Energy-Saver Se/s Homes

Off-Price Retailing Growing

"Off-price retailing is a revolution that won't go away," according to Dr. Cyrus Wilson, Management Horizons, Inc.

He sharply contrasted the off-price phenomenon with the particularly difficult past five years traditional retailers have seen. "Retail sales growth, overall, has been modest, profitability severely depressed, and business failures have set new records during the economic malaise of 1979-83."

"Against this background," Wilson continued, "off-price retailing is one major sector of retailing that has been growing in excess of 2090 per year, compounded, and has generated return on investment in excess of twice the median performance for all public retails. The current business recovery, with better sales and earnings results now being posted by all major retailers, is no reasonto think that offprice retailing will decline in importance in the foreseeable future."

"Off-price retailers are qualitatively and quantitatively different than conventional retailers," Wilson stressed. He pointed out that various off-price firms have been quite successful using dissimilar marketing approaches, but that some elements of the off-price program are increasingly pervasive: o A major part of the under pricing capability is made possible by buying advantages, related to large future contracts and the ability to scour the market for anything that may be bought on exceptionally attractive terms. o In merchandising, a growing proportion of total off-price sales are first quality, recognized brand name merchandise as opposed to earlier practices of selling mainly irregulars, seconds, or end-ofseason merchandise. r Most off-price retailers have lowerrent locations because of the ability to utilize recycled space in free standing stores or small shopping centers. This type of space is abundantly available. o Promotional costs are low, with heavy reliance upon word-ofmouth to build a customer base. o Ambience is usually in a no frills environment. However, some noticeable trends are emerging for leading off-price chains to provide a more upscale atmosphere. The feeling that off-price is a singular form of retailing was dispelled by Wilson, who argued that off-price stores fall into six major categories, three each by two operating types of origin, namely manufacturing origin and retailing origin.

REDTI/OOD MARKETING

(Continued from page 10) pieces of literature. Many of these describe specific redwood projects. If you write us, we will send you a sample of each piece of literatwe. Then, you can bulk order the ones you need through your supplier.

(3) Educate sales staff-Dealers should make employees expert project consultants.

Here again, CRA materials will help. With our literature and audio visual materials, you can teach your employees how to help customers choose the proper redwood grade and product for their project. They can learn some of the basics of construction techniques. You might even want to make one employee the deck expert and another the siding expert.

Today, six of the major redwood lumber producers fund California Redwood Association promotion, industry support and technical services. They are Georgia Pacific Corporation, Harwood Products Company, Miller Redwood Company, The Pacific Lumber Company, Simpson Trmber Company and Timber Realization Company. These services provide an excellent marketing base for redwood merchants to build upon and the California Redwood Association can help dealers establish a reputation as a redwood merchant, so please contact us. We will be glad to help.

When it comes to studs you con count on our products fo be omong fhe finest ovoiloble. All our products ore onti-stoin freoied ondend-woxed for weother protection ond fo resisf seoson

Wood ldea Home

Innovative construction and energy-saving features were keys to making the Wood Idea Home a winner of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) "Building Value Into Housing" award.

A 1,185 sq. ft. ranch with three bedrooms, two full baths, a living room, kitchen, and family room,/ dining area, it is made almost entirely of wood, including the foundation, and costs about 2590 less to build than conventional homes.

The HUD award was based on a nationwide competition to stimulate the development of innovative, costsaving construction techniques for affordable homes. The Wood ldea Home also won the "Design for Better Living Award," sponsored by the American Wood Council.

The Wood Idea Home incorporates four major innovations: o A truss-framed system of construction in which floor, walls and roof are all connected in one factory-assembled piece. o An air infiltration barrier of "Tyvek" spunbonded olefin which reduces the home's air exchange rate and impeded heat loss through walls. o A waferboard skin over the entire house which serves as sheathing, roofing and flooring.

. A Plen-Wood ductless underfloor heating and cooling system.

The truss-framed system (TFS) is a new building concept conceived and developed by the U.S. Forest

Products Laboratory of Madison, Wisconsin. The preassembled frames are inexpensive to transport, can be quickly tilted up into place by two workers, and make it possible to construct a Wood ldea Home in 20 days.

Once the truss frames are in place, the entire structure is wrapped in "Tyvek Housewrap" made by Du Pont.

Another unusual aspect of the Wood ldea Home is the use of waferboard for walls, floors and roof. Waferboard, a product of Louisiana-Pacific Company, is a fabricated sheet material made of wood particles bonded together with waterproof resin and edge-sealed to reduce swelling.

Redwood Park Volume Accord

Louisiana PacificCorp. has reached a formal agreement with the Department of Justice on issues related to the volume of timber on the property takento expandthe Redwood National Park on the north coast of California in 1978.

Harry A. Merlo, L-P's chairman and president, said "We are satisfied that the volume settlement reached with the government is a fair one and eliminates a major element of uncertainty from determination of the ultimate payment due L-P. We believe that the amounts we have recorded and our financial repofting of the government taking of our timberland remain conservative and that no change is required as a result of the volume settlement."

An exchange of information with the Department of Justice on the value of the timber and timberland taken to expand the park is expected in the very near future.

TURNItIG EACK the clock, building this quaint old-fashioned-but brand new-covered bridge was a communitysponsored program in 0regon City, Ca. Although authentic in design, it qualifies as a modern highway structure capable of handling any legal load. All timbers, siding and framework were pressure treatedwith NCX fire-retardant formulation from Koppers Co., Inc. The Model A Ford was there onlv for the publicity shots.