Harbor Freight Tools

My dad’s in town, and each year when he comes there is a home project ready and waiting for him. This year, it’s our back bay dining room window. Our house is old — from the 1930’s — so when it comes to keeping it maintained, we leave the big projects for my dad.
My father, who is a tool fanatic, needed this very special tool thingy he had seen once before at another one of their locations, so we made our way out to Gurnee in a pinch. We walked in and he found his exact dream tool.
If you have the time to drive out of the way for a tool adventure, this is for certain the place you’ll want to come. It’s the Grand Poobah of all tool places. Imagine the Home Depot tool section and then imagine an entire store a little smaller than Home Depot that’s dedicated almost entirely to tools. Different types of saw blades, specialty tools, cable ties, belts, covers, and even a whole wall dedicated to wheels and casters. Also, if you’re into woodworking, you’ll for sure go completely nuts! They have anything and everything you could ever imagine.
They are some off brands here, which keeps things pretty inexpensive, but I’m not 100% certain about the quality, so I can’t comment on that. Our thingy tool seems to be holding up very nicely. You can get a set of wrenches for around $ 12. Tool cabinets for $ 50, where they would be double the cost in other places.
Sadly Jess J didn’t experience the great customer service that we did. We were asked by at least six people if there was anything they could assist with, but perhaps they’ve improved since then.
Another thing I noticed while walking around was Ravinia-​type patio furniture.
Though we didn’t use any, they also have liberal coupons all over their website.
Looking for a tool adventure? Come here.

This is the first time I have ever been in a Harbor Freight. My husband is a big fan for his tinkering around the house and yard needs, and when this location recently opened, it coincided with us needing to pick up a grill cover, because the place we purchased our new grill did not stock covers in the size/​style needed. So, off we went.
No complaints about the merchandise (though they don’t carry grill covers… we did get a tarp and some tie-​down cables, though, to protect things for the time being). No complaints about the organization of the store, since it recently opened, everything seemed well-​stocked and orderly and clean.
My issue was with the customer service, which, honestly, turned me off. Nothing I personally experienced… I just noticed various unprofessional behavior by the employees. At one point, I heard somebody being loudly and sharply scolded… I looked down the end of the aisle, and an employee was barking pretty rudely at some customers… they’d wandered into the back, «warehouse» section of the store. Understandable enough that they’d mistakenly end up there (especially if people are used to a Home Depot-​type store, where the whole thing is roughed in like a warehouse), given that there was ZERO signage noting «employees only,» nothing cordoning it off… it just looked like another part of the store. Still, this chick was yelling, «Excuse me! Are you SUPPOSED to be back here?!» like she was dressing down an errant child… and then making a big show of sighing loudly and putting up the up-​to-​that-​point unused chain with a” keep out –employees only” sign across the open archway. Um, lady, maybe if you all had that in place earlier, the shrieking could have been avoided. Pair that with a bunch of employees loitering around one cash register station while the only one actually servicing customers backed up, seemingly doing nothing but checking their phones.
I’m sure their merchandise is fine, and all, but I’d rather shop somewhere where people are a bit more pleasant about doing their jobs.