Small’s Hardware – Cheviot

Small’s is right!
If you’re on the West Side and you don’t want to deal with the Home Depot/Lowe’s monstrosities Small’s is the place for you. It’s packed tightly into two spaces. Ceilings are low, but it’s pretty easy to find what you are looking for me.
I needed some weed killer and it took me about a full minute to get in find it and get out. It’s great to have a place like this nearby!

So I’m looking for something specific for a special project I have to do around the house. I came up dry at my usual haunts and in a fit of desperation went to a neighborhood store.
Normally, I avoid these. They’re usually overpriced and staffed by guys who seem angry. They look at me like a wife looks at a cheating husband. Like I only come to them when Home Depot or Lowes are out of town and not able to give me the hot, dirty lovin’ I need… or maybe that’s just me.
Not here. On the night I was there the place was bustling. There were two employees that I saw working the place. One was a young guy who was helping everyone with a quiet cool and an older guy who I figured knew what the younger guy hadn’t learned yet. Both seemed competent.
While I had my project in mind I started browsing. I finally came to this conclusion: Rain man must have organized this story.
It’s small — at least compared to Lowes or Home Depot — but is is laid out so efficiently and precisely that I’m wondering if they don’t have the same amount of stuff as one of those stores that covers a few acres and rises fifty feet.
Want proof? I counted twenty-​five varieties of hammers. Not off the wall specialty hammers but just plain, jane claw hammers. Twenty-​five of them! Categorized by weight!
I saw similar examples throughout the store.
Now the aisles were a little close but they weren’t cramped. They would have had that feel if the place wasn’t so well put together. But the place is so well put together.
While checking out the best thing ever happened. The phone rang. The cashier put the woman on hold and checked me out and answered some questions I had then he did the same to the guy behind me. That woman just waited on her phone. No putting the caller ahead of the guy about to hand you money. That doesn’t normally happen and it made me feel good.