McLendon Hardware — Attraction in Woodinville

A recent "Buy Online, Pickup In-Store" order for a specialty Stihl part at McLendon Hardware resulted in a highly inefficient and time-consuming experience. Despite the item being pre-ordered and fully paid for, the retrieval process involved waiting in three separate queues at two different counters. What should have been a simple, expedited transaction of a few minutes took nearly twenty minutes to complete, undermining the primary convenience of ordering ahead.

Background: An order was placed online the evening prior for a Stihl 33RSF chainsaw chain. A confirmation email was received at 7:55 PM, indicating the order was ready for pickup. The item was collected the following morning at approximately 8:45 AM.

The In-Store Process: Upon arrival, the designated "Online Order" pickup counter was unstaffed. The standard checkout counter was open, and after waiting in a queue of approximately five customers, I presented my order confirmation.

Instead of retrieving the item, the staff member directed me to the Stihl specialty counter located in a different section of the store. At the Stihl counter, the associate was engaged with other customers, and a notable wait of around ten minutes ensued before I could be acknowledged. After I initiated contact to state I was there for a pre-paid online order, the associate retrieved the chainsaw chain.

However, the transaction was not complete. I was instructed to return to the original checkout counter to have the item processed for final pickup. This required waiting in a second queue at that same counter. Once I reached the cashier, the transaction for the pre-paid item was finalized.

Here is what went wrong. Multiple Queues: A single transaction required waiting in line three times (initial counter, Stihl counter, final checkout).

Redundant Steps: For a pre-paid item, requiring a customer to visit a specialty counter for retrieval and then return to a general counter for checkout is a significant operational inefficiency.

Staff Allocation: The dedicated online pickup counter was not operational, forcing customers into the standard, and busier, checkout process.

When I provided feedback to staff about the convoluted process, the response suggested that this was the standard, accepted procedure.

While McLendon Hardware is a valuable resource for a wide range of products, particularly hard-to-find items, its current process for in-store pickup of specialty products like Stihl is flawed. A transaction that should take no more than two minutes extended to nearly twenty, creating a negative customer experience.

For brands like Stihl, which feature standardized pricing across all dealerships, customer service and convenience become the primary differentiators. Competing retailers typically have pre-paid items staged at a single pickup point for immediate collection.

To remain competitive and meet customer expectations for modern retail services, McLendon needs to revise its workflow to ensure all pre-paid items are available for direct and swift pickup at a single, designated location.

Quite simple today's experience was disapointing...

Update: I haven't had to make any special orders for the Stihl brand chains or filters in a very long time. Thank you guys for listening! I am amazed and so thankful that you guys care so much about your customers' shopping experiences. Even when it's just one family with a request.

Since I first wrote this review I have moved from just a few miles away from the store to about 25 miles away. I pass three hardware stores when I go to Mclendon, but I will happily continue making the trip to this store because of the wonderful relationships and service my husband and I receive there.

Original Review : The employees here are all very friendly and helpful. My husband and I always have our yellow lab, Teddy, with us and we bring him in here. Almost every employee knows him and greets him and he loves all the attention. I almost think he should be the McLendon Hardware mascot with as much as we go to this store. Haha! It has gotten to the point that if we are driving down the highway Teddy knows when we are getting close to McLendon and gets very excited because he knows we're close by and he wants to go see everyone there.

I appreciate how McLendon is handling covid-19 as well. They enforce social distancing and also only allow 25 people in the store at one time. Sure it's a bummer that I have to wait in line to get into the store sometimes, but I would rather do that than be shoulder to shoulder with all the other customers. To help move everything faster they added two outdoor registers, though. That way people who only want plants don't have to wait in line to get in the store only to wait in another line to check out.

The only recommendation I would give is that as a Stihl dealer I think they should carry more parts in stock. Every time I need filters or some other part for my chain saws I've had to make a special order and wait for it to come in. It would be nice to not have to do that with items as simple as filters/chains/spark plugs (they do carry some, but for some reason never the one I need).

So overall I give McLendon five stars! They are very friendly, very helpful and handle unexpected situations very well and with the customer's and employee's safety as the #1 priority.

Thanks McLendon! You guys...

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6/1/2020 I've heard about this store and have seen it in the past and always wanted to check it out. It's cute and inviting. It was surprisingly busy as COVID-19 is still on people's minds. They were limiting customers and had markings on the floor near the customer service area/checkout to ensure customers stayed 6 feet apart. This area was off to the side of the registers and a bit confusing for those not paying attention to the marking on the floor. The issue I have was that one of the female cashiers was extremely rude to the customers in line as some were cutting ahead (I feel accidentally) and others weren't moving forward as people were checked out. I saw her on no less than 4 occasions yelling across the front to customers who accidentally cut the line or in the case of those who didn't move forward fast enough, yelled she can't see anyone, stepped out of her register and pointed to the floor and abruptly said "here" and pointed to a spot on the floor to tell the customer where they should be standing. Each of those customers were elderly. I'd be upset if someone treated my parents or grandparents that way. By the time I got to her register, she was loudly complaining to another employee about the customers not standing in the designated spot. I stated that I didn't think anyone was doing it intentionally and that it was a bit confusing as the registers are off to the side. She responded by telling me about the floor markers, to which I responded, "I understand, but you don't have to be rude about it." She wasn't wearing a name tag and her actions didn't seem to phase any of the other cashiers, so this may be the norm here. I own a small business and would be completely embarrassed and upset if I had an employee treating my customers, especially elderly ones, as poorly as she was. I get it... we're in stressful times. Politeness...