Hardware Made a Little Easier

"I haven't found a hardware store there, but I work a few blocks away from this one, so when my husband came to pick me up, we stopped here," says Bernice Hutchinson. "It's our second trip in a week. I noticed it because it was dog-friendly."

It is also people-friendly. Housewares expert Todd Lumpkin "took us around the store and showed us everything. That makes all the difference in the world."

The Rev. Scott Benhase, the new rector of St. Alban's Church who moved his family from North Carolina to American University Park, often bikes to the Tenleytown Ace Hardware. "We are on a first-name basis with the people here. I come in daily," he says, holding a power drill. "They are wonderful. And they have tolerated all my dumb questions."

Nonetheless, these hardware stores aren't for everyone, in part because they carry very little lumber.

"They are good for Harry Homeowner who needs a light switch, a nut or bolt. It's a ma-and-pa store," says contractor Fred Gordon of Taylor Concepts in Rockville. "If you have a major project, you have to go to the suburbs."

The three branches will make and repair window screens, cut glass and plastic for picture frames and windows, custom-mix paint and, if pressed, even rewire lamps. Last year they cut 28,000 keys at the Logan store alone, making the little metal door-openers the couple's hottest seller.

Cleaning supplies are also big, some of which are eco-friendly in a nod to patrons who stream in from the heavily organic Whole Foods Markets just steps from each of their stores. "We try to balance, but a lot of people really want Charmin and Windex," Schaefer says.

The couple seek to peg inventory to neighborhood.

"In Logan, we really cater to small condo owners with Elfa shelving, small housewares and appliances," she says. "Also, we carry a lot of fancy things like shower curtain rings and liners -- girly stuff. In Glover Park, there is a little more emphasis on families. There are kids' tools, which are mostly toys for the sandbox, and gardening hats and gloves. None of this is hardware, but we let the neighborhood dictate." The larger Tenleytown and Glover Park stores have a wider range of patio furniture and gas grills.

Hairdresser Lisa Kane recently went to Glover Park Hardware for a halogen bulb. "I live in the neighborhood, I'm on my way to work, and before this store opened, I would have gone to Home Depot in Falls Church. Here they have everything, they know everything."