Woodcraft of St. Louis - Maryland Heights — Attraction in Maryland Heights

I took a class this morning, and ADRIAN was my teacher. I called yesterday (Friday) being very upset about my 2 - 3 month bad experience with a different woodworking supply store regarding a class that I really needed to take before taking an online course (the one of my dreams - so excited) in November. When I called I spoke with TIM, who could not have been more so down-to-earth, kind, tuned-in, and helpful. He asked, "Can you come in tomorrow morning?" The class was the best class, AND teacher who taught me esoteric details that , I swear, opened a blocked pathway in my brain. I've been trying to break through it for a couple of decades! He left nothing out. Have you ever taken a class or read a how-to-book where you don't find out until later that they intentionally left out key points or steps that would make you or break you. Status or job security has to be the reason. Walking to my car after the class I was thinking, "This is the first day of the rest of my life." That sounds cornball - it even surprised me! I was, and am, over-the-moon with this experience. Also(!), the store itself is like a child's dream candy store to a woodworking enthusiast or professional. And the STAFF is top-notch. They are good guys, and that is saying a...

This is my second Woodcraft store that I have been to, the other in KS, and I was not as impressed with the STL store as I was with the KS store. The store its self is fine, with friendly and knowledgeable staff, and most woodworkers could find about any tool they could at the store, however, my only suggestion is to maybe include demo areas for products such as Festool and Fein. At the KS store there are areas where you could try out the tools that you are interested in to see and feel the quality first hand. I am interested in the Festool routers models: OF 1400 or the OF 2200 and would have liked to play with each unit in conjunction with a Festool CT vacuum to feel the weight and how see how each performed. I will say that they did have several Festool tools in systainers in the center of an aisle but did not have a place where you could demo them. Even if these tools were for demo, the location of them was not inviting to just walk up and play with b/c they were not out of or on top of the systainers or near a table covered with scrap wood and wood chips that have been left by the last happy customer.

If you haven't been to the store before, and it is on your way, I would recommend stopping in if you are looking for a particular tool or...

Paid well over $1,000 for an item in late December 2020 that was on back order, but on sale at the time. I was prepared for it to take several weeks to finally arrive at the store. I checked the website once in a while to see if it said anything about if/when the particular item would be in stock. When I checked in late February, I was surprised to see it was apparently in stock, but as told when I bought it, I had not heard anything from the store. So, I called. They said it had been in stock for a couple of weeks and they had tried to call me, but no answer and no voice mail to leave a message. So, according to that, they most likely only tried to call me one single time, just during that 1% of the time when my phone is dead or out of cell range. And I had to assume they must have had my email address written down incorrectly, otherwise I would have surely gotten at least one email about it, too. So, when I go to pick up the item, one of the first things I did, was see what email they had for me. Turns out, they indeed had my corrrect email address. I didn’t act too upset on the outside, but I was quite...