I'm all over Ace Hardware (when you can find them); they got the big box stores all beat hands-down. But the best are the old Mom-and-Pops hardware stores. Believe it or not there are still 2-3 of those around here yet in D.C., but all that is going f-a-s-t.
It just struck me; might be only (2) left in the D.C area now:
- Frager's Hardware on Capitol Hill burned down a few months back.
- That leaves Cherrydale Hardware in Arlington (VA), and
- Executive Lock & Key in Alexandria (VA).
- And there are a couple of Ace Hardwares (Tenleytown DC, and Potomac MD).
Probably something up in PG County, too, but I'm just not too familiar with all the territory out that way.
It's funny, Washington, D.C used to be just a kind of sleepy Southern Town that could "dress up" successfully when it had to, but all of that is so fast going away. There's big money to be made as the city grows, and everything in the way "has to go".