BELLINGHAM, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – Hardware Sales has been a family-run business with a loyal customer base operating in Whatcom County for over half a century. Efforts to keep up with big chain retailers and technological advances are not slowing down third generation owner Ty McClellan.

“We really feel that [at] Hardware Sales, we take more profits and put them back into the business and back into the people,” McClellan said. “My deep-down feeling is this business needs to keep on going, and it belongs to the community here. So, when I look at it, that’s what I think of. It’s my job to keep it going, keep it hunting, and it’s not easy, you know, [it’s a] competitive business.”

According to Hardware Sales’ website, McClellan’s grandparents Alta and Max founded the business that would become Hardware Sales in 1962. It was originally called Powder Sales and specialized in dynamite, secondhand and surplus goods. McClellan said that the move into different industries, like lumber, came from the over-regulation of the dynamite industry.

Light fixtures hang in the entryway of the core retail space for Hardware Sales on James St. Photo by Emma Toscani

McClellan grew up around his grandparents’ business, coming to work under his dad in high school when his father took over. McClellan attended the nearby Bellingham High School and would come to the hardware store after class to build wheelbarrows, put away inventory, sweep the parking lot and do other odd and end-jobs.

“When you’re working for family, you’re not part of ownership, and when you’re younger, things don’t happen fast enough,” he said. “I thought a couple of times of splitting away and doing my own thing, but I decided to stay here. And [it’s] worked out well.”

In the latter half of high school, McClellan took on more responsibility by making deliveries and pickups. He left the business for two years after high school graduation before coming back to work in the cable and rigging department. McClellan eventually built an outside sales position for himself, thereby encouraging larger purchases from the people he would help.

McClellan said that the takeover from his father was not as cut-and-dry as it could seem. He never considered himself a boss at the store, but rather part of the team. As time went on, McClellan was asked by his father, Jerry, if he wanted to be the head of the business, and McClellan stayed on when given the choice.

“[When my dad told he was making me Vice President about two decades ago, I] said, ‘It doesn’t change my what I do when I come to work, my thought process when I come to work. It’s just a title, and if there was no salary increase that came with that or anything,'” McClellan recalled.

McClellan now offers that same choice to his only child, Brookelyn, who has taken on the marketing efforts at the store. During her tenure as Business Strategy Manager, she’s expanded Hardware Sales-branded merchandise to a variety of objects, promoting the business through the so-called “swag.” This includes traditional shirts and hats as well as more creative materials like Hardware Sales alcohol.

The store currently sells a red wine from a partnership with a Columbia Valley winery and has released a variety of Hardware Sales-branded beer with four different Whatcom County breweries.

Hardware Sales partnered with four breweries to create the “Hardware Sales Ales” line which includes (from left): Menace’s Lawnmower Beer, Stemma’s Hazy Contractor IPA, North Fork’s Max Rips Winter Ale and Beach Cat’s Claw Hammered Hazy IPA.

The unique approach to branding can be extended to rental options provided by the hardware store. Their rental department is robust, offering standard things like machinery equipment and various tools to party equipment like restroom trailers, balloon inflators and a collection of arcade machines. McClellan touted their party speaker light tower trailer, which projects color lights with speakers from an apparatus that can shoot thirty feet in the air.

Bringing interest to the business doesn’t just apply to party rentals and branded wine. McClellan said that over half of their total sales come from their online sales, and navigating operations as an online retailer has become a challenge in recent years.

“We have a 70,000 square foot facility back in Indianapolis. [We have a] 36,000 square foot facility in Ferndale, and that’s our internet division, and it makes up about 70% of our overall sales at this point, which also helps us with that buying power,” he said. Hardware Sales sells online largely through Amazon as a third-party, which McClellan said is a challenge, as the tech giant wants to dictate what products it offers.

Using AI tools is a recent move by the company to purchase items from manufacturers and distributors. McClellan said the move may be difficult to navigate, as the tools cannot measure what he calls “missed opportunities.”

“If you had 10 products on the shelf and the guy wanted 20, that’s not going to show good sales history, because it can’t read missed opportunities. So, if you’re a little bit heavier [on] inventory, you’re building better sales histories,” he said.

McClellan tries to make the business a welcoming part of the community, putting the customer first and operating as a team member rather than a boss.

“It takes a team and just like you see my name tag here, it says ‘Team Lead,'” McClellan told My Bellingham Now. “It doesn’t say ‘President,’ doesn’t say ‘Vice President.’ If everybody’s contributing, doing a good job, it’s only when problems arise that you really need that boss, that leader. I believe in teams, great communication and lean manufacturing.”

For more information about Hardware Sales, head to their website at hardwaresales.net.

We are Whatcom is a weekly column featuring Whatcom County residents making a positive impact on the community. To submit a Whatcom County resident to be featured, click here.