Florida retailer's two-year face lift

I F YOU'RE going to remodel, do I it right, says Causeway Lumber Co., Fort Lauderdale, Fl. So, Causeway Lumber took two years to do it right - completely renovating its home center, modernizing equipment, and adding several new buildings.

The two years of work is most visible in the home center. an attractive 6900 sq. ft. store sensibly laid out with easy-access gondolas and a customer service island at its center. All trim work around the counters and columns is of clear heart redwood.

Story at a Glance

Causeway Lumber's 24-month renovation of its Fort Lauderdale yard included new home center, truss plant and stateof-the-art machinery.

"We built our store of lumber to show the use of lumber, making it a thing of beauty from its store-length overhang exterior of eye-catching redwood to its red oak parquet floor," says M. Scott Whiddon, vice president and assistant general manager.

Decorative, contemporary neon signs identify each department, while computer terminals at the customer service island speed ticketing. An in-store builders' hardware department showcases an attractive, functional display of decorator hardware for the homeowner or builder. Everything from supplying the contract hardware for a 400 bed hospital to duplicating a key can be handled in this department.

The company aggressively kicked off the completion of renovations with a well-attended open house. Hourly door prizes, unadvertised specials, in-store demonstrations by factory representatives, free gifts and dollar-saving bargains filled the program.

Causeway announced the celebration in a 16-page Fort Lauderdale News/Sun - Senlfu e/ supplement circulated to more than a quarter of a million homes. Southern Florida's most widely listened-to morning radio personality broadcast live from the event, climaxing an entire week of saturation radio coverage.

In addition to the new home center, Causeway constructed four new buildings to house "the most modern truss manufacturing facility in the southeast," with the capacity to produce trusses up to 100 ft. long and 13 ft. high. The new 22,000 sq. ft. millwork plant is equipped with state-of-the-art machinery for manufacturing pre-hung door units. The reinforcing steel plant was also installed with the most modern computerized machinery.

And existing warehouses were equipped with new cantilevered storage racks, permitting access by sidelift trucks and storage up to 18 ft. high. Causeway can store 3 million bd. ft. of lumber under cover, while the l0-acre site has a total storage capacity of 5 million bd. ft.

The new facility is a far cry from the one Causeway opened in 1939 with four employees and two trucks. The firm now employs 300 among its three Florida locations. It was founded by the late O.R. Whiddon, father of current president Gene A. Whiddon and grandfather of M. Scott Whiddon.

Although Causeway has renovated everything at its Fort Lauderdale site it could get its hands on, the remodeling isn't over. Work now begins on the Bonita Springs and Boca Raton facilities.