Finished hardwood lumber is a hot item

1Fl NE of the hottest new growth \/ cateeories in the home center building products department is finished hardwood lumber.

First to recognize this trend three years ago was American Hardwood Industries. Titusville. Pa. (a division of Hammermill Paper Co. until this May when acquired by Weyerhaeuser Co.).

American's program consists primarily of hardwood boards available in six species: oak, poplar, maple, cherry, walnut and ash. Boards come cut to size in six widths (2" , 3" , 4" , 6", 8" and 12") and four lengths (3', 4', 5' and 6'), are surfaced four sides (S4S) and free of most common defects, namely, knots, mineral stain, end checking, splits and wane.

Under the brand name "Redi-ToUse," American began marketing its program in 1984 to the top 100 home center segment. Since then, American's customer list has grown to include Home Depot, Builders Square, Lowe's, Payless Cashway and Grossman's, to name a few.

Key to American's success has been a flexible ordering program which allows customers to buy any combination of species without any minimum order requirement. Plus, stocking customers are given display racks which hold up to 160 boards in the aforementioned sizes.

Now a Weyerhaeuser Company, American Hardwood Industries is hoping to solidily its leadership position in the dimensional hardwood board market.

"Prior to the Redi-To-Use concept being available in home centers, the average home woodworker wanting to buy finished hardwood boards would be sent to the specialty hardwood store," explained Bill Simmonds, vice president of Weyerhaeuser's Repair and Remodel Group.

"Hardwood boards found in most specialty hardwood outlets are typically surfaced two sides instead of four. They also contain more defects and are generally more expensive than our Redi-To-Use boards."

"What we see in the Redi-To-Use concept is an opportunity for home centers to earn higher than average margins from an elite class of d-iyer," Simmonds explained. "The cross merchandising sales potential these customers represent with products like stain, hand tools, power tools and sandpaper is enormous. Just as important, our research shows they're less sensitive to price than most d-i-yers."

Arnold Curtis, president of Weyerhaeuser's Northwest Hardwoods Group (who, together with Simmonds' Repair and Remodel Group, shares the management responsibility of American) talked about their planned expansion:

"We plan to increase our present production capacity by several times over the next l2 months to support an aggressive national marketing program to be introduced this fall. Additionally, we intend to regionalize our distribution to maintain our reputation for shipping orders complete and to the customer within l0 working days."

"Our many years of experience producing hardwoods can only enhance the Redi-To-Use program," added Curtis, "especially when combined with the high caliber of employees we inherited with the American acquisition. Our future in this business is indeed promising."

Story at a Glance

Home center d-i-y customers buying lots of finished hardwood boards. higher than average margins...tremendous potential for add on sdles... aggressive marketing programs avaalable.