I'm not saying I'm considering a trip to Germany just so I can visit a hardware store, but I'm definitely going to visit one (or several) hardware stores if I ever find myself in Germany again.
Photography by J.G. Pasterjak
I just landed in Frankfurt for another Nürburgring 24 adventure–more updates to come–so where’s the first place I go to take in some local German flavor before heading to the track?
After the obligatory stop at Vogelburg, the medieval-themed parrot refuge just outside Frankfurt, I am a sucker for German big-box hardware stores. Obi, Hornbach and Bauhaus (not the band) are Germany’s rough equivalents of Lowe’s, Home Depot and Menards. Forget the touristy baubles; I make room in my bag on the trip home for gear from these places.
On this trip, I grabbed a couple metric tape measures, one 3 meters long and another 5 meters. Yes, we can get tapes with metric graduations at Lowe’s, Depot or the Harbor, but it’s a metric side plus an inch side. Finding a purely metric tape requires special-ordering something, and why go to Amazon when you can just fly to Germany for barely 100 times the price? See? The math works!
My other obsession is German work shorts, of which I picked up a pair from Puma and Bullstar. Yes, these types of clothes are becoming more available in the USA from brands like Truewerk and Strauss, but you still can’t just walk into a store and grab them off the shelf for under $50.
Once you’re a convert to heavyweight ballistic nylon workwear, you’ll never wear anything else in the shop again. They have more gussets than a rally car cage, feature more pockets than a strip mall full of pool halls, and just make you look like you know what you’re doing, even if you have no earthly idea. I swear the Germans won’t even take out the trash unless they’re wearing a pair of these things.
And really, there’s just so much cool stuff to be jealous of, all packed into a regular hardware store. How about some steel-toed sandals? You want some adorable tiny funnels? The world’s most high-tech furniture dollies? Precut stakes to deal with the out-of-control local vampire population? A sausage stand in the parking lot? An actual bakery right in the store? Your move, Lowe’s.
Anyway, look for updates from the N24 this weekend, and holler if you want me to bring you a metric tape measure. I have some room left in my bag.
I'm not saying I'm considering a trip to Germany just so I can visit a hardware store, but I'm definitely going to visit one (or several) hardware stores if I ever find myself in Germany again.
In reply to JG Pasterjak :
I'm intrigued by the work shorts. How do the sizes run on them? Is the cm to inches conversion accurate to your actual waist size?
Now I'm kicking 16 year old me for not visiting hardware stores when I was in Germany.
Edit: Actually, I still went to the BMW Museum in Munich, so I guess 16 year old me gets a pass.
Canadian here, so metric tapes are not that exciting. But the shorts. Hmm....
Actual safety sandals... I need a set.
I used to love going into the German and Norwegian PXs when I was working out of a NATO base instead of a US FOB. You could buy the most random stuff there.
Another thing to add to the list of things I'd like to see in Germany.
I know Europeans tend to look down us filthy Americans for not knowing multiple languages and such, is it fairly easy to get around Germany without being able to read/writer/understand the language?
How do these work shorts compare to the long Dickes I’m currently wearing? (Because I am a fan of these....)
For some reason I had expectations of lumber, neatly stacked, sorted by grain direction and separate piles for quarter sawn and rift sawn.
Those little fence posts are surprisingly disorganised too.
These shorts from Sweden have more pockets and straps than anyone would need ,
Nice and heavy duty fabric too,
I like these folding wooden metric rulers, common in Europe and you can find them on Amazon
Displaying 1-10 of 87 commentsView all comments on the GRM forums
You'll need to log in to post.
