Hayden Safe & Lock Co., Inc.

Hayden Safe & Lock is a Salem storefront locksmith where most of the work is measured in minutes, not days. A customer writing in January 2026 said the crew came when they said they would and finished the job in about thirty seconds; another, in March 2026, walked in with a motorcycle key snapped in half and left with a working one inside an hour. The company says on its own site that it has served customers for more than a century, and its BBB page lists a business start date of 1910, incorporation in 1995, ten employees, and John R. Whitmarsh as owner. It has been BBB accredited since 2003 and carries an A+ grade there. Beyond the Webb Street shop in Salem there is a second location in Salisbury, and the site advertises 24-hour emergency service. The day-to-day is keys and locks across every category: residential, commercial, institutional and automotive lock work, key cutting, safes, high-security hardware and keyless entry. Across 94 Google ratings averaging 4.3, the praise clusters on speed and on solving odd problems — a 2022 reviewer described them identifying a key type for locked basement panels over the phone so only replacement keys had to be paid for instead of a house call, and a 2023 reviewer credited them with opening a Thule box that had a family's suitcases locked inside. The complaints are worth reading before you go. They are not about competence but about what happens when something goes wrong: a January 2025 reviewer said that when a key is cut incorrectly the shop decides whether it is at fault, and expects payment again if it decides it is not; an October 2024 reviewer said much the same after paying for a key that did not work. A December 2024 customer replacing a keypad entry described getting different answers from different staff about whether the warranty depended on buying the lock from Hayden, and put the shop's price for the same Schlage unit at $200 above the big-box price. A 2023 reviewer felt overcharged at $27 for a key cut elsewhere for $4, and another that year said a $32 motorcycle key blank was ruined during cutting. An August 2025 one-star review called the service unreliable and disrespectful without describing a job. For a fast key cut, a stuck lock, or a safe question, this is the kind of long-established local shop that gets you out the door quickly. If you are buying hardware through them or having an expensive blank cut, settle the price against a retail quote and get the warranty terms — who covers a bad cut, and whether that changes if you supply your own lock — from one person, in writing, first.