Hardware Town

Hardware Town is a location in the Fens neighborhood of Boston

Background
Once the most popular hardware store in Boston, Hardware Town has been taken over by a crew of raiders led by Demo. The raiders have made a habit of luring unsuspecting wastelanders into the store by acting as another "fellow wastelander" pleading for someone to help their friend. Once the wastelander takes the bait, the raiders have some fun murdering them and dumping the body in the foundation.

Layout
When the Sole Survivor first arrives at Hardware Town, a raider pretending to be a settler yells for help to save someone inside. When the Sole Survivor enters, the raider runs behind some doors and raiders can be heard preparing an ambush behind it. One raider can be overheard saying they should have lured the victim to the basement instead.

If the Sole Survivor waits long enough, the raiders waiting inside will get impatient and blame the bait for incompetence. They end up executing her and begin to search for the Sole Survivor. Alternatively, if they go through the basement to the left of the front doors, they can attack the raiders from the back. If the Sole Survivor kills the raider pretending to be a settler before she enters Hardware Town, the raiders lying in wait will have a different set of dialogue. One will insist on checking what is taking their bait so long, and the other will shush him. If the Sole Survivor waits long enough, the two raiders will argue until one of them shoots and kills the other, to the dismay of their leader, Demo.

Upon revisiting the location, Gunners will have taken over the store. However, if the Sole Survivor sided with the Institute, this location will sometimes be repopulated by hostile Brotherhood of Steel members (and vice versa).

There is an armor workbench and a weapons workbench located in the room where the front entrance is, behind the counter. The large warehouse behind the front room contains supplies such as Jet, stimpaks, and caps. There is a small loot stash on top of the boxes containing randomized ammo, a stimpak, etc. An Advanced locked safe sits on top of a shelf on the north side of the room, and a paint mixer - optionally used in the quest Painting the Town - is at the back. A Master locked safe can be found upstairs, in the locked room alongside the Stealth Boy.

Loot

 * Picket Fences issue #2 - Upstairs in the main office on the desk. In the same room as the steamer trunk.
 * Stealth Boy - Behind a locked door that can be opened with the Hardware Town storage key (located next to the copy of Picket Fences).
 * Bottlecap mine - On a shelf in the same room as the Stealth Boy.

Related quests

 * Butcher's Bill 2: The Sole Survivor must track down the Railroad agent Blackbird for Stanley Carrington.
 * Cleansing the Commonwealth: Knight Rhys gives the Sole Survivor an assignment to clear the location of what he calls "abominations" to further the aims of the Brotherhood of Steel.
 * Diamond City's Most Wanted: A bounty board in the Diamond City market gives the Sole Survivor a target to handle in exchange for caps.
 * Kidnapping: Concerned settlers will ask the Sole Survivor to help them rescue a fellow settler that was kidnapped for ransom by nearby hostiles, hoping to have them freed without harm.
 * Lost Soul: Doctor Carrington has a lead on a synth that's in danger and sends the player character to save them.
 * Painting the Town: Abbot in Diamond City wants the player character to find green paint for the city's wall.
 * Quartermastery: Scribe Haylen has identified the location of a piece of technology she wishes to retrieve and catalog. She asks the Sole Survivor for help in bringing back the technology in one piece.
 * Raider Troubles: A group of settlers is struggling to defend themselves against a nearby group of raiders and asks the Sole Survivor for help.
 * Randolph Safehouse: The Railroad agent Mister Tims will leave dead drops in the form of six holotapes for the Sole Survivor, containing information about possible hazards to the Railroad's escort and escape of synths out of the Commonwealth. They can assist in these efforts by clearing out the location of hostiles.
 * Reclamation: The Sole Survivor learns from Dr. Secord that a synth was kidnapped by raiders. They can help with the planned retrieval mission by placing a tracking beacon on the synth and reporting back to the Synth Retention Bureau.
 * Stop the Raiding: The Sole Survivor becomes aware of a group of settlers being terrorized by nearby raiders and can offer to help.
 * To the Mattresses: The synth-hating L&L Gang is a major threat to the Railroad. Desdemona has a lead on them and asks the Sole Survivor to help neutralize their members.

Appearances
Hardware Town appears

Bugs
Entering this building while wearing power armor causes the compass directions displayed at the bottom of the screen to be incorrectly rotated by 90° in a clockwise direction.