Crocker's adds lumber to its impressive inventory

Brad Crocker. Photo by Howard Owens.

Press release:

America's most celebrated “helpful place” is celebrating the grand opening of its newest lumber yard, located in Le Roy. The new lumber yard is an expansion to the existing Crocker's Ace Hardware Store located 8457 North Street Road in Le Roy. Crocker's Hardware and lumber staff will bring the company's unique blend of nationally recognized customer service and quality home-improvement knowledge and products back to Le Roy and the surrounding area residents.

Crocker's Ace Hardware is owned by Brad Crocker and Dan Diskin. Brad is the third generation from the Crocker family to own a business in the Town of Le Roy  His grandfather, Clarence, owned and operated a feed mill and farm supply store on Selden Road. His father, Judd, continued the tradition with his brothers, James and Louis, and built Crocker's Ace Hardware on the current site in 1969. Dan Diskin, Brad's partner,  is a native Le Royan also. He started working at Crocker's in college. Brad and Dan purchased the business from Judd and his brothers in 1998.

Brad lives on Selden Road in Le Roy with his sons, Ben and Cole Crocker, his girlfriend, Nicole Boyce, and her daughter, Christina Woodrow. He keeps busy around the house with his watercross snowmobile racing team. Their kids are active in four-wheeling with dad, Cub Scouts, swimming, youth soccer and youth volleyball. Nicole is a professional photographer who enjoys capturing everything from racing to senior portraits.

Dan is a village resident. At home on Myrtle Street are his wife, Cheryl, their daughters, Jenna and Alison, and son, Jack. A third daughter, Tess Diskin Ryan, recently married Joseph P. Ryan, formally of Batavia. They reside in Camp Lejeune, N.C. Cheryl is the records clerk for the Village of Le Roy Police Department. Jenna is a LIVES graduate of SUNY Geneseo; Alison works at JC Penney in Batavia and is a GCC student. Jack is junior at Le Roy High School and enjoys band and theater.

Brad and Dan have been planning the lumber expansion for several years.

“A lumber yard is something that LeRoy always has had,” Dan Diskin said. “For a long time, Le Roy had two -- Wickes and Lapp Lumber. When Potter Lumber (the former Lapp Lumber) closed, it was just the spark we needed to bring lumber back to the people of Le Roy!”

Brad and Dan worked closely with Mickey Hyde and the team at Bank of Castile to finance the project.

“We felt that working with our hometown bank was the best way for us to do business,” Brad explained. “Using government tax breaks and promising that we could add so many jobs if we got a loan did not interest us at this time.”