Marketing ln The Footsteps Of History

Since 1974. Mountain Lumber Co., Ruckersville, Va., has recycled at least 20 million bd. ft. of lumber from old factories, barns and even 20O-year-old piers. Woods culled from these seasoned structures, including cypress, heart pine and the now-extinct American chestnut, are turned into flooring planks, architectural accents, stair parts and counter tops for commercial and residential projects.

"Old wood has a warmth, stability and character that new wood lacks. It has a history, too," says president and founder Willie Drake. "I marvel at the age of this wood and often wish that I could have walked throueh some of

New Ace DC Replaces Smaller Centers

Prince George, Va., in Sept. 2001 (see Oct., p. 54), necessitating the closure of its Charlotte, N.C., and Baltimore, Md., facilities at the end of February.

Retailers who receive goods from the Charlotte facility will be shipped merchandise from the Gainesville, Ga., RSC for the next few months. Those serviced from Baltimore will get their goods from Wilton, N.Y.

The closures affect about 200 workers, some of whom will remain with the company. Both DCs are less than 20 years old and service up to 300 stores. The new complex, which is about 150,000 sq. ft. larger than the combined size of its soon-to-be-shuttered counterparts, will house about $40 million in inventory and employ roughly 325 people.

the heart-pine wilderness."

Drake first became interested in reclaiming old wood back in the early 1970s when, as a carpenter, he went to West Virginia to get chestnut lumber from several old buildings.

"I stood looking at the old structures wondering if more of this material existed and if it could have new uses," he recalls. "When I started sharing this idea with others, people looked at me as if I was crazy."

Soon after, Drake switched from carpentry to the wood-salvaging business. Nowadays, his problem isn't finding clients, it's finding old wood. "We used to be given lumber or be allowed to buy it real cheap," he says. "Now there are five to l0 companies bidding on each demolition site."

While barns are still a good resource, Drake spends a lot of his time in New England where many defunct textile mills and other industrial plants are being torn down. He keeps careful track of where he gets his stock, describing the history of each deconstructed building in a booklet he gives his customers, so they know exactly where the wood for their floors originated.

The firm offers reclaimed wood from places as diverse as a grain elevator in Port Arthur, Tx., Union Station in Charlottesville. Va.. and a Naval Yard pier on Washington, D.C.'s Anacostia River. It sells more than a dozen types of flooring, each with a distinctive look, from highly refined, with nary a knot or nail hole, to heavily distressed with original saw and "character" marks.

"This wood is a time capsule," says Drake. "Every time we find wood with an item embedded in it, such as Civil War-era bullets or colonial-era nails, I wonder about the story and the people behind it. These little items always remind me how old this wood is and the role it played in our nation's history."

Every other co-op in the industry has so[d off thejr lumber business tn :r nr lc:dp \ Inn ipr Wr.rt "rill this mean? lvlOre haSS[es? less buv''ro ieverage? SmaL[er rebates?

Not if you're o member of Do it Best Corp.

Do it Best Corp. is novt the only full-service member-owned distributor of hardr,vare ond lumber and building materials products in America.

We don't offer a one-size-fits'aLL approach. We tailor our offerings, providing lhe right products and innovative services, like insta[[ed sales and pro marketing, to help our members grow their businesses [oca[y. And thanks to our rebate program that returns a// ofthe profits to our members for a/l orodrct purcnases-bott- -BM and hard ,inesretailers ljke Scott Parker have the capital funds they need to invest jn their businesses or open new stores.

Do it Best Corp. has a proven track record of supplying the best products, at the best prices, maintaining the Lowest cost of operation, and providing consistently high rebates for alL of our membersLumberyards, home centers, and traditionaL hardrnrare stores.

To learn more about how you can profit from a relationship with Do it Best Corp.. catl 888-D0 IT BEST (888-364-8237).

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