There are a few of the old time hardware stores left, but you have to go to a relatively small and somewhat isolated town to find one. Grave's Hardware in Collinsville is a good example. The nearest town of any size is Fort Payne which is about 22 miles up I-59. Gadsden is about 25 in the opposite direction. It is in the old Downtown area of Collinsville.

I love places old like that. When you walk in you will notice things like an old wooden plank floor, wooden shelves and I think I remember that last time I was in there they still had an old timey rotating nail bin. Don't quote me on the last one though. You can buy the usual hardware/building material stuff plus they sell things, such as feed and seed that modern building material centers like Lowe's, Home Cheapo, and Marvin's just don't carry. My son bought some Coal for his forge at Grave's yesterday. Try to find THAT at Lowe's.

i'm not affiliated with them, I just like to promote pieces of Americana like family owned Hardware stores, General stores or old Country stores.