Old fashioned hardware stores are a rare thing these days when you consider that between the big chains like B&Q and Homebase and the more traditional builders merchants, the DIY market must be fairly well catered for. Unusual then that Sale has two of them! Situated (rather inconveniently for anyone other than those visiting on foot!) right on the main road through Sale, this store occupies a space that is crammed with as wide a variety of stock as you could imagine, from lightbulbs to timber, step ladders to hammers. I only called in there for an energy saving lightbulb, but even then was greeted with a dazzling array of items that fell into this category... rather surprisingly they also seemed to still have a few 100 watt lightbulbs and as such had fashioned for themselves a bit of a black market for the things!
Anyway, I digress. The staff were friendly, the range of stock was impressive and the prices pretty reasonable. The location is a bit of a negative since for anything requiring a car to pick it up (which I don't think is that unusual for DIY items), you have to negotiate a tortuous one way system to be able to park outside it, and then you have to 'Pay and Display' which is an un-necessary expense. Still, you can easily walk there from Sale town centre so I don't suppose it is a disaster. 3 stars, due to its location. read more