Looking for a walk-in store

weo

weo

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Sep 21, 2014
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Hello all. I think this is close enough to shop-talk. As some of you may know, I recently moved from the foothills of Mt Rainier (read: 'the sticks'), and am now a city dweller for the first time in about 20 years. I'm wondering if there are any walk in stores (national or local) to get stuff similar to what you can get at McMaster Carr? (right now I'm looking for tube end weld nuts) I would rather not mail order if I don't have to and would like to know about any places I can go if I need something "now".

Thanks.
 
Grainger is your best bet. If you're any where near the Seattle-Tacoma area they should have a walk-in store. I've found it helpful to place my order online and then go pick it up. Most of the time you can do that the same day.
 
X2 on Grainger. they also allow you to place an order online to pick up at the store (whether in stock, or needs to be transferred to them). Im not sure where you are? but their website should be able to tell you where the closest store is.
 
There's a McMaster in Portland, correct? They have a will call / pick up. I think they typically only need an hour or two (if that) to put a basic order together. The website should give you an ETA. Grainger has a decent selection (not nearly what McMaster has of course), but you'll likely end up paying a bit more on average. Looks like there's also an MSC in Portland. Their pricing and selection is about on par with Grainger.
 
Fastenal is another good chain for some things. Less selection than Grainger, though.

I've been meaning to check out WC Winks Hardware in Portland - they've got quite the reputation for being knowledgeable and having a diverse inventory.
 
There is a Grainger in Fife if that’s close to you. I’m down past Tacoma
 
Sometimes I luck out with lee valley. My local bumper to bumper is in a rural area, and they can get most products from grainier within a few hours. They make two trips from the city warehouses to the storefront daily. Great service. Check with the locals in your area.
 
weo said:
Thanks for the replies and suggestions all. It looks like I have some options, now.



MSC? Not familiar, what's that stand for?
Click to expand...

Count already linked the webpage, but I believe it originally stood for Manhattan Supply Company, though now it's just known as MSC or MSC Industrial. I used to order all kinds of stuff through them when I worked for what used to be the old Bethlehem Steel mill (ArcelorMittal when I was there), because we had an account with them, and they gave us a pretty decent discount. I wish I had kept the customer number, because at the time, we were able to use it for personal purchases as well, though for most of the "discounted items" you could usually find an equivalent deal elsewhere. Best one I ever found was some black oxide Leatherman Waves for less than 1/2 of retail. I should have loaded up.

I believe they also bought out/absorbed Enco, which used to be one of my favorite "cheap" supplies. You used to be able to get some really good deals on tooling (especially import brands) and quality was usually pretty decent as well, though it seems like MSC chose NOT to continue the pricing structure that Enco was using, so even the same brands that Enco used to carry seem to all be a little bit more expensive. Such is life I suppose.

McMaster is still on of my main go to suppliers for odd fasteners, tooling, etc... if I can't find it cheaper on Amazon, eBay, or other suppliers. Grainger probably comes in next, but only because they have a store front about 5 or 10 minutes from where I work, and I pass it nearly every day. I still get stuff from MSC from time to time, but it's rare, and that's really only because they're a little farther away from me, and they're usually not any cheaper than McMaster or Grainger. Depends on what exactly you're looking for though.
 
I used to work in the mt. Rainier area and we ordered a lot of stuff from Tacoma screw. Never went there myself but they seemed to have most things we needed.
 
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