Renfrow’s Hardware & General Merchandise

Extensive seed collection and beautiful starter plants. This place is a gardeners dream!

Extremely helpful. They literally have EVERYTHING and will order any parts if necessary.

This hardware store is everything the reviews say that it is! I moved here from Pennsylvania in 1985. My in-​laws lived close to Renfrow’s and we stayed with them for a few weeks until we closed on our house. I used to walk to Renfrows and wander around looking at all the «neat» stuff! Even in the 80s Charlotte was a «big city» to me, because I came from a small town. Renfrew’s gives me that nostalgic, small town feeling, and in those days it was a great comfort to me! The clerks are always very nice. They know their products and they seem to truly enjoy their job.
As mentioned by other posters, their gardening section alone is worth making a trip to Renfrow’s even if you live way across town. And who knows? While you are there you just might find that «widget» or «gizmo» you need that no other hardware store has!
In these times when the entire world seems to be dominated by big box chain stores, it’s nice to know that a business like Renfrow’s still exists!

Love this place. They have a little bit of everything. If you need one nail, you can buy just one nail. The staff is extremely helpful. They know about plants, seeds and hardware. Describe your home repair project, and they will tell you what you need to do the job. They have some items that have been discontinued and can’t be found anywhere else.

To be sure, this is not the cheapest place to get what you need for your home/​garden. But if you’re going for cost, you’re missing the point. Renfrow’s offers a different alternative. Not only is it amazingly helpful, friendly service (after all you can get that at Blackhawk which is way more convenient to most Charlotteans), but you’re getting a different variety of goods and garden stuff. The main reason I go is to hit their seed section which is the whole front corner of the store. People may wonder why I would drive 35 minutes for seed when Lowe’s is 5 minutes away — the seed that Renfrows offers is 10x as good as Burpee traditional seed and Renfrow has a wide variety of heirloom and organic seeds. Their outdoor garden section also has seedlings from squash to tomatoes to tons of different varieties of peppers! Plus you get to see the cute chickens on your way to the seedlings! :)
In addition, they have great soil and compost as well as all the typical hardware stuff you might imagine. As the others mentioned, they also offer lots of nostalgic stuff you find in general stores, etc.
Tip– go early on Saturday mornings and hit the farmers’ market next door too!

Best hardware store in the world! (Or so I imagine.) The owners are extremely friendly and cheerful and are very knowledgeable about gardening questions. They have the largest selection of heirloom seeds I have seen in the Charlotte region, and during the spring and summer seasons their greenhouse is full of great plants. The chickens behind the store are also fun to watch.
Compared with other hardware stores, this place is geared more towards gardening and offers less in the way of tools and machines, which suits me just fine. It does have most of the typical hardware knickknack sections and quite a bit of canning equipment. Not too much going on here in the way of flowers — it’s mostly fruit and veggie plants that you can buy here.
Their website is also worth checking out, as it has a lot of information sheets that help with planning a garden and taking care of certain plants.

I’ve never bought anything here… simply because I would hate to alter this place in any way. I believe Renfrow’s would appreciate this but also try to convince me that my hesitancy is just plain selfish. Okay, okay, I’ll buy one of those gourd keychains next time.
A timeless country store, that is not friends with Cracker Barrel, with local products like honey, bbq sauce, and cornmeal. Out back they have Better Boy, the rooster, his harem, and chicks in the Spring. You can also get a wide variety of tomato, pepper, herb, flower, and other veggie starters from their greenhouse.
Renfrow’s makes it easy to feel like the down-​to-​earth, trendy kid on the block.

As down home Americana as you could find and well-​stocked for your hardware needs

This is the Charlotte Metro areas most amazing vintage hardware store. Renfrows carries many hard to find items, has 1^st class service and is a must visit place to add to your bucket list. I go here to get plants for my vegetable garden, advice on how to fix or grow things and always enjoy the fun of looking around this cool store. Don’t miss the baby chicks around Easter!

This is an awesome place with the perfect combination of essential tools and supplies you need but also adding the vintage flair with older tools or handmade products, small town manufacturers and such. I love it

This is a Great Hardware Store! Large store in Historic Downtown Matthews. Across the street from Sante, Holiday Haus and the Bicycle shop. When I lived in Matthews I always went here first! I’m In Matthews at least once a week now and still visit this store! This is one of those stores with the old wooden floors and fantastic service… Many times they have not had what I was looking for, though they always know where to tell me to go!

I know 4 stars? You’re probably thinking I’m crazy for going away from the pack of the 5 star Unilocalers. This is a wonderful old school hardware store and a local business in Matthews. If you’re looking to walk around downtown Matthews on a Saturday this is a great spot to just walk in and check out. Love the hardwood floors!
The reason for the 4 stars is because my husband and I went to purchase a spray bottle and it was behind the counter the person who was running the register rang it up and it was $ 13! To me that’s way over priced for a spray bottle.
So my advice is if you are looking to purchase from a family run business and are ok with shelling out some cash go for it! This place is a real gem of Matthews!

I love nostalgia and Renfrow’s has it in spades. Places like this are dying all around the country never to return so get your fill of this classic hardware store while you can. I like to stop in and grab a soda out of their cooler because for some reason, everything tastes better from a real glass bottle from an old cooler.
They also have baby chicks… my son digs the baby chicks.
They have more than chicks and soda and in fact, they have a surprising amount of stuff and a friendly knowledgeable staff to back it up.

I like to go in Renfrow’s and check out the baby chicks. They have a cage full of baby chickens and other birds that are useful to have around your garden… even your urban garden. I am always sorely tempted to buy a couple of babies for myself, although I know my pit bull would ravage them. (Sigh.)
They’ve got most anything you could need for home-​improvement projects, and like Patrick M. said, it’s nice to see one surviving with the Home Depot and Lowes revolution in hardware stores. They’ve got good prices, and you get that good feeling of having helped out the little guy.
Renfrow kind of has its own culture, with people congregating around the cash register and talking. The staff is friendly and knowledgeable, and their greenhouse is top-​knotch. I like to step in there on the weekends after visiting the Matthews farmers’ market in the mornings. It feels so organic and small-​town-​y to put those activities together… it’s kind of good for the soul.

A throwback to the old hardware stores that were part of every small town. It is nice to see one that is able to hold its own against the Home Depots and Lowes that have sprung up on all sides of it.
While everything around the store has changed the store itself appears to be almost exactly the way it was when it originally opened. Wood burning stove, peanuts and fasteners in bins. There is always a conversation going on.

Not to repeat anything that’s been said in another review– this is by far the best place I’ve found to have keys copied! Not one glitch. Excellent service. Good place to go even if it’s just for nostalgia.

Renfrow’s is an institution in Matthews, NC. It’s been there forever and has everything you could need from a hardware store. We’ve gone there to have screens repaired, which they’ve done quickly and inexpensively. It feels like going to an old fashioned general store. Weathered, wood floors. Candy for the kids. Out back they have plants and chickens. It’s almost worth going to be a tourist alone. But they do have a big stock of items as well and I love giving business to a local family run store over a huge chain any day of the week. Unlike big chains, they can actually help you out with advice with most questions you would have.