Remember old fashioned hardware stores?
It used to be that when you went in the hardware store, they had a little of everything.
Whether you wanted hog rings to hardware, candles to canning jars or paint to a plumber’s helper, the old hardware store had it in stock. They would cut a spare key for you too.
What’s more, that old store had employees that greeted everyone, by name if you were a regular. You didn’t stand in line for hours and it was easy to get help. There was always someone around to ask.
Usually the owner of a store like this was onsite working alongside his employees and keeping an eye on things. He took pride in his business.
Believe it or not, stores like this still exist. One of those is McDaniel’s Do-It Center on Second Street in Snohomish. The second generation hardware store still sticks to the old values of good customer service and keeping a vast array of stock and service available. You can still get a key cut at McDaniel’s, too.
Some things have changed over the years, of course. A good portion of the tools now are high quality cutting-edge power tools. Besides utility candles you can also get fancy scented fashion candles to match your décor. There are tons of pet supplies in addition to farm products.
In fact, the assortment of merchandise is bigger and more varied than ever. They even fill C02 tanks. And you can get paint advice from employees who really know about paint and color palettes.
Its success can be traced to using the same business model that was created when Bob McDaniel purchased the Marshall Wells hardware store on Snohomish’s First Street in 1966 and changed the name to Coast to Coast Hardware. Then, about 1986, he moved the family business into the vacant old Safeway grocery store on Second Street.
“Parking is at a premium in Snohomish,” said McDaniel’s son, Brad, who now owns the store. “The opportunity to have parking motivated our decision.”
It also motivated a lot of customers to keep coming in. Being able to find easy parking, great inventory and good customer service helped the business to blossom.
In 1992, the McDaniel family decided to join the Do-It Best Corporation, a nationwide member-owned distributor of lumber, hardware, and building products for the home improvement industry.
Essentially, the Do-It Best Corporation allows smaller family-owned businesses such as McDaniel’s the ability to compete with the quantity buying power of the big box stores.
And that is something that is essential because the big box stores have not only flourished, they have moved into Snohomish proper. The opening of the Snohomish Station shopping center a few months ago brought new competition, at the same time the economy was turning down. Both changes were new challenges for family-owned businesses like McDaniel’s Do-It Center.
Still, Brad McDaniel sees customer loyalty keeping his business strong. When he bought the business from his father several years ago, the loyal customers came with it and they are still there, still shopping close to home.
Shifting customer priorities have been good for McDaniel.
“Categories such as outdoor stuff and plants have gone gangbusters for us,” he said. “ I don’t know if that’s because people are staying home more or that it was that the winter was so bad that they are now having to replace things.”
Customers enjoy the large McDaniel’s staff that makes it is easy to get help and never have a long wait to check out.
Among the staff customers see regularly is owner Brad McDaniel and, more often than not, original owner Bob McDaniel, who still keeps a hand in the business.
“Dad’s been working here for fifty years,” Brad McDaniel said. “He just has too much fun (to stay away).”
McDaniel hopes one or more of his five children will someday run the business. If they do, McDaniel plans to teach them to stick to the old-fashioned principles that have served his family, and Snohomish, well for so long.
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