Lincoln Creek Lumber – Family Owned for Five Generations and Over 100 Years

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Imagine starting a business today that would still be thriving one hundred years from now. It is almost unthinkable in our fast paced world, technology start ups, corporate buyouts and big box dominance. Yet in our midst is a family owned company that has flourished for five generations. Lincoln Creek Lumber has proudly served the communities of Lewis and Thurston Counties for over a century.

Lincoln Creek Lumber Company began in 1903 as a mill. The original mill continued its operations through the Great Depression and survived this difficult era by reselling lumber and mouldings from other mills. A vital key to their long-term success, Lincoln Creek Lumber Company is well known for their good service and the ability to adapt to change.

As the community grew and changed, so did Lincoln Creek Lumber Company by expanding product and service offerings and joining the ACE Hardware Co-Op. With a new building and a wider range of goods available to store customers, Lincoln Creek was able to ride through the Pacific Northwest’s lumber depressions of the 1970s and by 1991 opened a second location in Tumwater.

lincoln creek lumber
Lincoln Creek Lumber started as a mill in 1903. Photo courtesy: Lincoln Creek Lumber.

Currently, Lincoln Creek Lumber has stores in Tumwater, Centralia, and Chehalis as well as a lumberyard in Chehalis offering a complete assortment of lumber and building materials, paint and supplies, power tools, job site deliveries and even unique gift and garden ware.

Justin Stroup, Manager of the Market Street Ace Hardware store in Chehalis explains, “We are a unique hardware store in that we have all the customary items like hand tools but we also have distinctive items for gardening, birding and giftware such as candles, leather purses, and decorative kitchenware. Fairy gardens are a big trend right now and we enjoy providing these supplies and ideas to our customers. We do all kinds of special gift ordering.”

“What we do well is one-on-one service,” adds Stroup.

Just down the road is Palmer Lumber, a complement to the Market Street Ace Hardware Store with building materials supplies for builders and contractors. “I have never worked for a company that takes care of its employees so well and provides such a high level of customer service,” shares Jim McDaniel manager of Palmer Lumber.

lincoln creek lumber
Lincoln Creek Lumber stores offers a variety of gift and garden items in addition to lumber and building tools.

Stroup has similar feelings. “I’ve worked for the big box stores and it is so nice to have the opportunity to come back to a small town, work in a family atmosphere and help people. We don’t just build relationships with our customers over the years and help them with their projects but we help people in the community.”

Every August, Market Street Ace Hardware Store, Lincoln Creek Lumber Company and Palmer Lumber host their annual give back to the community event, called Paint the Town. Traditionally, one home in the community is selected to be painted by volunteers. This year two houses will be chosen.

“Every year we ask the community to nominate people who might be in need of some help with their home. We dedicate a day to paint the exterior of the home with all the trim work and a bit of landscaping. This is a great volunteer event with employees from our company and volunteers from throughout the community.”

Ben Nesemeier, Ace Hardware Manager in the Lincoln Creek Lumber Tumwater store further explains why the company has endured for over a century. “We are always trying to cater to our customer requests by introducing new products and technology. For example, there are newer homeowners who like ‘do it yourself’ projects that are modern, easy to do and do not require a complicated skill set. We have this Amy Howard one-step paint that is chalk based and can be used to restore furniture and totally transform a look by painting on the fabric. We love to offer these fun and easy solutions to our customers as well as the lumber, tools and services for our professional builders and contractors.”

lincoln creek lumber
Family owned for five generations and over one hundred years, Lincoln Creek Lumber Company operates three stores and one lumber yard in Thurston and Lewis Counties. Photo courtesy: Lincoln Creek Lumber.

In addition to the innovative products and outstanding relationships with builders and contractors, Nesemeier attributes much of the company’s longevity to enabling managers to be leaders in supporting employees and encouraging their growth and success. “We have flipped the old structure pyramid business model upside down. Employees enjoy serving customers and being leaders in the company. Not only that, but we focus on becoming partners with our customers like the builders. We want to invest in their success. And we want to create a family oriented environment for the individual homeowner who comes in to shop.”

Jeremy Scott, General Manager for Lincoln Creek Lumber agrees with his management team on the elements of success. “First and foremost we are here to truly help the customers, not just simply by telling them an aisle to find the product they are looking for, but asking what project they are working on and giving them any advice we can to finish the project completely, quickly and correctly. We want to be helpful. Our customers success is our success.”

Lincoln Creek Lumber Ace Hardware
2421 93rd Avenue SW
Olympia, WA
360-956-9147

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