Lancaster family buys ACE Hardware on Orcas

Scott and Therese Lancaster have purchased the Orcas Home Central ACE Hardware Store in Eastsound as of June 12, 2008.

Scott Lancaster comes to the Eastsound hardware store after nearly 15 years’ experience at Island Hardware and Supply.

“If it hadn’t been for that experience and the generosity of Paul Garwood, and of Harriet Miller [current and former owners of Island Hardware] to me and my family, with everything they taught me, there’s no way we’d have been able to do this,” said Scott.

Immediate changes for the “ACE” hardware store are renaming it Orcas Island Hardware, although continuing the association with the ACE co-op.

“We’ll concentrate on what’s been working. I’m surprised at the amount of paint and sundries that we sell – and plants. And the store has always done a good job of emphasizing Christmas items.”

Eventually they plan to expand into building and masonry hardware and products. Scott emphasizes that they are happy to fulfill any customer request. “If we don’t have it, we’ll get it and keep it in stock. David [Carlson, previous owner] has done that right along. It’s all about customer service.”

But for now, the Lancasters will stick with what has worked successfully under the ownership of Carlson.

Lancaster says that, while “there always have been two hardware stores on the island,” Carlson and his wife Flavia rebuilt Orcas Home Central “out of the ashes” of Orcas Lumber 12 years ago. “The business was bankrupt and the building in disrepair. They spent lots of money, time and care to build it back,” said Scott.

Carlson says, “Flavia and I are thrilled to death that we got great, competent people to buy our baby.” The Carlsons now plan to spend more time with their grandbabies.

The Lancasters enjoy being able to do what they want to do in the store, and find “putting your own key in the door every day is exciting.” Scott adds, “Working without a net is a challenge. We’re responsible not only for our family but for everyone else who works here too.”

The hardware store employs five fulltime employees and one part-time employee.

Outside the store, Scott also enjoys cooking and golf, and he has served on the public school board since November 2006. “It will be interesting to see how the dynamic balances out over the next year and a half.” While Scott estimates he spends 12 to 15 hours a week on school board business, wife Therese guesses it’s more like 20 hours, with emails and phone calls coming in at home most days.

With two children in the school, Lancaster says “The old cliché of giving back to the community is true. I saw that there was going to be a need to pitch in, and it seemed better to work on the inside.

“It’s been fun and rewarding – even through all the hard stuff.”

Therese indulges her longtime passion for horses (she once worked at Del Mar Race Track in southern California) in training and teaching horseback riding on their four-acre property. The Lancaster kids have inherited her passion for horses and are both in 4-H. In addition, Patrick Lancaster, 15, an Orcas High School sophomore next fall, is into playing sports. Lindsay Lancaster, 11, who’ll enter seventh grade in September, has entertained Orcas Idolette audiences with her performances in the competition the last two years.

Although their kids will be working at the family store, they have both already lined up summer jobs, with Patrick working at Trail Rides and Lindsay working at YMCA Camp Orkila’s horse camp. “We’ll fit them in here as they can,” says Therese. The business will remain open Sundays through the summer, and possibly into the fall, in which case, “it will be the four of us in the store,” says Therese.

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