Carnation Ace Hardware’s bittersweet goodbye after 56 years
Published 1:00 pm Thursday, November 13, 2025
In 1969, Ron Cox’s father purchased Carnation Lumber Supply so he could spend more time with his family.
This year, Cox, who took over the store in 1983, has retired so he can spend more time with family, too.
“I’m just ready to retire,” he said. “I’m 67 and thinking now the business is keeping me from my family, so I want to spend more time with family.”
The store, now known as Carnation Ace Hardware, was run by the Cox family for 56 years. Before that, it was owned by the Hockert family.
Ron Cox grew up in the hardware store, working there from the age of 10.
“I didn’t realize how special it was because the community really just took us in,” he said. “As I get older, I realize that they aren’t just customers, they’re my family.”
Cox and his wife went on to give their boys a similar childhood.
“It was a great starting point for them,” he said. “It wasn’t what their future was going to be. They had no interest in carrying on the business, but it got them a good foothold in an understanding business, and then they just leaped into their own careers.”
Cox and his wife, KC, held a celebration Oct. 25 to say thank you to the Carnation community. At the event, they announced the new owners of the property: Snohomish Co-op.
Though it will no longer be a hardware store, Cox said he believes the new owner and business will be a great fit for the community.
KC Cox said they have been careful to ensure the community knows that the property’s sale was mutually beneficial.
“We really like this guy, and it’s been a very good process, very healthy, very open,” she said. “We, with the buyer, want to say, we happily pass the baton to you.”
Cooperating with the community
Snohomish Co-op opened in 1935 and has many interactions of its business model, from servicing vehicles to delivering fuel to selling baby birds — but it has always been a member-owned business.
Today, the co-op is run by General Manager Mike Lukjanowicz and governed by a seven-member board of directors. Carnation will be the company’s third location, with the second in Monroe.
Lukjanowicz said the co-op already has regular customers from the Carnation area, and the shop will be a good addition to the community. When he found out the Cox family was selling, he jumped on the opportunity.
“This is a community that does not have the local need met,” he said. “The neighborhood needed us, or a business like ours, and Ron decided it was time for him to sunset his time as an Ace Hardware, so I had to do the investigation of that when there was no way I could not.”
While the Carnation Co-op will not be a hardware store, the farm and feed category does include a variety of hardware, Lukjanowicz said. The other co-op locations also sell supplies for both farm animals and pets, equestrian products and home heating solutions, including kerosene.
Lukjanowicz said it’s important for him to focus on products that the Carnation community is interested in, especially since the store’s footprint will be smaller than the other locations. There is currently a QR code outside of the future Carnation Co-op, and when scanned, it opens a community survey.
“It’s really important to me that I can actually engage directly with the community and our future customers to find out what are the areas that are the most important to them, and then do my best to bring in the best of the best in those areas and categories,” he said.
Community has always been a key part of Snohomish Co-op’s values, and Lukjanowicz said he plans for the store to be as involved in Carnation’s community as possible.
“It’s really important to me to be a great steward of our community,” he said. “Just everything from working with schools to the [agriculture] groups to being good stewards with local farmers and farmers markets. Definitely things of that nature are avenues that we are looking to be a part of. And I’m open to connecting with everybody in the community and listening for ways where we can do even more.”
