Downtown Lumber is our local hardware store, only a block from where we've renovated a house over the last year. Their staff are great, and while they don't have every single product we need, the staff is great and tries very hard. It feels very much like a family business and they know us every time we go in there. They are also great with returns, which is useful when doing plumbing and electrical work where you don't always know what you want and sometimes have to buy extra pieces and return the ones you don't need. This place is beyond the local place, and others should travel to get here.
And don't forget they have a full lumberyard in the back, and made local deliveries of plywood and lumber within an hour of ordering them at the counter.