Northwest Architectural Salvage — Local services in Saint Paul

This is a once-was-great shop. I know COVID made a lot of places downsize and lose customers, and the construction this summer hasn’t helped out this street of businesses, sadly I think this store has seen its hay day. When speaking with the owner we found him to be straight forward if not suspicious of buyers. I’m guessing he has a lot of lookie-loos, and as a result doesn’t get his hopes up. If you’re looking for something specific he can point you towards it- mostly. A lot of times his answer was “it’s in the place somewhere. I’d have to find it.” And if you’ve been here that makes sense. Everything is piled and thrown in boxes by type of thing, and is in no way displayed for browsing. You’ll have to dig through stuff to find your treasure in this shop. And it is packed wall to wall, floor to ceiling. Think episode of hoarders but with some more organization. Dimly lit so tricky to see things sometimes. If you want to hunt, or you follow the Facebook page you might find what you need. But don’t go to this shop expecting white glove service. It’s a treasure hunt and you’re on your own. Want a price, you’ll have to ask or make an offer. Would recommend as a final look before you go internet shopping, or if you enjoy looking for the gem in the coal mine. They do have a lot of lighting fixtures and trim pieces. If you want easy to browse and cleaned up shiny antique fixtures you will have to visit some competing stores, but you’ll pay a bit more. This is a salvage store, not an antique store so be prepared to hunt and take time, but...

wow. Fiance and I went in to get handles for an armoire that we are restoring.. We drove out of our way to come check it out and I've been looking forward to it. We entered I said hello...twice .hello?, there's noone at the counter then some old codger comes out in stained shirt looking like a cracked version of doc from back to the Future just stares at us with this look.. i said hi...nothing .umm.is it ok We look around. We're looking for some handles We might be wasting his time. Awkwardly trying to make a humor. . But he didn't say a word. Just continued to stare from in between the piles of junk??! I asked. Is that okay? And he said - I'd prefer to spend time on someone who's going to be buying something. What! I thought he was joking but then I said well we would be spending money if we can find the handles... And he just continued to stare down this creepy stare . My fiance and I looked at each other I said yeah okay. Are you even open for business? Your customer service is seriously lacking here. There's other awesome salvage shops in town will go there. Thanks. And he said yeah you should. They probably need money more than I do. I said great. I'll leave a nice review. we left immediately. Ps kick Rock's old man for wasting our time. Go kick the bucket already. You're ruining...

While the store feels disorganized on first appearances, there is a wealth of vintage and antique items in the store. The owner is knowledgable and quickly helped us find where the exterior mortise lock assemblies were and offered recommendations on sizing and orientation for best lock assembly fit. We were also looking for level handles instead of knobs. He quickly located exactly what we were looking for behind the counter. Not being well versed in fixing old doors, his help was appreciated as we navigated this unique shop of...