Winer Bros Inc — Local services in Salem

Ace Hardware/Winer Brothers is probably a sort of a dieing breed of old-school hardware stores, and I for one hope they remain for many years to come. I have nothing against big stores like Home Depot, but having a a solid neighborhood hardware store like one is cannot be appreciated enough! A business like this is just one of the reasons living in a city like Salem is so much more convenient than many other town or 'burbs.

Both owners have an almost encyclopedic knowledge of tools, parts, fasteners and any other materials you might need for repairs, and projects. They go out of their way to keep prices reasonable and I never have to wonder if I'm overpaying. I'd say a good 85% of their customers are repeats, many are local contracting professionals. The owners make sure their general staff are just as (or nearly) knowledgeable too, and all are very eager to help if you need it. On the other hand, if you state you don't need any help, they won't bug you if you take your time picking things out.

As an itinerant DIY fixer and builder, 95% of the time they have exactly what I need, and if I need help or advice one or more of staff will know the best answer to my questions. As far as I can tell almost everyone there lives in or nearby the city itself, and most have been there for 5 years or more. They greet most of the customers by name as they come in, and knew my name within the first month or so I started going (about a dozen years ago at least).

They also do a good job with the space they have and regularly rotate in/out season items in the front of the store. The back half pretty much stays the same year round, which is exactly what you want: easy to find just...

I love old fashioned hardware stores. Those places where you wander around and find all kinds of useful things that you never imagined existed and, in the process, get a basketful of things you forgot you needed until you saw them there? That's the kind of store that Winer Bros. Is. The staff are friendly and helpful and seem to take real delight in helping newbies learning to keep their homes but equally in experienced handy folks. The shop is small, human sized rather than an overwhelming barn of stuff, and it smells of lawn care products and paint. Located in historic Salem, it offers convenient supply of electrical and plumbing supplies along with the weird stuff that only hardware stores offer . They are oriented towards the consumer rather than contractors.

Wheelchair accessible, street parking with meters, cash, credit and debit. Stop in for hardware but also for that more personal experience that was hardware stores before...

This place has gone down hill. I visited today and although the guy behind the counter will have you thinking that he might actually know what he is talking about it is very much the opposite.He fumbled around looking for the correct key to make a copy of it for 5 minutes while talking to another customer only to say he could not make the key. When returning a smoke detector that was bought there and should have still been working he started to back talking using words like " Remediate Damage" . Even his co worker had to ask what he meant as he replied it means " Did you beat on it?" It seems that he just likes to throw around words that he does not understand. Remediate damage means trying to remedy the damage not "beating on it". Needless to say, He did not remedy anything. His advice was to go to hayden lock to get the key made and to buy the same smoke detector again and hope for...