East Passyunk’s YUNS Hardware Is a One-Stop Shop for DIY Home Projects
More than a place to buy a hammer, YUNS offers free classes, including a spring series on everything from power tools to caulking.
Tools and supplies from YUNS Hardware / Photograph by Theresa Regan
I am the least handy person I know. I have a long list of home projects that I need to tackle, but they sit untouched, day after day, week after week, because I don’t know where to start — and I absolutely loathe the vast spaces that are typical home improvement stores. So a place like YUNS Hardware is perfect for someone like me. It’s got an actual vibe and aesthetic, for one. It has classes designed to inform without overwhelming. And it makes the experience of improving your house approachable. So if all this sounds right for you, too, check out the details below. —Kristen Schott, lifestyle editor
Most tourists like to visit coffee shops or food markets to live like a local while on vacation. Kelly Wright goes to hardware stores. “They’re so anthropological,” says Wright, who grew up on a farm in the Blue Ridge Mountains of South Carolina, lived for a time in New York, and today calls Fishtown home. “You can really understand the needs of a community.”
She opened YUNS at the Bok Building in October 2024 as the brick-and-mortar version of the online hardware store she launched in 2021. More than a place to buy a hammer, YUNS offers free DIY classes on skills like limewashing — a big dsraw for younger, less experienced, and more diverse customers seeking a welcoming environment that cold, intimidating big-box stores don’t offer. Right now, look for her spring DIY series in partnership with Matriarchy Build, offering sessions focused on power tools (tonight, March 18th!), drywall patching (April 15th), and caulking (May 13th).
For her as a Korean American, Wright says, it was important to fill that need. “We were stunned by the turnout and how people just want to talk about their projects with experts and other people going through the process.”
1901 South 9th Street, East Passyunk.
Published as “Getting Handy” in the March 2026 issue of Philadelphia magazine.
