Hardester’s Market & Hardware

Super cute small grocery store with super friendly service. The people who work there really provide a nice, friendly neighborhood vibe and are very welcoming. Nice place to find most of what you would need in a small town.

Great place. Very clean. Super friendly staff (in a good way, right?) and excellent customer service. Always thoughtful answers to questions about products. I bought a couple radiator heaters there and very happy with purchase.
They have a great deli, bakery and produce section along with a small but quite adequate meat case. Also a cheese section with good options to choose from. No complaints here.
Prices are a bit higher but again, saves the drive time and well worth it.
I’ve been to the one in Cobb and Hidden Lake as well. Smaller but still the same nice choices though I prefer the one in Middletown because the staff and customers are so friendly and the wider variety. Easy parking out front, too.
I love how the place is always clean, has such a wide variety of items including natural health and beauty products (many awesome choices), gourmet foods and every day needed items. I was able to buy organic flour (already in a bag like the regular flour).
Nice cold drink section too. My go to place for food shopping.

Started shopping here about 3 years ago. Great store. They are friendly, helpful and well stocked. If you need it they probably have it or know where to get it. It’s amazing what they pack into that space, and it is well organized and easy to shop in. Their Deli is great too, fresh soups, sandwiches and salads, chicken.

Every time I shop at Hardester’s has been a good experience. When you hire staff that are helpful and pleasant to customers it goes a long way.

We purchased at both Middletown and Hidden Valley Lake local stores. It is expensive for us but very convenient with excellent customer service, with grocery and hardware.

Since I was last at Hardester’s about 2 years ago, they have undergone a major renovation and expansion. The store is gloriously capacious — still a hybrid hardware-​grocery store, still very well stocked and still offering excellent customer service with friendliness and smiles.
I have always been impressed by the array of items stocked at Hardester’s — and on this recent trip, was even more impressed and asked the cashier to pass along my kudos to their buyers. They have a wide array of organic, natural and VEGAN food items. They even have new Tofurkey items that aren’t available at the Whole Foods in the Bay Area! How is that possible? Produce is excellent and much local (just over the hills before you hit I-​5 is Capay Valley & Davis a bit farther south).
Prices are not bad at all — definitely not more expensive than Whole Foods or my local Ace. Keep up the good work, Hardester’s!

I have only lived in Middletown for 2 years. I love finding new things at Hardester’s and it is so nice having them just down the road. They have the best greeting cards there also. Their chicken pasta salad is to «die for.»

Does not deserve $$$ rating. It’s not that expensive at all.
Co-​workers and I always stop here before they close to pick up lunch for offsite work next day. They always have good sandwiches and salads.
For a place like Middletown, I’m surprised at the variety. Great stop.

Hands down one of the best delis anywhere. Panini sandwiches are to die for. Be sure to try the large marinated shrimp too! Always make a special trip here anytime I’m close by.

Love this place. Don’t know what south Lake County would do without them. Best deli sandwiches in the county. Good produce and meat. Can get pretty much everything you need here. They also rent tools and equipment. Great store.

A general store in the hills north of wine country. Friendly folks, from paint to toys to lots of food choices… not just one stop shopping but the only stop in the area.
Check it out and enjoy a decent Thai meal across the street.
Have a bit of urbane experience in the hills… enjoy your visit.

Oh my goodness, a hardware and food store combination! What a cool concept. The less traveling I have to do to get all my needs met the better.
Darling store. Everything is neatly organized. Good old fashion service at the deli. You felt like your grandma and cousins were making the meal. My brother and I ordered a couple of hot sandwiches. Sooo yummy! I couldn’t find anything in this store I didn’t want to try to eat. Lots of good looking fruits and veggies, cakes, pasteries, and breads to choose from. I grabbed a muffin to eat the next day and it was so scrumptious! Perfect for on the go shopping or a serious grocery shopping trip.
I never got a chance to explore the hardware side. But it’s supplied by Ace Harware. So there’s plenty of fun things to find amongst the hard core necessities of a hardware store. I would have loved browsing the aisles. Alas, there wasn’t enough time.

cell want service every time I visit this store. Jerry at the register is always so nice and remembers us. I feel like Family when I come here. :-)
They have great sales on Saturdays and some delicious potato salad in the deli. Love it.

Cool little small town market. It’s like a market and hardware store together as one. Great selection of everything, always has quality produce, and friendly staff.

Hardester’s offers a lot to our little town: Great selection, lots of produce, top notch deli, lots of organic choices, great hours, friendly staff, and believe it or not, a great selection of hardware! A true General Store! On top of that, Hardesters supports almost evry cause and group in our community, so kudos to them for that. I take away one star for prices, which are high, and which I would love to see descend into just a slightly more competitive orbit.

We stopped here on the way to somewhere else and were like «hey we need sandwiches and beer and batteries!»
The store is half grocery and half Ace hardware, kind of neat. Things are very very very expensive here. 4.49 for 25 feet of Aluminum foil! 11.99 for 4 batteries! Seriously we spent almost a hundred dollars on a few items.
We ordered deli sandwiches and the deli gal wrote our orders down on a form, then said wait a few minutes. a few minutes go by and a different girl sayd here are your #3 and #7, that is not what we had asked for so hubby says «we wanted a #4 and a #8» fast forward 25 minutes and we had our sandwiches, I am not joking about the time either.
When we went to pay after we had unloaded everything on the belt another cashier says «oh come here» we said no thanks because we are fine with waiting. She then came over and grabbed our stuff and moved us, ok. She said the EBT was down and they could not process other orders that is why everything was slow. MAkes no sense but ok.
Sandwich wasn’t that good for 25 minutes.

I used to love there premade/​packaged salads that are in the deli section… But now I don’t.The dressing in the salad (the one I got was cob salad) I bought contains MSG!! People MSG is not good for you. The company should remove it from the ingredients in the dressing ASAP.
Just makes you wonder what else in there deli contains MSG.
For those of you that do not know what MSG is heres the link:

To echo «John B.» Hardester’s is a quaint little grocery stop.
Pretty much the only game in town when it comes to a fully stocked store. Minus 1 star on the rating because of inflated pricing on nearly everything.
I do appreciate the Deli though. You can create your own sandwiches. There are usually cheese & other samples available.
There is a large section of organic & natural products. Full aisle of alcohol to stock up for camping ;-)
And pretty much anything else you could need (batteries for flashlight) Hours seem to be reasonable (9 – 10 weekly?) so that too is convenient.

This lil gem is the perfect stop on your way through Middletown (because who seriously ever stays in Middletown?). They carry a surprising amount of natural food and cosmetic products for such a small town. Must be to appeal to the local Harbinite population…
While they’re a lil’ on the pricey side, there are some deals to be found when items go on sale. At first I found the compination with Ace Hardware a bit strange, it make sense that this is a one-​stop-​shop in this tiny pass through town. I always make the stop while passing through to stock up on snacks or other needed supplies.

I liked Hardester’s back in the 1990’s. Since they did the remodel, they have jacked up prices to ridiculous levels. I’d rather get in the truck and drive 20 minutes to Safeway in Clearlake a few times a week than step foot in Hardesters.
For the most part Hardesters now treats their employees horribly. I can remember when people actually liked working for Hardesters but unless you are in the «inner circle» of employees (the lifers) you are just another disposable employee. I’ve never worked there myself, but I know many people who have worked there.
Old man Hardester would be horrified to see how his boys are ripping off the people of Middletown on a daily basis.