/bulk items. Wouldn't be worth ordering screws etc., esp. with mailing to Canada. It's really a "local" store, and only "local" to me because I'm down in Bellingham frequently as my gf lives there. If she didn't, I might still make a special trip down from time to time rather than having to drive all over the Lower Mainland to several places to get the slightly oddball stuff I seem to want. They dont have everything, though- for instance a full selection of wire gauge stub drills, so I'll have to get the ones I want from MSC Direct or KBC. But for just about everything else they are far better than any place I've found.
LOL... In the dozen years I've been driving down there, I've had nearly always stress-free crossings, with only two or three grumpy border agents, the rest either being downright friendly or, at worst, dismissive/"Yeah, whatever." Only been randomly inspected four times; never once coming back. I think I'll just stick to my usual story and not spoil things. I have on occasion, when asked what I was planning to do while there, mentioned going to Hardware Sales, which usually puts a smile on the agent's face. Sometimes when I declare stuff I'm bringing back to the Canadian agent and mention Hardware Sales, if they are interested I give them one of the many HdwS pens I have- since all the fasteners etc. are loose and you have to take one of the small paper bags and a pen to write down the bin number. I also have one of their stickers on the back of my truck, so , yes, I'm sold on the place. Pity there is nothing similar anywhere around here, but until there is, I'll happily give them my business. Apparently there's nothing comparable anywhere in the Pacific NW. Not bad for a family-run business in a small town. Some of the grand kids of the founders work there, too.
I just looked up Hillman Group (Cincinatti OH) and FWIW they have Cdn. Distributors: Paullin in TO, Pickering, Montreal, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Vancouver and Moncton.
- Location
- The Conservative part of Ontario
BTDT. Often.
I got excited when I saw the pictures and that your location in mission. Though the Rona / FVBS for a massive upgrade in the gun screw department! Then I read the post. Look forward to grabbing a few spares next time I head in to the states!
RONA/FVBS.... Gun screws??? To borrow a comment from a wealthy socialite to physicist Richard Feyneman, "Surely you jest (Mr. Feyneman)!" If they did have them, they'd be $6.50 each. Do you know the Specialty Fasteners bins there, brought in just before the RONA change? (Still there, but largely abandoned) The prices were, shall we say, exhorbitant. I could get most of that stuff cheaper at Hardware Sales than ACE/RONA's wholesale cost. What a joke. Mind you, the gun screws weren't all tnat cheap at HDWS. I don't have the bill now, but I think they run about .65 ea (~.88 Cdn.). But at least I don't have to buy them in silly little overpriced plastic packages. I LOVE all those bins. And surprisingly, they tell me there isn't a lot of theft, and there certainly isn't the same problem of people just dumping stuff back in any old bin that they have a RONA. (Apparently that has got worse since it became RONA.)
Was down there again today. They have REALLY tiny "gun screws" in that cabinet! Must be for ultra-prohib. deep-concealment guns.
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infideleggwelder
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Well, you won't have to worry about mixed up screw bins at RONA. Lowes shut down almost all, if not all RONAs in Canada. most will be shuttered by end January.
probably because of the mixed up screw bins...
Probably not the one here in Mission. It's sort of a "semi-RONA" It used to be an Ace Hardware store. I guess the owners could revert to Ace, but judging by the utter chaos they (and the customers) went through when they became RONA, I doubt anyone would survive with their sanity intact. We actually used to have both RONA and ACE here in Mission (pop.35,000)- just a block apart. Oddly, one of the staff told me that some RONA customers, coming to the new RONA (ex-ACE) weren't even aware that the Ace store existed! Some areas of the RONA (plumbing, electrical) are better than Ace was so it's not all that bad. I used to shop at both. But emphatically not a REAL hardware store. I will say that it's far better than the Lowe's in Abbotsford, though (IMHO). We also have a Lordco Auto Parts here, which has some industrial stuff.
I wish there was a Princess Auto in Abbotsford. Although not a patch on Hardware Sales, they'd be very useful.
It never ceases to amaze me how small stores in small towns in the States can have more inventory than Home Depot and Rona combined. Canadian stores make me sick. I used to go to Fountain Hardware in Bellingham on the way to Yeagers. Bought a few guns at Yeagers. I used to go there just to look at all the antiques hanging on the ceiling or wall. Must have been hundreds of thousands worth.
I'd never heard of Fountain Hardware although I know the Fountain District quite well. Bizapedia still lists it but it is "inactive" and the location (across the street from the ReStore- another very useful place) is now a music store.
Here in Mission we had a good, very small Home Hardware on the main street that had a lot of unusual stuff. It really was a hardware store - no building supplies. Unfortunately it closed down several years ago.
Yeaghers is pretty good. They lost their firearms licence a few years ago but have it again. They still have a huge Titan chainsaw from the 40s hanging on the ceiling.
Brassman66
CGN frequent flyer
Thanks for sharing this useful information. I am afraid my next trip to Grizzly Tools in Bellingham will include a side trip to Hardware Sales as well.
Cheers
