Posted: 1/29/2025 11:42:24 AM EDT
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I see Fastenal stores when I travel, but I never stop at them. We got a Fastenal store in my home town about 7 or 8 years ago. I loved going in it and buying fasteners when I needed them. They had a good inventory. But about 4 or 5 years ago they stopped letting shoppers inside the store. They don't even sell things through a window. They ONLY sell to commercial places like auto repair shops and contractors that place orders. Then, I guess, the Fastenal truck delivers the ordered things. Are all Fastenal stores run like that or just the one in my home town? Or, can you still walk in and buy things in your local Fastenal store? They could do lots more business if they would let customers in the store. Yeah, there would be a few shop lifters and it would require a cashier and stock boy---but they'd get a lots more business. |
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I'm pretty sure they all work that way. It's a strange business model overall, there doesn't seem to be a shortage of other places to buy fasteners especially in the internet era. ETA I heard they were super expensive when they did sell to individuals, model must be to sell to industrial customers who don't care about price. |
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Quoted: I see Fastenal stores when I travel, but I never stop at them. We got a Fastenal store in my home town about 7 or 8 years ago. I loved going in it and buying fasteners when I needed them. They had a good inventory. But about 4 or 5 years ago they stopped letting shoppers inside the store. They don't even sell things through a window. They ONLY sell to commercial places like auto repair shops and contractors that place orders. Then, I guess, the Fastenal truck delivers the ordered things. Are all Fastenal stores run like that or just the one in my home town? Or, can you still walk in and buy things in your local Fastenal store? They could do lots more business if they would let customers in the store. Yeah, there would be a few shop lifters and it would require a cashier and stock boy---but they'd get a lots more business. Our local store went that route. They closed six months later. |
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They realized they're really good at servicing industrial customers, and they've built their business plan and processes around that market. As retail sales are outside of that core competency they've decided to close that door, and focus on what they're good at. You can hate it, but it's smart business; figure out what you're good at, and do that. |
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Back when I lived near a Fastenal, you could go in and buy hardware, but it was in bulk quantities unless they bought the items in single units (like larger carriage bolts and such). I had a HMMWV bumper and a set of Kevlar doors shipped via their freight service. It was absolutely THE cheapest way to ship something so large/heavy. |
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Quoted: I'm pretty sure they all work that way. It's a strange business model overall, there doesn't seem to be a shortage of other places to buy fasteners especially in the internet era. ETA I heard they were super expensive when they did sell to individuals, model must be to sell to industrial customers who don't care about price. Bought things back when you could walk in . Expensive but they sold a wide variety of things . |
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I stopped dealing with them years ago. Garbage product. Yeah. It’s super cheap. But it’s Chinese garbage. They also rarely have shit in stock. Lawson comes and stocks my bins weekly. US made grade 8 stuff. Drill bits. Abrasive pads. Fittings. Etc. JM Ellsworth comes for hoses and other parts weekly. Fastenal is more like fastenone. |
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Quoted: I see Fastenal stores when I travel, but I never stop at them. We got a Fastenal store in my home town about 7 or 8 years ago. I loved going in it and buying fasteners when I needed them. They had a good inventory. But about 4 or 5 years ago they stopped letting shoppers inside the store. They don't even sell things through a window. They ONLY sell to commercial places like auto repair shops and contractors that place orders. Then, I guess, the Fastenal truck delivers the ordered things. Are all Fastenal stores run like that or just the one in my home town? Or, can you still walk in and buy things in your local Fastenal store? They could do lots more business if they would let customers in the store. Yeah, there would be a few shop lifters and it would require a cashier and stock boy---but they'd get a lots more business. The bolded part shows that you don't really understand their customer base. I work for a major agricultural manufacturer, and we have a Fastenal staffed and stocked, "store" inside of our production facility surrounded by a nice blue fence. When our production releases an order for a hardware kit, the Fastenal employees inside that blue fence within our facility, pack the required hardware for whatever is on the order, and deliver it directly to the bin on the assembly line. This is the kind of business they like to do. The "retail" stores are really just local stocking points for customers like us. |
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Pretty stand business model in the trades. There are huge electrical/HVAC stores across every town that won’t sell you anything. SnapOn doesn’t give a damn about selling $100 of tools off a truck, if the truck even bothered to show up. Their stock is doing just fine. |
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They went to no walk-ins I think during Covid and never went back. I would imagine there is very little money to be made from Joe Blow who needs to buy a box of screws 2 times a year. Vendor managed inventory is where it is for them. We've done some vendor managed inventory (a little through them) before and it is convenient, but there is a counter incentive for them to sell you less product, so it almost always costs more at least from a material standpoint. It's like our first aid supplier....open up the box and "oh fuck I didn't realize we needed a DIY hip replacement kit." 
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Quoted: They went to no walk-ins I think during Covid and never went back. I would imagine there is very little money to be made from Joe Blow who needs to buy a box of screws 2 times a year. Vendor managed inventory is where it is for them. We've done some vendor managed inventory (a little through them) before and it is convenient, but there is a counter incentive for them to sell you less product, so it almost always costs more at least from a material standpoint. It's like our first aid supplier....open up the box and "oh fuck I didn't realize we needed a DIY hip replacement kit." Welcome to Wurth. “Here’s a list of every product we sell, you can uncheck anything you would like to not order. We’ll get you a price a week after the shipment arrives.” |
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We have a couple of them here in town. Used to be, you could just walk in and buy arbitrary bolts off the wall. It was a whole store that was like the nut and bolt row at lowes. They always had shitty hours. Only open while normal people are at work. Like 9-4pm, M-F. They did not want business from individuals/weekend warriors. They only wanted business from other businesses. Last time I tried to go to one of their stores, they had closed the doors up to walk-ins and only let you in to walk around if you had an appointment. Thats garbage. I have heard they have a pretty decent shipping program. Dudes on the car forums shipping engines and transmissions will strap it to a pallet and use fastenall to ship it and get a good rate. https://www.fastenal.com/fast/blue-lane-freight |
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Quoted: They lost me as a customer long ago,counter service was very assholy. When I had my mfg business, I used to go to fastenal for a few items that they specifically carried, that were oversize / long and shipping was excessive. Then, more and more stuff became " in stock, will be delivered in 2 days." Then, prices just kept going up, and up. And delivery times became longer .... Finally, it just became easier to purchase those products elsewhere, as the 'local' source wasn't, any more. IMHO YMMV |
| I think our local store will still let some people stop by to pick up items, but it is not open to the public like a regular retail store. When I worked at a shop that used them for stocking a bolt selection and a few other items, they had a new sales person like every few months. Seems they were constantly promoting the sales people up to manager positions and then getting in new sales people. |
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Quoted: Fastenal across the mountain from me can get me kegs of A325s in a couple of days. My fella in Bowling Green gets them to me next day, cheaper Funny, we have a Festenal in bowling green OHIO and 5 years ago I bought some bolts/nuts there and the guy couldn't believe I didn't have a customer account. I don't think they will let me buy anything from them now. |
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Fastenal has a great business model for industries that don't want to handle consumable inventory/ logistics. We have them set up vending machines on our line locations that stock PPE and other consumables. They stock them weekly, the machines provide tracking as to what employees are using, etc. Usage is down considerably as opposed to just leaving product on shelfs with no accountability. It's a win win. |