Mushtari Hardware & Garden

"I shop in this store frequently. It has good and not so good points. It was better years ago. Nevertheless, it's still an asset. Their focus has shifted to the garden aspect. Folks, (and Mushtari if you're reading), every single person in the nabe needs a hardware store, most of us once a week or more. How many of us have gardens? Almost none. The entire ground floor is now garden stuff, with the lowly hardware shoved in the stinky basement. Yeah, plants are sexier than plumbing, but I wonder if they've minimized their most important and loyal clientele, and if it's affected business. The store is not as full as it was years ago, and the hours keep shrinking due to "slow times". I have a garden, but I don't shop at Mushtari. I buy online or at big garden centers outside the city, as impulse buying of plants and such almost always ends badly. Pricing - Mushtari is fair-ish. Some things are more expensive than the big box stores, and some are less. Once in awhile I find a hilarious incongruity. Recently I bought a PVC plumbing fitting at Home Despot for $11.99, and then saw it at Mushtari for less than half. Although this isn't foolproof, I have generally found that Mushtari can be cheaper than the big box stores on small materials (screws, plumbing and electrical parts, etc); slightly more expensive on larger materials (boards, compound, drywall, etc); more expensive on tools - particularly power tools, some of which are outrageously expensive. Whatever part of those higher prices is due to their cost from their distributor - ok I get it. It must be tough as a small store up against the chains. But if any part of it is to pad profits by fleecing unsuspecting apartment dwellers in need of a drill to hang a picture - SHAME ON THEM. On paint, they're more expensive than the big boxes, mainly because they push the overpriced Benjamin Moore brand - saying that it's better than the big box premium brands, which I don't agree with. As someone who does a LOT of painting, the Behr stuff at Home Despot works just fine, and it's a helluva lot easier to order paint and get service at a big box store than at almost any small hardware store in NYC. If you have the time, the best thing to do is compare pricing. The big box stores have their stuff online which makes it easy. Sometimes I still buy materials at HD or Lowe's because of their return policies. At Mushtari, there are no refunds, just exchanges. HD and Lowe's will take anything back and refund you. When you're doing repairs, sometimes it pays to have extra things on hand so you're not constantly running out to pick up another part. Customer service at Mushtari is spotty, but can be very good. The main manager who you'll find upstairs is great. His number 2, who hangs out downstairs is so-so - knows some things, but is universally surly and terse. The other guys are hit or miss. One thing that's refreshing is that there's very little of the common, annoying tendency of pretending to know something one doesn't. At Mushtari, if you ask "will this solve my problem?", you'll generally get a truthful answer, be it YES, NO, or I DON'T KNOW. My #1 pet peeve with Mushtari - their hours. If I'm remembering correctly, they used to be open from very early (maybe 7 or 7:30) until 7 or 8pm. And I THINK it was 7 days a week, with Sunday hours being shorter. Nowadays they don't open until 8:30, effectively preventing them from being a resource for any professional contractor or even serious DIYer, who want to buy their materials EARLY and be at the jobsite by 8 or 8:30. They are also closed on Sundays in winter, except for a portion of the garden center. See where this is going? To hell with the weekend warrior who's fixing their leaky sink, we wanna sell POTTING SOIL on Sundays. The café is a curiosity - nice vibe and staff, good people watching, good snacks and presumably non-coffee drinks. Barista skill and coffee quality are hugely varying - from OK to extremely bitter, but are par for the course in the U.S."

"This place has been here for a while. Here's why. They've improved it over time to accommodate the needs of the neighborhood regardless of whether you live in an apartment or house. The coffee bar in the middle of the store, more beautiful types of plants, and more plant and home decor items along with the hardware. I bought a friend a yellow rose bush years ago for a house warming. They gave advice how to care for it. She still has it and it's a stunner. I hope they remain in the neighborhood for years to come."

"As an out of town father looking to do miscellaneous repairs at my daughters apartment- this place is great. Look enough for nearly anything and you’ll find it. Or ask, it’s well staffed with pleasant employees."

"Was excited for my string of pearls plant, but after a month it seems to be dying and I am good with plants; I’ve even repotted it. Sucks because it was pretty expensive and it’s already dying. Must’ve gotten a bad plant"