SAMMAMISH, Wash. -- A noose that had been on display at a Sammamish hardware store is now gone, but not before stirring up a little controversy.

Clay Olney was on a quick trip to the Ace Hardware store with his dad when he saw the noose hanging in the store.

"At first, I doubted that it was what I thought it was, and I had to stare at it," Olney said. "I thought, 'Why is there a noose hanging in a hardware store?' "

Tim Koch, the store's owner says he wasn't trying to hurt anybody.

"I'm not trying to make a statement; I sell rope," he said.

"There are many other knots you could tie besides a noose," Olney responded.

The rope section of Koch's store is clearly marked by a black sign. But Koch says customers walking down the aisle can't see that sign, so, "We just put (the noose) up there for display, not to, it's not intended to offend anyone."

When asked if he could see how it offended someone, he replied: "I can see how it could offend someone, yes."

The noose went up seven years ago, when they opened. In those years, he says he's never once heard a complaint until KOMO 4 News called him with Olney's complaint Monday.

"I have many, many comments from customers that are positive; they'll laugh, they'll look at it and say, 'Oh, that's funny,' " Koch said.

But Olney replied: "They don't use electrical chairs to sell wires in that department, why would you use a noose in the rope department?"

He says he and his dad told the assistant manager.

"It's a conversation piece, it's not meant by any means to offend anybody or anything like that," Koch said. "And of course, I am willing to take it down."

We called the King County NAACP for their take. When president James Bible showed up, the noose, was still there. After a lengthy conversation, Koch agreed to take the noose down.

"We're deeply concerned that it took the NAACP coming out here and having a conversation with management to actually have this symbol of hatred taken down, Bible said.

"We have no intention to offend anybody," Koch reiterated. "We have no intention to make anybody mad."

Bible said in situations like this, when people don't intend to be racist, the outcome can still be a racial divide.