Brickman's Ace Hardware Lower East Side — Local services in New York

I recently visited this establishment and left deeply disappointed by the unprofessional and discourteous behavior of the staff. The experience was unsettling and left me feeling discriminated against. When I approached the register to check out, a man who appeared to be the manager went from being cheerful with the previous customer to visibly irritated upon seeing me. He loudly yelled from the aisle at a female employee, instructing her to assist me, despite her already helping another customer. Her expression showed confusion and concern as she, too, seemed unsure why she was being reprimanded so abruptly.

I kindly asked if everything was okay, but even she seemed as confused as I was about the manager’s hostile behavior. The entire situation was uncomfortable and left me questioning whether I should just put my item back and walk away, but I was too stunned in the moment to act. This experience felt personal—filled with an undertone of discrimination or hate—and was deeply hurtful. Respect and professionalism are fundamental in customer service, and this encounter lacked both. I would never return to this establishment and strongly advise others to think twice before supporting a business that fails to treat all customers with fairness...

Big cities often get a bad rap for their lack of all of those qualities that make us human. They are too busy, too impersonal, and the people who live and run businesses in them can frequently seem to the traveling outsider to be too rude to care. The staff at Brickman's Ace Hardware on First Avenue in the East Village not only exist outside this stereotype, they shatter it. My husband and I recently visited our youngest daughter in NYC to help her move and prepare the apartment's second bedroom for a roommate. Our trip coincided with a heat wave, which underscored the desperate need for an AC window unit for the NYC apartment. This store carried quality, energy efficient units; and, when I asked whether the store could recommend a handyman who could help install it, the manager had my daughter on the phone with a dependable, stellar East Village handyman (Edwin D. Rios) before we could complete the purchase. Another Ace employee rolled the AC unit on a dolly to our daughter's apartment where he carried the unit up five flights of stairs. Within two hours, the unit was installed, and we left knowing that our daughter had a first-rate hardware store and handyman...

I went to this hardware store twice today. I live in a building that has a mix of wooden and steel studs. First, I needed to mount something into steel studs. I went in and asked for toggle bolts. The guy sold them to me, but gave me a "helpless little girl" type look and told me I needed to hire someone to install them. I went home and easily installed them with no issues. Then, I went back because I needed to mount a heavy object into wooden studs. I asked a different guy's opinion on whether I should use regular screws or lag bolts for my project based on the weight. He handed me a pack of plastic drywall anchors. I reminded him that I was mounting into wooden studs, and he said the drywall anchors would work for wooden studs. I didn't believe him, but decided to give it a shot- and lo and behold, they didn't work for the project. Went to a different hardware store for lag bolts and got...