Harbor Freight Bellevue Place Misses the Boat
I had a disturbing experience at Harbor Freight at Bellevue Place this past week. I have walked my small, 4 lb dog Jack on the sidewalk and into a few air conditioned stores of that shopping center all summer long in the evenings, because it has been too hot to go to the park to walk an elderly dog.
Jack has his favorite stores: Petco, Dollar Tree and the Auto Zone a bit further down the stretch, and I frequently buy things on our walks. Every once in a while we will go inside Harbor Freight or Staples. In addition to walking my dog, I try to check in on Bellevue businesses periodically to see if they have upcoming events that I can share in this column and on the Bellevue Area Examiner Facebook page
We have been inside Harbor Freight maybe 5 or 6 times this summer. Once I purchased nails, once I spoke with a young man about emergency generators for power outages, and once I spoke with a female manager there about a durable storage container for the bed of my truck.
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| My early plug for Harbor Freight when it first opened |
The Harbor Freight store in Bellevue opened in March 2025 in the former Bed, Bath & Beyond building. I was quick to post about it on the Bellevue Area Examiner Facebook page and had hoped it would become a community favorite like Hart Hardware. However, a recent experience has convinced me that will never be the case.
Unpleasant Experience at Harbor Freight
That evening was one of those rare nights my dog wanted to go into the hardware store. As we entered, we were stopped by an old man with white hair who told us that they have a device at the door that counts how many people enter the store and that they are rated by how many people BUY. He brusquely said he wanted to make me aware of that.
So be warned:
Harbor Freight is NOT your friendly Ace Hardware or Hart Hardware where locals are welcome to walk around, learn where things are and see what's new. You are expected to BUY SOMETHING if you go in.
I told the man that what makes Hart Hardware so successful was that people feel welcome to come in and look around. I informed him that older women with houses in the area need hardware and that I had, in fact, talked to a female employee about truck storage. Then I let him know that next time I needed hardware--which will be soon because it's time to think about winter, and I do need storage for the truck bed-- I WON'T be getting it at Harbor Freight. There is a HOME DEPOT right behind them and HART HARDWARE is just down the road.
I don’t think his issue was with Jack. Jack has never had an accident there, or ever barked or growled. He is small, quiet, and well behaved. The man never mentioned my dog as an issue.
We don’t loiter. We walk around the store and sometimes stop to look at nails, truck storage containers, generators, or something else of interest, and then we leave. I am a polite, clean-cut older lady and have had no issues with anyone in the store. In fact, most of the staff has been very pleasant and we were just starting to get to know some of them.
The issue seems to be that I haven’t BOUGHT enough from him to justify entering the store once every couple of weeks or so, because he has no idea what I have or haven’t bought when he isn’t gatekeeping at the door. I tried to call the actual store manager about the issue but was told by the same rude man (who is apparently on the “leadership team”) that the manager wouldn’t be available for the next six weeks!
Don’t worry, Harbor Freight, you don’t have to be concerned about my making the mistake of walking through your doors again.
Harbor Freight Review
On a scale of 1-10, I give Harbor Freight a ZERO for failing to make a potential repeat customer feel welcome and practically turning me away at the door for no justifiable reason.
Poor Reviews of Harbor Freight
But don’t take my word for it. One only has to do a little digging to discover that the entire chain has major issues, not just the Bellevue store. The Better Business Bureau reports that 332 people have reported Harbor Freight to the BBB.
It doesn’t stop there. According to Google, the company has a history of complaints.
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