Lakewood Ace Hardware — Attraction in Lakewood

If you're black I wouldn't go in there. I didn't have a bag on me or anything, just a hood because i had bed head, and if you shopped the Vons next door you know I've been here for the past two months every morning buying mainly fruit and other items. I NEVER leave reviews for companies or fast food restaurants that get my order wrong, etc. But after how they blatantly made me feel uncomfortable as hell and all i wanted to see is if they had anything i was looking for for future purchasing. I'm glad I heard the old lady say oh well after following me the first time. If you're white you'll be fine, I'm sure 5 different people won't follow you around asking the same question. Also I actually found the same product at Walmart which was sold $20 dollars cheaper. I just went in there 30 minutes ago to check if they had a battery powered fan or portable stove, and they had employees following me around. I even told them the first time I was just looking for something, and not even a minute later one of them that's pretending to not follow me is asking me the same question two other people just asked me. then I walk down to another isle, find what I'm looking for and I'm trying to see if its the right product I need when I noticed this old lady (one of their employees)is pretending to look at the merchandise on the shelves, but she's actually watching me. I walk to another isle on the other side of the store to test something, and would you look at that. She followed me to the other side of the store. So instead of buying from that store I just decided to buy the stuff online from another distributor and left. What the hell did they think I was going to do ? Walk out the store with a big ass box under my hoodie 😂😂😂 oh my God if they would use their brain for two seconds please, that would be great. Why do you think they haven't responded to me but they responded to a bunch of other people!! Because they WERE FOLLOWING...

I just had a super uncomfortable visit to Ace Harware on Woodruff & South. It was my first time there & I wanted to look around. After being ignored by the 2 people at the registers, the first employee I encountered asked what he could help me find? I said I was just looking & the employee looked highly offended & from this point on I was followed through the store. The employees were letting each other know which isle I was on as I looked around so I just decided to leave. Then 2 of the employees followed me out of the store & took a picture of my car & license plate 🤔😐 I called to tell the manager, Steve, to let him how uncomfortable I felt & asked why they followed me out of the store & took a picture. His response was defensive & told me it's very suspicious & unusual to not know what I needed. I asked why they took a picture of my car & he never answered. He was very condescending & unapologetic. It was just a very weird & unsettling experience... no wonder I was the only one...

Today was the second time I purchased that item that is just not carried by the big-box hardware stores. Those stores have their place, but the last time I was looking for such a specialty item the employee just didn't get my description and I ended up with a customer butting in and told me what to use. Like reviews before mine, there was personalized help for items costing less than $2.00 and the floor person even introduced me to the owner who was on the cash register. And yes, I was also introduced to the (frozen?) home-made looking pies to the right of the cash registers. Not a pie-eater but sure looked tempting to me...

My new go-to place for hardware and especially for the wonderful and detailed advice and help...