Lee’s Hardware

I want to like this place more because of its convenience to where I work. However the people who work there just act like they are annoyed to be helping you when you go in.

Walked in to have a key made and was treated like it was a complete inconvenience that I was there. The owner then asked if I had gone to any other hardware stores before coming there because he was ‘tired of being a last resort.’ I told him if he didn’t want my business I could leave and go elsewhere and of course he said he could take care of me. Complete jerk. I will go elsewhere from now on.

When compared to another hardware store a few blocks away, Lee’s Hardware leaves much to be desired. I’ve been here twice and left empty-​handed both times; probably because the store has a small selection and the employee (I’ve only ever seen the one guy) is generally unhelpful.
I once came for vacuum bags and another time for tile grout. Both times I was quickly told «No, we don’t have that.» I went home and found via Google that the tile grout I was looking for online was also sold by
. Little did I know Doitbest and Lee’s Hardware are friends. You can order most hardware related stuff online from the website and have it shipped to Lee’s Hardware for free. I returned a third time and asked about the online ordering option and the same guy told me «Order by Tuesday, we’ll have it by Thursday.» It was true, it arrived on time and was exactly what I was looking for; just a buck more than what I paid for it at Home Depot. A simple «No, we don’t have it, BUT…» would have been nice so I didn’t have to find the online option myself. I would probably only come back if I needed something in particular and would order it online to pick it up in the store. The 9 – 5 hours are also pretty inconvenient for us traditional work schedule folks.

I walked in on a cold day when a snow storm was threatening. Ten or twelve snow shovels lean against the wall and bags of salt are piled up around them. The store is empty. I hadn’t been in there for 20 years. I see the owner who, 20 years ago, was the owner’s son. The first thing he says is: «What is it?» As if I’d come in there to ask for a favor instead of buy something. I indicate I need copies of two keys. «Leave’em on the ring!» It was almost funny, this gratuitous hostility. One of the keys was a dud.

I was originally on my way to Rittenhouse Hardware but I actually decided to stop into Lee’s since it was on my way there. Boy was that a mistake. I was looking for mouse traps and when I walked into the store two men who seemed to work there were moving boards into the store. The store is small which is fine and we were trying to stay out of their way but I guess they didn’t like that we were standing anywhere close to them moving things.
While I was trying to squeeze to the side, one of the guys loudly and rudely told his partner, «You have to keep moving, these kids are in the way.» We weren’t being rowdy or even talking loudly. We were literally standing there looking at mouse traps and trying to move out of their way. Instead of just asking us directly and politely to move out of the way, he decided this was the best thing to say while we were literally standing 5 inches away from him.
On top of that, my other friend was waiting outside for us with her dog and as they left the store to go get more boards, the guy loudly said something along the lines of, «I wish that girl would move that damn dog. They’re in the way,» and then proceeded to loudly moan, «Move! Get out of the way. You have to move,» as he exited.
Needless to say after hearing that, I immediately left and went straight to Rittenhouse Hardware. Overall, my first and last experience with Lee’s was straight up unprofessional and rude.

If he doesn’t have it, he’ll get it for you. Don’t let the small size fool you.

we used to use these people all of the time to buy the lightbulbs for the building I work in. I requested to find another vendor because these people are always so rude and unhelpful. I can only talk to one guy there and he’s always busy. The rest of the staff seems unknowledgable and incapable of taking a message and passing it on. I haven’t worked with them for about a year. I called them today with a different question. Things haven’t changed there. I was still treated rudely and my questioned was answered with just a «no.»

These guys have really good customer service and I am in here all the time.
My last big project was how to store all of my heels and work shoes (I love shoes and I may or may not have an addiction! haha) in a house with barely any closet space at all. –Think 1920’s, tiny little closet with plaster walls.- My main concern were the walls, knowing we would have to either use shelving or something that needed to be hung off the walls and may end up being heavy. I didn’t want things collapsing and bringing pieces of the walls down. I am really not the most handy person around the house but we discussed my idea of using framing wire and figured out a way to implement the idea without putting too much weight on the hooks in the wall. It only took a few hours, ALL of my shoes are now hanging on the wall in a neat little grid, it looks pretty cool!

What few things they don’t have, they’ll order for you.
A great place to have in the neighborhood.

this place has been my go to resource for over 25 years. truly I don’t know what i’d do without them– they’re helpful, knowledgeable, friendly and will get you anything you need if they don’t have it in stock (and they have an amazing array of stuff to answer just about anyone’s apt, ho
me or business needs.

The guy behind the counter is a complete jerk, but he will grudgingly get you whatever you need.

In West Philly is a little hardware store on Walnut near 45^th that amazes me with what they are able to cram into such a small area.
This store is even smaller! Yet it is jam-​packed with useful stuff. I have only been in here once but they had exactly what I needed, and I was a bit in awe of all the other random stuff around.
I find it amusing how many people have commented on the clerk’s sass; I definitely got to observe this while I was in here. He was doling it out to some other people in the store who he was chatting with.

Key making review: I’ve never experienced keys being incorrectly cut, but my new key didn’t work! Also kinda pricey at $ 2.40 a key, but they didn’t hesitate to cut a new one, which also wasn’t spectacularly cut (it works only if you don’t put it all the way into the keyhole). I went across the street to the shoe repair shop, where the guy carefully cut a new key, which worked perfectly! So, if you need key copies that will work, I’d suggest the shoe repair guy across the street, which costs about the same.
Other than that, the store has all the basics you need for a heftier price than you’d get at a big box store, but you pay for the convenience of being able to go across the street for your hardware needs.

I have never gone in here and not been irritated by the rude, lazy staff that seem more interested in chatting with one another and having who has a lower IQ contests, but today took the cake; I was on a bus and these mandrill’s had closed down an entire lane at 12pm for a delivery truck… they refused to move for a public bus and one of the employees gave all of us who had the nerve to expect access to a public road the finger. Sometimes I really wish I were a teenager again and could throw a brick through their window.

Yes, the store is pretty dingy, and the staff are colorful. If you want a bright, shiny big box store, this is not the place to go.
However, if you’re like me and not that handy but trying to learn, Lee’s is a godsend. More than once I’ve gone in and said something along the lines of: «I think I need to fix the thingy that connects to the other thingy in the back of the toilet?»
Each time, not only have they been able to figure out what part I need, they take a few minutes to explain to me what I have to do to fix the situation. Good luck getting that at Home Depot.

Small hardware store with all of the essentials, and you just can’t make up the clerk’s kind of sass (+ points for that).

Oh how the mighty have fallen! I loved this place for it’s simplicity, but now I’m looking for the Home Depot, where a manager would have fired the guy that hangs out with his questionable friends on company time. The employee seems to have some very questionable friends that have started hanging around, and the focus is no longer on the customer… too bad. I hate having to spend my money at a chain instead of a small business, but you can’t behave like a jerk so consistently and expect people to keep coming back.

Maybe I was there on a bad day or something because nobody else seems to have a story like mine, but this place is completely miserable.
I went to get some keys copied last week. No big deal, in and out in a few minutes. I went home to test them out and one of them didn’t work so I went back to have it remade. And then this happened:
The sign on the door says they close at 5pm. I returned to the store at 4:15pm and went in. The clerk is shutting off the lights and says, «What do you want? Can’t you see I’m closing?» I say, «One of these keys you just made doesn’t work. Can you remake it?» The guy takes the key from me and starts remaking it, but at this point some drunk/​high (?) friend of the clerk’s who’s in there with him chimes in with something like about my having a problem not being able to see that they’re closing. I am annoyed at this treatment and say that if the first key he had made had worked I wouldn’t have needed to come back. Drunky friend waves his arms around and says, «Lah-​di-​dah, if you have a problem with it you can fucking go somewhere else.» I don’t say anything else but take my key and leave.
No exaggeration, this is as close to a verbatim transcription as I can manage without having brought a tape recorder. Completely appalling. I have no idea what is going on at this place, but it is totally unacceptable. Please just walk the couple extra blocks to Rittenhouse Hardware and don’t give this hole your business.

I’ve been going to Lee’s for years for various needs — especially to get keys made. Every time I’ve been in here, everyone has been super nice. They have a variety of overpriced and normally priced objects, some of which I’d definitely invest in if I lived closer by or didn’t have a car to drive to a place with a more reasonably priced item.

This is a really nice place to get anything from a light bulb (the owner is an expert in anything luminous) to a jackhammer. It is not Home Depot and they don’t always have things in stock but they are more than willing to order it and get it to you in no time.
*The owner of the store might come off as a grumpy grinch but it’s only towards his employees and that also is in good spirits.