Hillside Garden & True Value

This is a wonderful old fashioned hardware store. I especially like Tom, the fellow in shorts who has the chutzpah to sometimes wear a Yankees hat. He knows where everything in the store is and finds it for you quickly and cheerfully. He always calls me «professor» even though I’m retired. If you’re a senior citizen go on Tues or Wed. to get your discount. Try this place before you even think of going to the Home Despot [sic]. At the Despot you can wander around for 20 minutes before finding what you want. Remember that your time is worth something.

I always like to give great reviews to businesses who deserve it. I went in here to get a snow shovel and got all the help I needed. Very friendly personable vibe.

Good location and friendly service but prices are ABSURD. I only go here every couple of years as I seem to forget how over priced they are but just had my semi-​annual trip and bird seed was 3 – 4 times what you could pay at Home Depot. I alway prefer to support local small businesses but not at rip off prices.

I have avoided going to this store because I always got a bad vibe form the tall guy who is always in the store every time I had gone in after I moved to Belmont a couple of years ago. As much as I like to patronize the local small business I didn’t feel comfortable in this store so I pay regular visits to Home Depot.
Recently, I stepped in after two years because I needed something that Home Depot did not carry… Hoping that my experience from a couple of years ago was an anomaly.
Same thing happened! The younger crew behind the counter seem fine but the tall dude again gave me the same vibe (it seemed to me he didn’t want me in the store). As I was checking out the merchandise another gentleman walked into the store and got the greetings which I guess I didn’t deserve from the tall guy and the people behind the counter. Is it too much trouble to say hello to each of your customers walking in while you are standing gabbing around the counter?
I ignored that and got the stuff I needed walked back to my car with the cart the counter person had told me to use.
I went back inside to return the cart however, the other older store guy was standing exactly where I had gotten the cart from and as I tried to place the cart in an adjacent space and he grimaced and sort of grabbed the cart and then proceeded to shove it where he had been standing. Nary a word… No Thank you no nothing so I thanked him (to see if he would at least respond) and he said Thank you with a grunt making me feel like I had just done something wrong and caused him in an inordinate amount of extra work. I walked out of there feeling like I shouldn’t have gone in there… And I am not going to.
I read all the other glowing reviews but they are orthogonal to my experience at this store… The stores prices are OK but the small in town shopping experience was certainly not there for me…
I have my suspicion that it may be that my appearance does not «fit» the profile of what some of the people in the store expect their customers to look like…
This is just my humble opinion based on my experiences. By all means if you have a great experience at this store please continue to shop there but I think there are other small businesses in the area where I will take my spending.

I go for the beautiful plants and gardening essentials at reasonable prices. And everyone there is super nice.

I’ve priced plants and supplies everywhere during the redo of our home. Plant prices same as everywhere and better quality. You could have saved maybe 2 $ @ home depot but that’s it. The selection is better and the staff is really helpful. Plus parking.
Downside — closes too early weekdays — before anyone gets home from work. Closed Sundays off season. Really? Dang. Tough to shop there for those who work long hours. Thus 4 stars, not 5. Still gets 5 for personality, product help and «how do they fit all those things in such a small space?»

For the little bit more that you pay here over the Home Depot it is worth it. The staff knows everything about what they carry and will always go the extra mile. It is such a good store that I even forgive Tom (the one who wears shorts year-​round) for being a Yankee fan.

Wonderful service… always helpful and respectful

Fantastic little hardware store, very helpful and knowledgeable staff (Tomsey I believe is his name). I go here probably on a weekly basis, and they have 80% of what I need — and sometimes I need some odd stuff.
That said, I do wish they were open on Sundays, maybe 10 – 4 or something, but I understand needing a day off!

Actual personal service; employee asked me what I wanted and made sure I got the right thing. This will be my hardware store from now on. No more Home Depot — ever.

Love this store — great staff! Always so helpful.

The sweet old man mentioned by Julie is Charlie. He’s the man. He’s the guy who started the store, BTW.
There’s everything you’d find at a box store here; but also better choices for fertilizer, and other very useful gardening items. Things that you’d NEVER find at Home Despot, and if you meet up with Charlie, he’ll give you terrific advice.

While this isn’t the biggest hardware store, that’s also one of its greatest assets. Somehow, this store always has exactly what I need when I need it. When my car battery died, they had a charger. When I needed to work on my bike, they had beak cleaner and the right kind of grease.
The staff is friendly and knowledgeable; I never have to wonder around for ages to find what I need which is a departure from visiting a big box hardware store where I can never find a helpful person or what I need.
The prices here are a little higher than at a big box store, but for the convenience it’s a fair trade off.

I like Hillside Garden very much, though mostly as a hardware store. i bought a wonderful manual mower there that has worked well for years. I buy birdseed and gardening tools, some great outdoor chairs, and garden seeds. They don’t have the widest selection of perennials or trees and shrubs, but if you’re looking for the more commonly planted flowers and shrubs, they’ll probably have what you are looking for. I’ve recently become interested in gardening with native plants, and I haven’t found many here.

Our green-​thumb neighbor turned us on to Hillside, and it’s our #1 go-​to place for lawn and garden supplies and tools. Vinnie, the old guy other reviewers mention, really knows his stuff, and the other staff are friendly and helpful — even the high school kids they hire for the summer. Their selection is very well thought out and and their prices are very reasonable — matching or beating the large garden centers like Mahoney’s, ditto for Home Depot except possibly for bigger tools. This place is a gem.

Recently we acquired a community garden plot in Belmont, and had absolutely no tools. This place has a great selection and easy parking. We were there all the time and definitely inadvertently had the store held open for ten minutes after they closed with no complaints from the staff.
Also, I think I interacted with the same sweet man who helped Julia A and we were given great fence-​building advise as well as help making sure we got the least expensive price they had on our supplies.
My only complaint (which is sadly a common one for me) is that I wish their seed selection were a little wider, although it really is quite good.

When you step in the door, you’ll feel you’ve stepped back in time to an old-​fashioned hardware store from the 50’s. But don’t let the aging linoleum and flourescent lighting fool you. This place is a cornucopia of anything household or hardware that you could ever need, and best of all – there is ALWAYS someone available to answer a question and help you find what you’re looking for. Good luck finding THAT at Home Depot! This place is really great.

My favorite little hardware store and gardening shop. This branch has the nicest small town kinda people running it. Every time I go in some super sweet old man helps me out with his many years of wisdom and cynicism. Once he whipped out a jackknife from his pocket to peel off a price sticker to stick it on my pinky so I could show it to the woman behind the counter (who by the way was the most adorable old woman with the most old school elderly wig possible). Seriously these guys are so cute and sweet I wish I could take them home with me.
They give me the serious garden supply help and have great plants and bulbs.
It was also the only place in the Boston to 495 area I could find a god-​damn composter. or at least the good kind.
I could look for hours at all the cool gadgets they have, new and old.
did I mention that they are also wicked cheap?!
I LOVE THEM!!!