Mendo Mill & Lumber Co — Local services in Fort Bragg

Buy Local - Bah! Went in to buy a 10' piece of 4" PVC pipe, drove to the back of the yard where the pipe is. Yard guy is busy helping somebody else, so I look and find a beat up old 8' end cut that will do. Go to counter - What size did you get? Eight foot end cut I say. She says I only show 2', 10' or 20'. I say it was an end cut marked 8'. She tries to call somebody - doesn't know. Tries again and they don't either so she says I guess I can charge you for a 10 foot. At this point I leave store and remove pipe from truck. By all means if this seems good to you - buy local, Mendo Mill is the place you deserve. Revision - addition - not better news unfortunately. Needed a role of weather proof roof underlayment, called all 3 hardware stores in town. Only Mendo said they had Grace the best and my preferred brand. So figured I'd give them another try even though $159.00 price was $20.00 over Home Depot (they are a lot closer). Went over in back corner of warehouse where it was supposed to be nothing, finally warehouse guy says I ordered Grace, but that is what they sent me WIP 300H, but its even better than Grace. So I decide I'll give it a try. I get it home and find it's much lighter than my other underlayment and look it up. $96.00 a roll almost anywhere ($159.00 at our local Mendo Mill Ace) and reviews while not bad are no where near as good as Grace. Ace makes me feel like I live on another planet, not just 50 miles from a city with...

I really want to like this store, but with only rare exception, they have the laziest, least helpful staff of any retail location in the area. There are usually two or three cashiers, but there's always a line for the only one that's actually ringing people up. The floor staff is never less than a dozen, and typically four or five will walk directly past you without ever offering to help you find something or explain your options for what you need.

Memorably one time during a harsh storm I had to go in ten minutes prior to closing for some electrical supplies to make emergency repairs, and as I was trying to find what I needed, they turned off all the lights in the store. When I went to the register to explain that I was having trouble finding things, the cashier told me to come back tomorrow because they wanted to go home. I looked pleadingly at the other employee standing nearby, hoping decency would prevail and he'd tell her to turn the lights back on and help me finish finding my supplies, but he only tilted his head towards the door and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

I've seldom been so disgusted with humanity as that evening, and do my best to avoid going back. I'd heard plenty of old-timers say Mendo Mill didn't deserve their business, and now I've got my own story to add to their incredulous tales of...

We have four lumber/hardware stores in our small town and I have to say Mendo Mill is a gem. I traveled around looking for a part and this spot was helpful, professional and just a revelation. I was greeted as I came in and asked if I needed help. I asked for help figuring which one was the proper match and two of the staff came to my aid, which was wonderful. The part was perfect and priced right. I highly recommend this spot for...