Miner's Ace Hardware — Local services in San Luis Obispo

My first time visiting this location. The service was excellent! I interacted with 3 associates. All were welcoming, helpful, knowledgeable, courteous and left me certain that I will be returning to this location on a regular basis... Most important is the initial purpose of my visit. I was looking for some fairly common and basic CPVC plumbing fittings. I initially paid a visit to the "orange depot" building super store. Now I am aware that various PEX A & Shark Bite Pex plastic plumbing systems are taking center stage these days and rightfully so. Never the Less CPVC is still used in various residential "new construction" applications though not nearly as popular. Where you will find perhaps the most common residential plumbing application of CPVC is going to be in mobile homes, park model style trailer homes, RV Campers and in residential housing built between the late 1980's to approximately 2014 and right up to the present. Which when taking into consideration the region where we live and the large number of mobile homes, RV & Park Models. There is Plenty of CPVC within reach. That means that there is a high likelihood that if you are going to upgrade or add on or possibly repair plumbing such as sinks, showers, etc. You will encounter CPVC. Now CPVC has its drawbacks and it certainly is not my favorite. Yet there are plenty of situations where the existing CPVC is going to be involved in your project. In many *not all of those situations. The continuation of CPVC makes the best sense. So I was surprised upon my visit to "The Orange Depot" to find the associate working the plumbing dept eager to help but clueless to CPVC. I found myself giving a crash course then after a thorough search while the associate was on his gadget trying to locate the product in the store. I concluded they don't carry that product and informed him of this. Give him an A for effort. He summoned his manager while I was by that time pricing other products for another project and just about to leave the facility. In a bold display of ignorance. The manager informed me that CPVC is no longer produced in the U. S. I felt embarrassment for him. I thought how shameful... This franchise would not think twice to put an associate in a terrible position of doing anything for a sale. Even if that meant making fools of themselves & their brand. It was now after 5pm. A google maps search led me to this Miners Ace hardware. The associate immediately filled me with additional CPVC knowledge as he escorted me directly to the source of my search stayed long enough to offer me a couple suggestions and politely went on his way. HOW AWESOME WAS THAT! I FOUND REAL PROS AT MINERS. I didn't spend much on my 1st visit. But as a new lifetime patron. My initial experience is the reason that I will spend thousands before it is all said and done!!! I'm giving Miners in SLO an A+ in every category!!!! THANKS FOR YOUR PROFESSIONALISM...

I was once kicked out for not letting them hold my little waist bag that IS my wallet…?!? I felt it was ridiculous to be asked to leave for no other reason than that I wouldn’t hand over my money. Otherwise, the employees are only so-so, with very little helpful knowledge to share and almost no real-world experience to apply to the job or the products they are selling. It’s sad to see the smaller stores get swallowed by these big conglomerates with inept staff. Plus, higher prices for lower-quality PRODUCTS FROM CHINA is a pretty big sign you SHOULD NOT SHOP HERE. The big orange box store has better selection and prices, you just still have to deal with lame staff. Edit: I have been shopping at “this” store since well before it was Miners/Ace. The original location was across the street and had real working people behind the counter. They retained most of the staff when they lived and sold to the next company, then got gutted by Ace/Miners and are now the worst in town, in my opinion. I’ve had much better experiences just paying a real workshop to make the part I’m looking for, or simply driving to another city and going to a “good” store with some real selection and real knowledge walking around in uniform. Otherwise, it’s Amazon...

This is the least helpful ACE I've been to, if your in slo go to Home Depot. I re tried this place numerous times and it just became a bad joke. I've walked in looking for something and they're typical three to four old guys were talking in a circle all looked over and then just went back to talking even though I was clearly looking for something. I asked one where something was and they said they didn't know shrugged and walked away. Their student aged staff have at least attempted to be way more helpful. I ordered something for transfer from another store because they said they had it in stock and didn't. Filled out a form they called set up the transfer and we're going to call me the next day when it showed up. I came in a week later because they never called. They lost all record of the transfer and the manager's response was oh well basically, and if I was sure..... he was there when I did it. At least in San Luis Obispo the Home Depot is way more helpful way better organized and way faster. Every other Ace I've been to has been a way...