Freret Hardware

This review is long overdue, but I haven’t been on Unilocal in some time. This place rocks! And the owner is amazing! Get this… Back in 2012, Hurricane Isaac was set to hit on a Tuesday evening. That morning I called every Home Depot, Lowes and Ace Hardware store within a 3 hour drive and not one store had generators. Then I found Freret Hardware online and sure enough, they had a few left. After work I raced over there to purchase one. They were in the middle of boarding up and closing their store. The owner asked me what I wanted to power with the generator. When I told him the list, he said I would need special converters to make everything work. So while the store was in the middle of closing, he took 30 minutes of his time and built a few customized cables to accommodate my needs! Then he asked me my address.
A few minutes after I got home with the generator, he showed up at my house. He went through and connected all of his custom cable work to make sure everything was working properly. Talk about over the top customer service!!! And all of this with this hurricane just a few hours from hitting land! And he wouldn’t even accept a tip. Unbelievable!
I strongly recommend this place!!!

You have to love a neighborhood hardware store. You walk in and a counter person usually asks within a few moments what I need. Then they actually walk me to the corner of the store where the item is located.
This isn’t the biggest store in the world but if you need a couple of keys made, a ladder, some other basic hardware type stuff, then you can be in and out of this location quick-​quick.
They also have stock here that I definitely don’t see at the big box stores or even Harry’s Ace. Most recent purchase? Picture hangers that can go directly into brick. They were so easy to use too.
One caveat? With the doors wide open and minimal a/​c (maybe just an attic fan?), this place gets hot in summer, but then again it’s pretty chilly in winter too.

Went to get some keys made. After being straight ignored for several minutes a guy gruffly told me I had too many keys and he didn’t want to do it. I had to wait for somebody else. I had two keys. TWO. He went back to scrubbing out a broken drill. I waited more than 5 minutes for whoever else was supposed to come to the front counter and they never did so I walked out. Never again. Harry’s isn’t far, is better organized, has more stuff, and the people that work there will actually help you.

They are always nice to me. They have useful items and patiently answer my questions. I have my keys made there and they ALWAYS work. I always go here first. They even told me how to fix my running toliet and it worked.

As neighborhood hardware stores go Freret Hardware falls somewhere in the low rent — if «Cheers» were a hardware store — feel. While I visit with some frequency by no means would I consider myself a regular like the fabled Bostonians Norm or Woody. When you walk in people hug each other, addressing one another as ‘boo’ and ‘baby.’ It’s really nice, but I’m not «in» — — - yet.
The misses include what my father-​in-​law would refer to as it is «forced heat and forced cooled.» There’s no climate control. It’s like a hardware stand more than a store. It’s real old school that way. Too, if you need anything in quantity like say joist hangers you won’t score them here. You go here to get keys made, pick up a box of nails, and maybe an air filter or respirator. Everything else is somewhat lagniappe.
What works is they’re convenient, consistent, and helpful. A great resource, and a great alternative to getting in the car and hitting Lowe’s or Depot.

Yet another reason I love this city. It was 5pm on a weekday and I needed to buy a plunger. So I looked up this place and called them to hear a guy with a jovial voice pick up to tell me they’re closed (usually at 4:30pm), BUT he was still there and saw no reason why I couldn’t drop by! Once I got there, he came out with a plunger (not before apologizing for the lack of selection), and sold it to me right out side the store tax free. THAT is my kind of neighborhood hardware store. =)