The store is the display

redwood deck that extends outward from the cedar siding. A small, flat, wooden roof under a large window at the entry is supported by treated pole uprights.

The store interior is a continuation of what can be done with wood, and not just the expensive stuff, either. The interior walls are done in barnwood, the exact same low grade fir used by the mills in Oregon as "coverboard" to protect their freshly cut stacks of pine drying outside. The rough 1xl2 boards, knots and all, looked so good on the walls that floor is cement. Some of the l6 panels (top right) that display different panels are mounted over street side windows, above paints, sundries and mouldings. "History wall" (lower left) is composed people wanted to buy it, leading Dick to purchase 100,000 board feet and add another item to his inventory. of local memorabilia and was assembled by Oick Jahraus'wife. lt is a great favorite with customers. Lower right: more hardware on display. Higher priced lines sell well in their affluent trade area.

The 2xl2 rough pine ceiling is supported by huge Douglas fir beams, left in their rough stage, with the metal hangers sandblasted and left to rust.

Additionally, Dick Jahraus' office, which often becomes another display area, is paneled in clear cedar, that was made in their mill, which is positioned immediately behind the 13,000 sq. ft. office/display area building.

Inside, above the row of windows that runs along the front of the building are l6 large panels, each numbered, of different kinds of woods with a card describing the panel. It is just another example of showing the customer what is available in wood products.

But lumber and other wood products are far from being the only thing that concerns this retailer. An especially effective displiry area is set aside for decorator hardware and is adjacent to the long counter area that serves the more utilitarian needs of the builders hardware section.

Knowing his market, (the Laguna area has long been a wealthy art colony) Jahraus displays his more expensive hardware items-pulls, handles, faucets, knobs, etc.-in a carpeted alcove complete with hanging plants and macrame craftwork on the walls. Contrasted with the rough barnwood, the effect is dramatic.

Chuck Robinson is their hardware manager, a l0-year member of the firm who can spec. all the hardware for an architect and whoworks closely with the builders who comprise roughly half the firm's business.

Since the move from the old loca-

Story at a Glance

One of the most outstanding new retail stores in the West features barnwood on the interior walls, exposed rough timbers and redwood decking at the entrance, among other woods, to make the entire store a display of wood's versati I ity.

tion late last year, business is up 25%, reflecting an increase in space of about four times. The firm had fireplaces for sale before, but no room to display them. After the move they put more than a halfdozen on the floor and at the end of the first month had sold 12.

The new store design reduced from six to two the number of exits, sharply cutting losses from shoplifting. In the old store they sometimes lost two tc three power tools a week.

As the town of Laguna Beach grew, the old store eventually found itself "downtown" and very much a fixture and landmark in the community. It was so much fixed in the local mind that after vacating the site, the complex of stores and shops that replac- ed it took the name "The Lumberyard Plaza." The new shopping mall is, itself, a fine exposition of what can be done with all wood construction for retail stores.

The mill moved with the store and

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