Great quality hardwood is getting yep hard to find these days. Depending on what you are doing, being able to find that say plank of cherry wood with a good grain can make or break a project. This is where Aura comes in. This is a working lumberyard. There is a smaller area for you to look at a huge selection of exotic and more conventional milled wood. They also have a huge selection of hardwood grained plywood etc. Friendly and knowledgeable staff that are happy to answer questions. read more

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Thought I was the only one experiencing this, but it's true. The service here is absolutely the worst. They have an attitude like they don't need customers. read more

When I first started woodworking, Home Depot felt like paradise. Pre-milled boards, ready to go, saving me hours of frustration. But as my skills grew, so did my appetite for better wood. That's when I realized how limited my local options were, until I discovered Aura Woods. The selection and quality here are on another level. If you care about your craft and want materials that elevate any project, this is the spot every woodworker should know. read more

I recently visited Hardwoods in San Jose for the first time, and had an unexpectedly bad experience from both a customer service standpoint as well as being significantly overcharged for my lumber. I went into the store seeking a section of walnut and maple, which were located near the back of the store on pallets without any kind of pricing marked. All of the boards were 4/4 thickness but of varying widths, ranging from 5"-10". I asked the employee at the front desk about the pricing, who gave me an estimated pricing for the walnut (~$14/BF). I grabbed two boards of differing widths but the same length, one walnut, one maple, and brought them over to the checkout. I asked the employee if I could briefly make sure the boards would fit in my car so I checked the board length of the walnut against my car (it fit) and I proceeded to checkout. The employee rang me up for a total that was much more expensive than I anticipated, so I asked how the price broke down per each board (which I thought was a reasonable question). He said he couldn't provide that information until I paid for the order, which in hindsight should have been a red flag. I gave him the benefit of the doubt and paid. He then handed me a breakdown of the bill, which seemed off to me. For example, both the walnut and maple were charged as 6 BF, yet the walnut was obviously less wide than the maple (and they were the same length and thickness). I asked how he got the 6 BF and he said he measured it, which was impossible considering I had taken it to my car to check its fit during the time he said he measured it. He then remeasured the width in front of me, which was about 5.5", then proceeded to call it 6" and how measurements are rounded. I didn't see him take any other measurements. When I proceeded to ask more about the measurements, he started to insult me with comments about how he doesn't have time to teach people who don't understand lumber pricing and how he does this all the time, so I should trust him. I was extremely frustrated and after talking back and forth with him, I gave him the benefit of the doubt and left. As soon as I got home, I measured the pieces myself and calculated the actual BF, which is when I realized I was significantly overcharged (roughly by 40%). I can understand sometimes there are rounding errors during measurements, but these differences were quite significant. I will not be going back to support this business. If you do, be sure to bring your own tape measure! read more

Don't even bother going there. They don't want your business and they don't want you in their warehouse. At least that's the impression I got. Not sure how this dumpster fire stays in business with the horrible attitude they display toward customers. Do not go there. They will treat you terribly, that is if they even acknowledge your presence. I really don't know how they stay in business when they treat customers like this. read more

Good stock of material and decent pricing but they have the absolute worst employees (specifically the guy working the register) I have absolutely no idea how he has a job. He should have been fired years ago. I have heard him berate and insult just about every customer that comes in the door. As a general contractor who does massive ordered with just about every lumber company in the Bay Area, they are without doubt the worst. I sent an employee to pick up drawer slides today and when he asked where they were located, he was told, "look around, we are a wood store, we don't sell hardware" they have been selling drawer hardware for years and still do. What an absolute joke of a human. If you really need to go there, go to the Santa Cruz location, the difference in customer service between the two stores is shocking. read more

Terrible customer service, I visited the store today for the first time, and certainly won't return. The guy at the counter (senior, white, wearing glasses) didn't make any effort to understand what I needed, when I found myself after browsing the store, I asked the price. The guy keep repeating that the board was too expensive, pretended that was doing calculations in his head (didn't measure anything) then repeated again is too expensive...$200. read more

Customer service is horrible!!! Today I went in to purchase some red oak. I picked up two boards and brought them to the cashier. The cashier used his tape and measured the two boards. One of the boards had a large eight inch spilt on one end and the other had a large knot about 3 inches in diameter in the middle. I didn't say anything about the defects. After he measured the wood he quickly said that it would be 20 board feet. I asked him how he got to 20 board feet. He replied that they add a 10 percent premium fee since its finished on both sides. I asked what were the measurements that he got on the boards. He replied 11" wide by 10 feet long and 12" by 12 feet long. Each board was 3/4 inch thick. He was correct on measurement. Using his calculations My board foot calculator gave me measurements of 6.875 and 9 board feet. So if I add those two its 15.875 ft. add 10% and its a total of 17.45. I told him I didnt think it was right and he said "Really?" That was it. No adjustment so I put the boards back and left. Watch out do your math or you might be ripped off. May not sound like much but its adds up especially if the wood is on the expensive side read more

As other have mentioned, the staff here definitely have an elitist attitude. You have to wait in line ( a 10 min wait for me ) to simply ask the price of a piece of wood .. any piece of wood. Jeeze. Then on top of that I got an earful about how they are targeted toward professional people and professional people don't care about prices. They know what they need. Are you serious ? What business person don't care about their material cost ? Even if you have the customer pay for all material, it's not like you get a blank check. And if you're catering to professional, then why open your warehouse to the public at all ? read more

Excellent people and #1 wood to choose xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Called for a quote over the phone before making a trip out there but when I arrived the following day, the employee at the counter gave me an overpriced quote compared to the quote I received over the phone ($15 vs $10 per bf) I felt like I was given poor service and overpriced quotes because I don't look like the typical contractor and younger age. Also seemed annoyed that I asked for a couple prices when there are no prices listed anywhere... but ok. Drove 45 minutes to be given poor service and condescending attitude. Sticking to Moore Newton Quality Hardwoods and MacBeath since they have higher quality wood AND most importantly non discriminatory service. read more

A+. Dealt with a great salesperson named Andrew. I'm a hobbyist woodworker with some knowledge, but much confusion about the different types of sheet goods. Usually stores just ignore you and deal with the professional experienced customer z but Andrew was able to easily explain the different types of materials for me. Great experience and glad this store is around. Much better than home depot or Lowes. read more

Aura Hardwoods - Building Supplies Near Me - San Jose, California

Great inventory of hardwoods, decent selection of ply (although it looks like they may normally have better but were low during my visit). DO NOT expect ANY help from any employees. If you have any questions Google them beforehand if you want to know the price you'll have to wait until you check out. They seem very annoyed by anything as simple as "how much is the (fill in the blank)?" read more

Terrible customer service. The guy at the counter couldn't be bothered to help us or even answer our questions. Q: Do you have this type of wood? A: Yes, but I'd have to get it from the back. You should have called ahead. (No effort to help) Q: What is the price of this particular lumber (pointing to the one we wanted)? A: I don't know. Each wood is priced individually. (No effort to check price) Q: Okay, so how much would it be? A: I don't know. I'd have to look it up. (No effort to look it up) We drove all the way from Mountain View to visit this showroom, but walked out disappointed. Pity, as they lost a sizeable business. They need to have people at the counter who are customer service oriented, not ones who couldn't care less if you purchased from them or not. Plus, they don't cut any wood or plywood. No exceptions. So you need to figure out how to transport 16' pieces of wood. read more

Over a year ago, I ordered 55 sheets of plywood from this store. Robert helped me put this order together. He patiently answered my many questions. As a new woodworker, I had a hard time knowing what type of plywood to use and he walked me thru the different options. The entire stack of plywood was very nicely packaged and we were able to take it home without any damage. Now that I have used every sheet of my order, I can say the plywood is of high quality. There is almost no void in the core, the surface of the sheet is defect-free, and the edges are crisp and straight. I highly recommend this store. Their prices are comparable to other stores but we get excellent service and material quality. read more

Aura hardwood products are fine - they have a decent selection of plywood and hardwood lumber, and the prices are good. But the service is horrible. Prices are not listed anywhere, and the cashiers think they are doing you a favor answering your questions (for example prices, or what wood they have). One cashier basically implied they don't care about my business. "We cater to professionals - people who buy 100bf or more of lumber ..." implying my business was not welcome there. I had asked some questions about the bottom of the stack walnut they had left. Thanks Aura, I will take my business elsewhere next time. read more

Local gem, world renown. Great products, best customer service and they support the hobbyist. You don't have to spend 1000 bux to get quality materials and support. Come in with an entitled sense of self, they will help adjust your mentality. Come in with questions and you will get a host of options from people who know. I am a garage woodworker- no connection to this business other than being a customer. read more

Good selection of hardwoods. Planed and jointed to S3 which makes life easier even though I would still plane and joint it. Some exotics but not a lot which isn't a bad thing. Can't remember if I saw curly or crotch there. No issues with BB, fairly typical pricing for 4x8 and 5x5 (well Bay Area anyways). Have a lot of euro laminates and composites as well. Maple and poplar are in line with expected. Workers are fine, checking out is always fast and they can direct you where to go if you walked past a species you were looking for. For those that are complaining about them not cutting your wood and helping you load, you have to recognize their customer base is generally going to be small cabinet shops, furniture makers and woodworking hobbyists. They are open to the public but you're not in a big box store. Do some research before you go and understand how to calculate board feet so you can estimate costs, know what the grain patterns are telling you, rough vs S2 vs S3, 8/4 vs 4/4, widths will not be uniform etc. read more

Yaay for the one nice, young guy who helped my client and I. (A couple of the other guys were a bit sucky at customer service, but the nice guy made up for their suckyness). I LOVE that Aura now sources all woods from FSC sources. That means they actually care about the environment enough to to source woods from sustainably managed forests. So five stars for the one nice young guy & caring for our planet:) PS, the older pissy and unhelpful guys should know how very close they were to a roast review before your kind co-worker saved your asses:) maybe buy him lunch & then get some customer service training for the grumpy geezers. Cheers to sustainably managed forests and kind people!! read more

My Southern Lumber replacement. Happy San Jose has its own Aura Hardwoods warehouse. They just carry lumber so this isn't a replacement for a hardware store, but they have a great selection of wood for my TechShop Shopbot projects! read more

Aura Hardwoods - Majorly confusing! This is the retail parking entrance (drive thru the EXIT signage. Additional parking in back if full. - Building Supplies Near Me - San Jose, California

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Very fast response Reliable good and fair prices Very knowledgeable staff Highly recommended Will use your services over & over Thanks read more

Robert at Aura Hardwood saved me a bunch of money and provided stellar customer service. I am completely delighted. I ordered a blended maple island top for a kitchen remodel from Boos through Aura. Robert took my order on the phone, explained the process, and eventually the top arrived. (If you are interested, be aware the lead time is 4-6 weeks.) To my chagrin, due to my own miscalculation the top was just inches too short. My husband and I came up with a possible rework, and I drove to Aura in person to look for additional wood. (I love looking at different varieties of wood, and I was able to browse some beautiful woods such a zebrawood before I asked to see Robert.) Robert helped me update and improve the rework plan and sent it out for a couple of quotes for me in case we decided it was more work than we wanted to do on our own. I strongly suspect this is not in his job description but it was a relief not to have to quote it out on my own. When the quote came back much higher than expected, and we decided it was more than we wanted to do on our own, I asked for a quote on a new block of an appropriate size. Robert got the quote from Boos, which turned out to be much higher than the original block because now it was custom, and slightly larger than one of their standard sizes. With a sigh I decided that it was still necessary to purchase it and I asked him to order it. He not only discounted it on his end but also called the supplier and negotiated a discount on their end, with the resultant price comparable to the original top. I am delighted. Remember that this was all due to a mistake of my own making. Robert was not fixing an error on the part of Aura; he was just trying to help me get what I needed to finish my kitchen. I am not a contractor. I can and will refer everyone I know but I am not a volume customer. Thanks so much to Robert, and I urge any homeowner to take a look at what Aura can offer in terms of customer service, beyond simply high quality lumber. read more

Super grateful that these guys are here. Needed 16' oak and couldn't find any at the chain hardware stores. Aura came through and set me up with a miller to get my exact dimensions. Shout out to Robert W for excellent customer service; what a difference it makes to speak to someone knowledgeable and super helpful. Aura, not the big chains, will be my fist stop for any lumber from now on. read more

Aura at one time used be carry quality wood products. Looks like those days are gone. I purchased two sheets of 3/4" cabinet grade prefinished maple ply only to find a bow in each piece. When cut down to 20" x 39" panels, the bow was 3/16" - 1/4" over a distance of 39". I had to sort through 10 sheets to find 2 sheets as the prefinished sides had way too many knots and the unfinished side had to many defects. Essentially, their cabinet grade maple is useless. As other stated customer service is pretty bad as well, just a bunch of kids goofing off. There were three workers doing nothing and not one would offer to help load the sheets. There was also a couple in their 70s trying to load plywood in their truck and no one would help them. Its unfortunate that Mac Beth has closed its San Jose store as I never had these types of issues. I would rather drive to Mc Beth in Berkeley than deal with such poor quality. read more

This is the best place in the area to get a lot of the rare and high-quality products they sell, particularly the 5'x5' Baltic birch plywood. Staff are knowledgeable, helpful, and polite, but for some reason they act like I taking away their business when I ask for prices. I know lumber prices are volatile, especially now, but that still might be the sort of thing you want your customers to know. read more

Horrible customer service. Won't cut wood to fit in my car. My son came here to purchase hundreds of dollars of product. Sad

I've purchased from Aura for 35 years, the only place to shop. As the name implies, hardwood and plywood are available at a very reasonable price. read more

Just went here for the first time and was pleasantly surprised with the pricing and service. I'm a sculptor major at San Jose State and have a novice project. The storefront was locked but a sign said go around to the side where they do will call. The roll up door revealed a warehouse full of planks and sheets. One of the employees talked to me about what material would be suitable for my project. They don't do any cutting here so you'll need to be able to transport 12' sticks and they can't plane the material to a certain thickness either. Most of their stock is 3/4 or thicker. The guy that helped was awesome and they give a school discount! read more

The staff is great! Incredibly helpful and very friendly. I've been in 4 times over the last few years. Excellent selection of hardwood. The first two of the times that I visited Aura Hardwoods, I called ahead of time to make sure the wood I wanted was in stock. When I arrived later that day I found out that there wasn't any. The guys working there told me that it would arrive the next day. Even though, I didn't get what I went there to buy, I ended up leaving with more wood than I had originally planned on getting because there were so many great options. A couple of the workers even tried helping me match a piece of wood that I brought in. Even though they couldn't match it, they were able to suggest a similar looking one. read more

I went in looking for something to finish a project at home which I previously did the same in a competitor and got the run around. I received a greeting right away from an employee who took me throughout the warehouse in an effort to help me with what I had gone in for. He was not only helpful but professional and I left satisfied and went above and beyond to meet my expectations. I'd recommend this business to others moving forward. read more

Called in with a question about some pre-existing engineered hardwood floors in the home I am buying. Robert was extremely friendly and helpful in answering my question over the phone and even invited me to come down and bring a sample of the flooring for him to look at in person. It is such a relief to find such helpful and friendly customer service! read more

Robert W. at Aura Hardwoods exemplifies expert customer service and went above and beyond to help us transform our glass top IKEA coffee table into a rustic hardwood top! Thank you for making our coffee table farm wood rustic! read more

The customer service here is really bad. My dad asked some questions that could not be answered by one of the cashiers, however, we weren't there for questions to be answered. We were there to get really good quality hinges which is always going to be a plus here. After our transaction was finished, the cashier stepped back and watch all the other workers do they're job like normal and didn't even offer us a bag for our hinges until we had to ask another cashier that was doing twice the work that he was doing. If you are coming here to get really good hinges then you won't have a problem finding them here, if you do have questions, then be prepared to leave the establishment with unanswered ones. read more

I had an obsolete hardwood floor heat register that broke and I could NOT find a replacement. I was referred to Aura Hardwoods and they worked tirelessly to find one/make one for me. It shipped very timely and fit perfectly ! And the price was VERY reasonable. Thank you Aura Hardwoods. They still take time for personal interaction and commitment....you know, like people used to do. read more

Consistently great service (and great wood!) from Aura. I'm building several table tops for our business and these guys took time to help me pick the best product (some nice maple plywood), talking to me about it in detail. Shout out, especially, to Ian who has given me good-natured help in the past (there's a couple other guys too); today he went above and beyond the call of duty to get me what I needed. I'm looking forward to coming back here for a personal project sometime, lots of great stuff... read more

I have been in the market for bamboo flooring for the last 6 months and wanted to thank Robert at Aura for helping me every step of the way. I had lots and lots of questions and he patiently answered each and every one of them. He made sure I had samples to take home and did research on lead times when I came close to picking any wood. I strongly recommend them for any of your lumber needs. read more

Great place. Helpful friendly people. Now that southern lumber is gone, this place is awesome! I highly recommend. Go check it out. U will probably find the specialty wood you are looking for. read more

Looking for plywood and I found it. Great selection and much better quality than Home Depot. The staff was helpful and made great suggestions read more

I visited Aura after Southern Lumber closed, searching for an alternative. They were suggested by TechShop. Unfortunately, they have no hardware and no milling services. Being limited to public transportation, I cannot carry large pieces of lumber. Therefore, they probably won't fill the gap (unless I can go in with someone at TechShop who has a pickup to make lumber runs...) read more