Rainbow Ycs — Local services in New York

WOW. I was completely blown away with this place.

I happened to be wandering around the area looking to get an extra key made, and stumbled upon this jackpot of a place. You can literally buy anything you need in this store. I kept turning corners expecting to hit a dead end, and I'd find an entirely different department of stuff.

It's like having a Target in the main manhattan area. I'd love if someone knew of something similar closer to where I live in East Village, but this place is the Bees Knees. I found it to be SO much better quality and selection than Basics Plus and the prices very reasonable.

Bedroom, Bathroom, Kitchen, Art supply, cards, pharmacy, snacks, hardware, plumbing, paint, you name it I promise they probably have it and then some. Some of my favorite "discoveries" were a huge selection fo bedding/pillows/lamps/shades, rugs, etc., Cake decorating materials including gel coloring (which you can usually only find at specialty places like Sur La Table), some pretty decent art materials (including my favorite drawing pads, Rhodias), every "as seen on TV" thing you could ever need, glowing menorahs, and kitchen gadgets I didn't even know I needed (like about 5 different types of lemon juicers).

I take class a few blocks away every week, and I can guarantee you I'll be killing any extra time before wandering around this place, buying both the million things I need, and the billion...

Rainbow is open late and carries such a variety of goods that it is a lifesaver to have in the neighborhood. From home goods to paint, hardware, greeting cards and kids toys, they carry almost everything you could be looking for (other than food, I suppose). I've been in a bind for a variety of items several times and they have always had them in stock despite my skepticism that I wouldn't be able to find it there. It's always pretty late, too, and I am always surprised that they are open as late as they are as a typical hardware store won't be open past 4 or 5, which is no help when you're installing your TV after work and discover you don't have the appropriate screws.

They lose one starr as the staff can be rather unhelpful at times and stand-offish at others, particularly if it is busy. I realize that with such a broad range of products and presumably a high turnover that it is hard to keep employees cheery and on task so it's not an enormous detractor. It certainly won't stop me from patronizing them. If you are aggressive in seeking out someone to guide you then you will probably be fine.

They also have a downstairs with a considerable selection.

One other downside is that the aisles are very skinny so if you have a large stroller or some other vessel with you it might be difficult to get...

This place has EVERYTHING you could ever need in terms of housewares and decorative items - it's like a smaller Bed Bath & Beyond. But I am not kidding when I say that there are few things that fall under those categories that you can't find there. They have every color of bath mat, shape of soap dispenser and size of picture frame you could ever need.

I will say that it is super tight and cluttered in there - it's best to just ask for help if you don't know exactly where you're going already and I wouldn't say it's wheelchair friendly, even on the first floor (downstairs has even MORE stuff!). There is no such thing as an aisle at Rainbow...it's more like a maze.

Sometimes things are a little more expensive than they would be at somewhere like BB&B, BUT they are always willing to call and order stuff for you if they're out of stock. And I guess the good part about it being so jam packed with stuff is that it's because as I've said a million times, they really do have everything!

They also have great stuff for crafting and painting and they custom mix paints! Definitely nice to have a place like this in a neighborhood that doesn't really have anything like...