Straus Paint & Hardware Co

You get what you pay for including product, convenience, expertise and quality. If you like going to Home Depot (not my thing) then you should do so. I much prefer doing business with local merchants and family businesses. The rents in Astoria on Steinway Street are high and as a business owner myself I understand that in order to be in business you have to also make a profit. I appreciate the luxury of walking to my local stores especially since many are forced to close their doors due to outrageously high costs of doing business. All of my friends who have moved out of the area wish they could find a reasonable facsimile of our neighborhood stores.

Place is a bit overpriced but you have to expect that at a mom and pop place. The quality of their products is mediocre as well.
The staff are pretty friendly BUT the owner/​manager/​old guy there is terrible. He has no customer service skills. Do not try and return anything there — he is not accommodating at all.
For being a neighborhood hardware store they are not very good with customer service, mainly the owner. Read more reviews below… it is a reoccurring complaint with this place.

The Strauss family has been at this location 85 years
They have provided the best in service and selection
Thousands of small items that are rare or impossible to get at the big improvement stores
You can not beat the convince and knowledge the staff has ‚
Nobody will sell you a handful of screws or nuts to finish a project (not the big guy)
Overall the Steinway and Astoria community need to support this local landmark .
The «old fashioned» hardware store is a lost business, preserve history.

DO NOT USE THIS BUSINESS!
First things first, this store is WAY overpriced. You can go to home depot and get any item that is sold by this store for 25% less, or more. But that is not why I am writing this review. I am writing this review because the owner of this store refused to fix a mistake made by his employee. I went in for a very simple, routine purchase and since I am not that familiar with this store I asked for help locating the product I needed. In defense of the employee, he did know exactly where to go but he gave me the wrong product which I subsequently purchased. When I got home to my apartment 15 minutes later and realized that the item I purchased was too short for my needs, I immediately called the store to inform them of the error. The mistake was simple and was easily solved with a simple solution. Since it was their mistake and I live in the neighborhood I asked them if they would walk down the street to my apartment and bring me the correct product. As I do not live far from this store, I thought this was a very reasonable request. The owner said that there was absolutely no way he would that and hung up on me. I’ve had other negative experiences with this store and with this owner but this time was too much. If you have the means, take your business elsewhere. At this store uou will only be met with rude and unprofessional staff which I believe comes from the top (the owner).

This place is absolute garbage! Not only do they overprice way too much, they also have no clue at all how to actually copy keys correctly. THREE TIMES I had to go back to this store for a key that they made WRONG. THREE DIFFERENT TIMES, and all they say is, it should work, and if it doesn’t bring it back. I stopped bringing it back after 3 different times. Absolutely the worst.

Amazing service. Paul is great. Helped me pick great paint to solve tricky problems with my new apartment. This is my new neighborhood hardware store!

Staff is very helpful and knowledgeable. They have a great selection of tools and materials for such a small store. The reason I only gave this place a 3 star rating is I went in to have some wooden dowels cut for a project. Most places that cut wood to size for you have an electric saw for accurate, straight cuts. They used a jig saw which gave a far less then straight cut. In the end I had bought wood that was hard to work with because of the cut job.
TIP: don’t get your wood cut here.

In general is a great store, Limited is not Home Depot, but most of the time I find what I need and the staff is helpful. There was one instance I purchase some paint and it was all wrong and he refuse to take it back or exchange it. So make sure if you buy paint you get what you want, cuss the owner will not take a return. In general I pretty much find what I’m looking for. You want more of a selection then you need to go to a bigger store like Home depot or Lowe’s.

I confused Straus with another hardware store and ended up here looking for paint to spruce up my apartment. The name of the store is deceiving. Their paint selection is *extremely* limited and lacking in quality. They do not mix the paint there, so you’re stuck with whatever is pre-​mixed. I bought the grey paint they had and it took approximately three coats to cover the walls.
Otherwise, they seem to have a good selection of anything else you may need and I don’t want to give a poor review to an ol’ neighborhood hardware store. It’s rare in 2014, but Astoria is teeming with them and that makes me feel happy.

The workers here have been extremely accommodating every time I come in and have a stupid request like which nails would be best for hanging a picture, or what I can buy to help insulate my AC. Make sure you have cash if you’re looking for something small — they have a credit card minimum.

I have been coming here for over a decade. Staff are always helpful and polite even when I come in 10 min. before closing to grab something. Helped us cut and drill together some wood slats to make displays. Old neighborhood hardware store, convenient for getting small housewares, bulbs, a bike lock, Velcro, wall hanging solutions, small selection of paint and DIY shelving.

This is an old school hardware store with the wooden floors and molded ceilings. I go here for small purchases when I don’t feel like going to Home Depot on Northern Boulevard. It’s a great place to pick up one off items that you might need. Staff is friendly and helpful and not at all pushy trying to get sales. If you don’t feel like spending 20 minutes or more in Home Depot to get a light bulb, a wrench and a roll of electrical tape, this is your place.

I’ve shopped here several times, more often than not to have keys made.
Do NOT go to Home Depot for keys. Save yourself the time, money, and aggravation and just go to Straus Paint & Hardware. They’ve done a good job on every key I’ve had made, even the tougher ones to match.
As far as hardware and housewares are concerned, I’ve purchased a few things over the years. The prices are ok — I appreciate the convenience of this store, so I’m willing to pay a tiny bit more when something is needed in a hurry.
As for customer service, I have yet to have a bad experience. I always knew what I was looking for/​needed when shopping here though, so my interaction with employees has been limited.
All in all, not too shabby for a local hardware/​paint/​key place. Great for most needs!

Good neighborhood hardware store, great service, decent prices. This is no homedepot, it’s a hardware store. They have a suprising amount of products for a small location. I would recommend this store to anyone who has a question.

A very good hardware store. I’ve been a regular customer for years. They are always helpful and know what they’re talking about. Not the place to go for discounts, but very reliable and highly recommended.

A really great hardware store if youre too lazy to go to Home Depot, BUT convenience comes at a premium. 50% of the things you get here can be bought at the neighboring dollar store for half price.

Useful but pricey.

I will never shop here again. This was my go to place when I first moved in to my apartment. They have a wide selection of items and they’ve obviously been around forever.
But…
Prices are sky high. About $ 7 for one of those new energy saver light-​bulbs.
The employees are nice enough, but the owner is not. I had a problem with a door lock that I purchased and the owner was not helpful and basically called me a liar right to my face. I vow to never go there again. Only thing that sucks is there isn’t much alternative unless you want to deal with the numerous dollar stores for crappy hardware items.
I will take the effort and travel farther for my nails, screws and stuff like that.

I’m not usually a DIY kind of girl, but lately that seems to be my thing. This store drew me in during the first days I lived in Astoria, and it has supplied me with an assortment of home repair and craft items since then!
They have a good assortment of tools, in my opinion, from banging to screwing to cutting. (hah!) Additionally, they have all sorts of pipe-​y bits, nails, screws and other oddments you need to fix that leak or repair that cabinet. (or build, perhaps!)
The clerks/​owners have always been helpful when I’m there, and never treated me like a dumb girl who wandered in lost, probably searching for shoes.

I am such a geek when it comes to hardware stores. Must have been growing up with a do-​it-​yourself dad, but I’m like a kid in a candy store in these places. I always get inspired to make something or start some random (and most times not all that necessary) home improvement job.
Straus is my new go-​to place since I moved away from my old favorite (Nunez Hardware on 181^st Street — same owners as the bigger one on Broadway and 175^th).
Straus has pretty much everything you’d need from tools to hardware to paint to basic housewares. I was looking for wheels for a cabinet (and they needed to be sturdy) and I found several options to choose from. a pretty random request to say the least.