Rockler Woodworking and Hardware - Charlotte

"I attended one of the classes offered in the store & made a beautiful tray/charcuterie board. This was a gift from my son & it makes a wonderful gift for someone to try something new. The class was done by Dan who was knowledgeable, patient & kind. Josh (store manager) also came in to check on us & helped us out. Overall, it was a great experience I would highly recommend the classes, the store & the staff. I can’t wait to attend another class."

"First opened they were helpful and asked if you needed anything. Now they are like woodcraft and ignore you as they talk to each other. No longer interested in helping. Will do my shopping online."

"Greatly over-hyped online. This review is not to criticize the bricks & mortar or the employees - both were excellent. But the Rockler Co. reminds me of the (former) Brookfield catalogs & stores ... offerring significantly over-priced, moderate- to low- quality niche-application products for the economically naive. I purchased some bits and some hardware, knowing that I was over-paying, but rationalizing that "Well, surely it's not too bad, plus I'm here already." That won't happen again; subsequently checking on the www I find that I paid a 30% premium (or more) for equivalent products at Rockler; convenience doesn't justify that. The Central brand bit worked well. Central is not unique to Rockler. The Rockler Forstner bits do not cut well - they require much greater force and more time than my other Forstner bits (brand unknown) - in pine, which is rarely classified as a "hardwood". The online articles hyped the brand as if a very wide selection of some really amazingly useful tools was to be found in their stores. It's not so. For most categories there is only one brand with small quantities of items. If, as is common, it is store brand, it says "Made in China" like many competing products; therefore quality is completely unknown without diligent parsing of online reviews (from multiple vendors). In summary, I found no shopping advantage to visiting this store - only high prices."

"I wish I could rate them more than 5 stars. The store manager, Josh, and his team are amazing. The store has a ton of a-typical woodworking and project pieces that your local big box doesn't carry but the real value is in the personal connections and the classes they offer. The products you'll create and the processes you'll learn are tremendous. My wife and I loved the experience and are already considering our next project!"

"They've only been open a couple weeks and there are already two one-star reviews for extremely petty minor issues, makes me wonder if Woodcraft is leaving bad reviews to protect their turf from a new local competitor. I've purchased from Rockler online for a few years and never had problems, including a matter fixed quickly the one time I needed to contact customer service. I'm very glad they chose to expand in Charlotte so I can make small purchases without trying to get up to the free shipping amount. I'm also very eager for their classroom to open, I especially want to take a lathe class to see if I want to expand my woodworking in that direction. And finally it's great to have a pretty good selection of hardwood lumber, finding a local source near Charlotte has been brutal until now (Woodcraft does OK if you only need a single board but hard to complete a full piece of furniture with their smaller selection)."