Smith Ace Hardware & Lumber

What are you guys, nuts? First off Ben T. from San Francisco: Over here you actually pay more for surliness in the older employees. It’s like a luxury tax. And how in God’s name would you know you were in New England, otherwise. And Allison S, Seriously? Home Despot? Yeah, cheaper sometimes. More stuff there, true. But help? Come on. You can get people in orange aprons to ask you if you’re being helped. And then they help you by wandering around for 45 minutes looking for the one person in the store who knows ANYTHING and can help you. Local lumber stores are pros. Sometimes surly. But there’s a reason builders use them instead of Depot and Lowes.

can’t believe some of the posts written here… Rockport was home for 7 years and now Gloucester. I still travel to the Rockport store because of the wonderful service I have had over the years. I have also witnessed how they treat other customers and can only say I see those faces coming back and coming back and see them all the time… they are the best!
Michael Sargent

I shop here all the time and the employees have never been anything less than completely helpful. Great selection and the quality of the lumber is orders of magnitude better than anything you’ll find at HD or Lowes. Prices are a little higher than the big box stores, but to me the quality is worth it — saves me an hour round trip drive to Peabody, and I’m happy that my money is supporting a local business that’s been part of the Cape Ann community for years.

I’m VERY surprised at the comment from Alison S. especially since it provided no details. I see she left it a few months ago but I just came to the Unilocal site to check how early they are open on Sundays and I read her comment and felt the need to reply. I go to this Ace often and the staff could not be MORE helpful! Her description seemed completely off mark to me based on my many visits to this particular Ace. You go in and you ask someone for help and they help you. Perhaps there was an issue on the day she was there with short staff or something like that. Local hardware stores like Ace are in the business of helping people and giving them the right tools or products. That’s exactly how they DO compete with the HomeDepots. The staff at this Ace has been there for many years and have tons of knowledge and experience.

Ace has a good selection of products and an extremely helpful staff. They are ready to answer questions and will help you find what you are looking for, as well as provide advice on the best product to meet your needs, solve your problem, or save you money. If they don’t have what you need they will generally either offer to order it for you (if you can wait) or recommend where else you might be able to find it.