Washington retailer expands with p/t wood

IIENRY Bacon Building Materi- JTals, Inc., located in the State of Washington, has experienced a real surge in sales of pressure-treated lumber in recent years. At the present time, Henry Bacon Building Materials has stores in Seattle, Bellevue and Renton, with a fourth store in Kent scheduled to open in April.

Art Burk, commodity purchasing manager for Bacon Building Materials, was interviewed recently regarding the exceptional sales in pressuretreated lumber attributed to his company. Burk's response to that interview follows.

"We're able to sell so much pressure-treated lumber because the consumers are demanding it. The pressure treating companies have been advertising pressure-treated wood and we have been merchandising and promoting it as well. Our people like to sell it. They are knowledgeable about the product and how it is processed and how it performs. They like the results of the treatment; they like the color; they like the quality of the wood and they are not hesitant to recommend it to our customers with confidence.

"We watched the improvements made in quality control in processing pressure treated wood, and we are now able to sell a lot of it.

"We are displaying it, merchandising it, stocking it and doing a much better job on behalf of our customers. Sales have also benefited from a new local building code that requires that deck boards as well as the substructure be either cedar or pressure treated.

Story at a Glance

Pressure treated wood promo. tions build consumer demand...retailer benefits from increased interest.. .aggressive merchandising pays off with growing market.

"In addition to deck boards and posts, we are very big in fencing and new landscape ties. We offer sizes 7" x9" x 8' and 4" x6" x 8'and sell truckloads of them. Our customers like the color and the finish. They like the fact that they can paint these timbers if they wish. We are even getting into pressure treated joists and other new dimensions.

"Our mix of business is about 5090 contractor and 5090 do-ityourself customers. Included among those contractors is a cadre of six or seven specialized deck builders who are swinging their business towards pressure treated wood.

"We think the future of pressure treated wood is excellent. and that is why we aggressively merchandise and sell it."