Hayward – Salinas

I am an art teacher at a public school in Salinas, and I called all around to see if anyone would help out our school and cut a big stack of masonite boards for us. Hayward was the only store with the tools and the willingness to do it. (Home Depot claimed they didn’t even have the right saw or saw blade.) The general manager, Brian Kennedy, kindly and generously offered to cut all the boards in quarters– without charge– even though I didn’t even buy them there!
When I pulled up to Hayward, I was impressed with the quality of wood doors on display. They were thick, high quality wood with nice detailing. I found out that besides lumber and general building supplies, Hayward specializes in doors and windows. I also noticed that they have a hardware section, where I found some sandpaper that I needed at a reasonable cost. There were contractors buying everything from giant screws to lumber. The lumber yard was massive and well organized. Overall, I was impressed with the extensive selection.
Most of all, I was grateful for Brian’s positive attitude and excellent customer service. He came out to meet me and hustled to the back to cut the boards himself. He took a good amount of his own time to help out our school, and really showed what kind of business Hayward is. This is a locally owned and run business that really cares about the community. Instead of acting like Hayward did me a big favor (which they did), Brian kept offering to help more in the future with whatever they could donate to Harden Middle School. I learned that they also support Habitat for Humanity and the local homeless shelter. These are good people doing good things… apparently with tools the big box stores don’t even have!