United Steel & Hardware Co.

Our shop is at 40 Strand Road on the ground floor, room number 91. If you know this part of the city, you know how busy and packed it gets every day. We have been here in this small space for many years now. It’s not a fancy place at all. The shelves are filled with all kinds of hardware and steel bits that we’ve collected over the time. It’s usually a bit of a mess, but we know where most things are kept. My father started this and now I’m here doing the same thing. People come in from the street looking for a specific bolt or a piece of metal, and we spend time digging through the bins to find it. The air is always a bit heavy with the smell of iron and old grease. We don't have any air conditioning, just a couple of fans that move the hot air around. It gets loud with the traffic outside, so you have to speak up when you’re talking to us. We don't have a website or a big sign. Most people just know us as the hardware guys in room 91. It’s a lot of standing on your feet and lifting heavy boxes, which gets tiring by the evening. We drink a lot of tea to keep going. It is just a regular local business trying to help people fix things or build what they need. We don't do anything special, just sell steel.