Young's Ace Hardware & Lumber — Local services in Town of Prattsville

Sometimes, its the simple things...

I built a bird feeding station for Mother's Day this year, and went to Young's Ace Hardware in Catskill, NY to purchase seed. My goal was to attract the greatest variety of birds possible.

Arriving close to closing time at the store, I was given an extra-friendly and personable greeting by Chelle. I explained what I was looking for, and then asked her advice on my seed search. She happily led me to the bird feed like I was an age-old friend, and began to tell me the difference between the feeds and the reasons behind their price differences, as if seed was her personal area of expertise. I was enthusiastic about her recommendation of the stores premier feed...Chelle had me totally convinced that I would be thrilled by the variety of birds my station would get.

As soon as I told Chelle she had convinced me, I was totally humbled by what happened next. With her petite frame, she leaned right down and flung a 50 pound bag up and over her shoulder to bring it to the checkout counter...and after checkout, before I had a chance to grab it from there, she hoisted it up again to walk it to my car. All this at about ten minutes to closing, after whatever long day she had put in.

I'll tell you, it cant be easy running a small hardware-style operation in a town with a large chain department store and two massive chain home improvement stores in town. But Chelle made it crystal clear why Young's continues to successfully receive local business:

1. She was eager to embrace an unknown client in a personal and friendly manner, making me feel great about our social interaction.

2. She was immediately understanding and knowledgeable. After the experience, I feel she could have helped me with anything from wood screws to faucets to garden hoses to matching the color of paint chips.

3. Her smile and attitude was on point all the way to closing time.

4. She went the extra mile to lock in my future visits.

Young's - congratulations on your amazing business model...and Chelle - you make them shine. And, for the record, I have had more birds, both in amount and species variety, than I would have ever hoped for. I can't say it enough - thank you for a...

So many people have moved upstate since the pandemic, including me, that it’s caused a lot of locals to have animosity towards outsiders. I’d go to other stores and I’d feel out of place bc they know I’m not a local. But the people at Ace are different.

I called close to closing hours for a very specific and small thing. A 1/2” to 1/2”shark bite 90 degree push-to-connect fitting for copper and Pex. I explained that I didn’t want to make the drive if they didn’t have it. The staff member had to dig for it, even had to call a manager to help her find it while I was on hold for 7 min. Most other places (even in the city) would have given me sass by now. She confirms they have it and says they’ll hold it at the front desk for me so to save time. I get there and am greeted with 3 very welcoming employees who know my story, have the pieces that I needed, gave me advice on installation and watch outs, went and grabbed another thing that I forgot I needed (this was the manager) and cashed me out with a smile.

All that to say that the staff here (even the owner) is knowledgeable, friendly, helpful and welcoming. I come back often, and they go out of their way every time! They helped turn what would have been a very frustrating day into a motivating one. It’s exactly what I had hoped for in moving up here.

I usually don’t care to leave reviews, but feel so compelled to for this place. These are good people. I...

I have been going to this Agway for almost 30 years and have never had a bad experience. I went there this weekend to return a have a heart trap which my daughter had purchased a few months ago that we actually did not need since we already had the exact same trap which she was not aware of when she purchased it. (this is a vacation home and we do not get up there as often as we would like so it took some time to return it). We did not want a refund, simply a store credit to apply against any future purchases (We have spent a lot of money in this store over the years). The Trap was new in the box and was never used and looked like it just came off the shelf! Since we did not have the original receipt, they refused to offer a credit. We probably would have spent more in the store that day had they issued the credit as we did need a few things from them which is why we went there in the first place and figured that we would kill two birds with one stone. We will not be going back. Their loss. This is a horrible policy, particularly for a long...