In the Sydney suburb of Eastwood where I grew up in the 70s and 80s , there was a long established independent hardware business called Complete Hardware which comprised three main shop fronts next to each other. One was general hardware, a paint shop and plumbing supplies from memory.
I didn't go there very often but if you needed a one off item like a bolt or screw, they always had the size you required on hand and the staff were efficient and knew where to fetch the item you needed and didn't require you to buy a pack of 12 or more of a certain screw when you would only ever need the one.
Developers inevitably took over the site some time in the late 1990s and it's now a mini retail centre with Asian eateries and an Aldi supermarket. Eastwood lost a great facility all in the name of so called progress. It doesn't help that it is under a council with no vision for the area.
