HARDWOOD MERCHANDISING

(Continued from page 14) shop since the day it opened. "I'm building the business slowly," he says, "upon a solid foundation." R & R relies upon Yellow Page advertising and the hours are set so that Pagliotti can attend his busrness classes. buys hardwoods surfaced to dimensional sizes direct from their hardwood distributor. Although Campbell has a complete mill, buying surfaced hardwoods saves an enomlous amount of time, according to mill superintendent George Sisemore.

One inch ash,. oak and PhiliPPine mahogany are R & R's best sellers, followed by 2" Basswood. The exotic woods are sold by weight.

Across the Los Angeles metroPoli tan sprawl, in North HollYwood, and on a much larger scale, M & M Hardwoods has been successfully merchandising lumber since 1959. M & M' owned by Walt McKenzie, features a hardwood inventory valued at nearly $30,000, including thousand foot lots of 1" red oak, alder and PhiliPPine mahogany.

More than 9O%of M &Mcustomers are do-it-yourselfers who hoPe to build hardwood furniture for their homes or who hope to remodel their homes, according to store manager Ron Palumbo. "During the Past two years the trend toward remodeling has increased sales in hardwood paneling, mouldings-and hard maple chopping blocks," Palumbo said.

Along with surfaced-two-side 1" hardwoods, M & M stocks about 200 board feet of the most popular woods in 2" thickness, and a select stock of 3" and 4" hardwoods. The majority of sales are in l" domestic woods, Palumbo said, but Hawaiian koa enjoys a great popularitY and varied exotic woods are good leaders.

M & M also stocks lumber-core and veneer-core hardwood plywood from 1/8" through 3/4" thicknesses. Ten sheets of the most popular sPecies, oak, ash, walnut, and birch are kePt on hand.

Probably the oldest retail hardwood specialists, House of Hardwoods, operates in a 50'x 100'building at2l43 Pontius St. in West Los Angeles. The open, walk-through entrance is flanked by a display room on one side and offices on the other. In the entry various hardwood shorts are priced per piece: Indian rosewood shorts are priced bv the pound.

Inside. customers wait for service at a central sales desk, which is surrounded by horizontal bins reaching from floor to ceiling. Each bin is stocked by hardwood and labeled according to the species and 'size of the stock. Blackboards hanging above the bins give customers complete price information.

Like R & R and M & M Hardwoods, House of Hardwoods offers complete milling facilities for customers who cannot do their own surfacing and ripping. Mill prices are based upon time.

"The fact that people want to do something with their hands is our reason for being," explains Mrs. Jeanne Waldeck, president of the 3O-year-old firm. "'We give personal service and we spend a lot of time educating our customers," she notes.

Among the knowledgeable sales force are her two sons, Dave and Larry. Loren Saunders, who has over 25 years with the firm, is the manager.

House of Hardwoods limits its formal advertising to display ads in the Yellow Pages in several directories that serve their 20-mile trading area. Wordof-mouth referral has been particularly important in building the firm's reputation over the past 30 Years.

Campbell saves time in dealing with customers because they sell hardwoods according to an S4S price list. That way Campbell's countermen don't have to calculate board footage and a waste factor when theY quote prices to customers.

Campbell Lumber orders I " and 2" hardwoods in 500' lots and requests planing on a Straitoplane and jointing on a straightline rip saw. Nearly 6,000 board feet of hardwood take 80 sq. ft. of racks under cover.

Southern Lumber CompanY, oPer' ating in San Jose since 1906, stocks impressive quantities of hardwoods including exotic woods. Nearly all of the stock is surfaced on four sides. Hardwood blocks for turning and carving are stocked in gondolas near the automatic, sliding glass entry doors. Longer lengths are stocked in well-lit A-frames nearby. Each piece of hardwood is priced. and identified by a label that bears Southern's trademark-

Southern Lumber's Yellow Page display ads refer to the Yard as "a wood hunter's paradise."

Two old-time, full service lumber yards in the San Jose area of Northern California have been among the most aggressive merchandisers of S4S hardwoods. Campbell Lumber, the oldest continuing lumber Yard in the area,

Like Campbell Lumber, Southern stocks a full line of hardwood mouldings in mahogany, ash, birch and walnut. Southern also sells genuine hardwood Pliantwood veneers. The veneers are displayed on the shelves of one full gondola, and the varietY and quantity of veneers makes a forceful impression upon customers. M & M and R & R Hardwoods both stock a full line of Pliantwood veneers, too. Mostly the veneers are sold to people restoring antiques or repairing hardwood furniture, according to Ron Palumbo of M & M.

Retailers of hardwood lumber have enjoyed a boom in the Past Year because of the "natural" trend among consumers, which has popularized every' thing from health food restaurants'to mid-wifery, and because of soaring property values, which have made remodeling more practical than buying a new home.

Hardwood retailers are looking forward to expanding markets and increased sales over the next few years.