GALENBAR

May

PROFII$!

Famowood

is the PROFESS|O!|AI'S A[[ PURP(|SE PIASTIC

Boat builders, furniture malters, cabinet makers, etc. have found it the one sure answer to correcting wood defects, filling wood cracks, gouges, covering countersunk nails and screws.

Can be used under Fiber Glass! &tu

Ready to use right out of the can, Famowood! iliJlfi,llf.PilLl',il','.L:l[i,Yli3i,1l3: ffi quickly; won't shrink; takes spirit stains, and will not gum up sander. Waterproof and weatherproof when properly applied. 4Q

Galifornia Wholesale

A Division of Coestal Lumber Company presents 'rlllothing But The Bastrr in Appalachian, lUorchern,

and Southern Hardwoods

Bod Oak White Oak Ash Poplar Maplc

Sycamom Basswood

Tupelo Ghcrry llackbcrry Hickotry Gottonwood Hard SSoft

Aso lmported Hardwoods

Gum and Oak veneers and Oak

Ptywood cut-to-size

Shipments by Direct Carload, Direct from our own Hardwood Mills or Truck & Trailen frpm qrr

Los Angdes Distrihnion Yard

Our office is located at: 999 N. Sepudveda Btud., Suite 314 E Segundo, Ca. 90245 o [213J 64G2548

Russ Swlft Mlkc Kclly

Donna Hamrnond

Ed Cordova

Lumber ltlerchmts Associstion of Northern Calilbrnis - May 14-17, convention, John Ascuaga's Nugget, Reno, Nv.

North West Timber AssociationMay 15-17, annual conference, Valley River Inn, Eugene, Or.

Western Building Material Assn.May t5-17, all industry management and marketing conference, Eugene Hilton Hotel, Eugene, Or.

National Kitchen Cabinet Assn.May 15-lt' 28th annual convention, Del Monte Hyatt House, Monterey, Ca.

Los Angeles Hoo-HooMay 20, Stanton Cup Invitational, dinner & initiation, Costa Mesa Country Club, Costa Mesa, Ca.

Hoo-Hoo-EttesMay 20-22, national convention, Flamingo Hilton Hotel, Las Vegas, Nv.

North American Wholesale Lumber Assn. - May 21-25, meeting, The Broadmoor, Colorado Springs, Co.

June

Inland Empirc Hoo-HooJune 10-12, 30th annual Palm Springs weekend, Marriott Rancho Las Palmas, Rancho Mirage, Ca.

North American Wholesale Lumber AssociationJune 12-17' annual wood marketing seminar, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Or.

American Plywood AssociationJune 13-14, annual meeting, Thunderbird Motor Inn, Jantzen Beach, Portland, Or.

July

National Housewares Manufacturers Association-July 10-13' International Housewares Exposition, McCormick Place plus McCormick Place West, Chicago, Il.

Los Angeles Hoo Hoo Club - July 14, grading seminar, location to be announced

Nationaf Retail Hardware Association-July 17 -21, 84th annual congress, Marriott Inn, New Orleans, La.

August

Nationrl Woodwork Manufacturers Association - Aug.7-10, mid-year meeting, Silverado Resort, Napa; Ca.

Wood Moulding & Millwork ProducersAug. 17'19' summer meeting, The Broadmoor Hotel, Colorado Springs, Co.

September

Mountain States Lumber & Building Material Dealers AssociationSept. 15-17, 90th annual convention, Sheraton Denver Tech Center, Denver, Co.

Want to see your organization in print? Send us information including date and place on your next meeting, convention, or social event for the Calendar. Please make sure that we receive it tt least six weets aherd of the dst€ and be sure to include your name, address, and telephone number.

Green Dooglos Fir Kiln Dried llemlock

Dimension lumber, studs, post timbers to 4O'. Unitized and & beams, plank, paper wr-apped

Sawmills located at Molalla, Tillamook, Toledo and Clackamas, Oregon, with shipping via SP, truck, ocean bange and for export.

Bill Fishman & Affiliates

11650 lberia Place San Diego, Ca.92128

This column is the tirst of three dealing with waYs of reaching the d o- i t-y o u rs elf cus t o me r-ed'

EIEMEN4SER when a lumberyard's rI competition was the lumberyard on the other side of town? That's not the way it is anymore!

Competition for product categories that were once found exclusively at the retail lumberyard is no longer restricted to only the home center and building material dealer. Using the term that Dick England of Hechinger coined during his keynote address at the National Home Center Show a few years ago-the "dabblers"-discount stores' drug chains, and supermarketsare nowmerchandising our products. Vons, the closest food supermarket to my home in San Diego, carries a larger selection of extension cords and sandpaper than our local lumber dealer. Across the street from our office a regional drug chain of over 100 units opened their newest store. The sign on the building reads "Sav-On Drug Store and Home Center, Prescriptions, Liquor, and Garden Center."

While typical retail lumber dealers still dominate in products that are used in new construction and major remodeling, some of these "dabblers" are doing a better job of merchandising the aftermarket departments. As a result, store traffic has been siphoned off. Margins have eroded. However, those retail lumber dealers who through the years have established themselves as the do-it-yourself headquarters will continue to bring repeat shoppers into their store. But it takes more than just a sign over the door that reads Home Center or Do It Yourself Headquarters. To become that headquarters requires the proper merchandise mix, a staff that is product-wise, dramatic visual merchandising and a promotion program that convinces the families in that market that "this is the store that knows their maintenance, improvement and repair problems and can supply the solutions. "

One of the best ways to get that message across is by offering Do It Yourself clinics. The concept of d-i-y clinics began in the late 1960s. I know because during those years I was responsible for the sales promotion for one of the leading home center chains in the country. We put 15,000 peoPle Per Year through our College of Do It Yourself Knowledge.

In the mid 1970s clinics were put to rest. I found that out after receiving a surprising phone call from Chuck Ratner, the executive vice president of Forest City. As seminar director for the National Home Center Show, I had asked Chuck to coordinate a seminar session for our 1978 show entitled "Staging How-ToClinics."

"Bill, we've got a problem," Chuck said, "I've phoned around the country and except for Channel everyone has cut their clinic program. With housing starts at an all time high, store traffic is super and no one feels they need the burden and expense of clinics." That was 1978' Well, we're in the 1980s now and housing starts are no longer peaking. My office has been monitoring the advertising of home cen- ter retailers. Here's just a partial list of the retailers who have featured d-i-y clinics recently:

Anderson's B&BHomeSupply

Busy Beaver

Channel

Chase Pitkin

Dawson

Dixieline

Forest CitY

Hechinger

Home DePot

Lampert

Mellard

Plywood Ranch

Sommerville

84 Lumber

The term clinic means different things to different people. At one time clinics meant a two hour session that began in our classroom next to the store manager's office at seven o'clock every Tuesday evening, Demonstrations were those things we put on in the main traffic aisles during peak hours Friday evening and Saturday afternoon. Through common usage, today the term clinics means all of the above to some people. This article is about the classroom style of clinics.

To get a handle on the types of information that interest the 1980 d-i-yer, not only is my office tracking who is offering clinics to their customers but we're also tracking the subject matter offered.

Here's an alphabetized list: r Adding a room o Antiquing o Blowing-in insulation o Building agarage a Building a home o Ceiling tile installation o Ceramic tile a Countertops

(Please turn to Page 60)

Phone: (503) 874-2236 P.O. Box 7 Riddle, Oregon 97469

CHUCK LINK executive director

ARK May l5-17 on your calendar for our 19th annual all industrv management conference in Eugene, Or. The program, one of our best with the theme "Teaming Up For Tomorrow," will feature keynote speaker Lester E. Anderson, owner and publisher of Rondom Lengths, the weekly lumber and plywood market report. Keith George and Arlyn Nelson of Frank B. Hall & Co., of Wa. will present "Business and Tax Planning for the 80s." Bruce Miller, an engineer specializing in wood products promotion, will discuss "Marketing Treated Wood and All Weather Wood Foundations." Carl G. Dll, former pres. of Lloyd Lumber, New Milford, Ct., will present a 2Vz hour workshop on marketing, pricing strategies, advertising and training, "New Marketing Strategies that Work." permits issued for '82, only 140/o were issued during the first quarter ofthe year, while 3790 were issued during the last quarter. Making a bad situation even worse was the fact that '82 began with a very low inventory of outstanding permits as less than 210/o of the total issued for l98l came in the final quarter of the yeat.

Tours are scheduled of building material stores in Eugene as well as the Weyerhaeuser lumber and plywood mills in Springfield.

Conference location will be the new Eugene Hilton.

FRED CARUSO executive secretary ln SraflSfICAL trends can predict I the future. Colorado and metro Denver are on the brink of a major building boom.

More residential permits were issued during the final quarter of 1982 than any other quarter since the record summer of 1978. Not only that, the fall quarter of I 982 beat all six previous 4th quarters €rs a percent of the total number of permits issued for the year.

What does this mean to the retail lumber dealer and the building materials supplier?

Simply put, a near record number of permits are in inventory awaiting the "go" on construction. As of the first of the year, plans were under way for more than 10,257 units in Colorado (7,253 of these for metro Denver). Very few of the supplies needed for the construction of these units have been purchased.

The positive trend at the close of 1982 has continued into 1983 with an incredible January in which 2,458 permits were issued for the state, compared to a miserable 929 in January 1982, an increase of 265s/0. Of the past seven Januaries, only January 1978 toppedthe record of 1983 and not by much, 2,603 vs. 2,458. February's preliminary figures available for metro Denver only show an increase of 20t/o over January and a total increase of 33090 over the same month in 1982.

A check into records kept by the Colorado Association of Housing and Building showed that of all the residential

Figures for February and March 1983 are projected on the basis of a very conservative five-year average for those months. We already know that metro Denver issued I,893 permits for February compared with the five-year average for the month of 1060, up by 7890 over the average. Totals for the entire state are not available at this time but are expected to follow the metro Denver trend.

This spring building season, Colorado's contractors and building material dealers will be starting the second quarter of the year with well over twice the number of residential units in the hopper that they had one year ago (approximately 17,301 compared to 8,693). This record is second only to the comparable period that preceded the record boom of 1978.

Behind the Scene in Sales

There are building supPly dealers whose employees sell lumber everY day without knowing much about what is involved in getting that lumber to the store. This account of a few days in the travels of Russ Swift, West Coast mgr. for Coastal Lumber, gives some insight into the work of a wholesaler.

Swift was picked uP at the RaleighDurham airport in Raleigh, N.C., bY Coastal Lumber Co.'s corPorate pilot, Dave Johnson, in one of the firm's corporate aircraft, a Mitsubishi MU2. After he had visited the home office in Weldon, N.C., Russ was driven by Lyman Shipley, v.p. of marketing, and Art Willard, Southern hardwood product mgr., to the mill in Kinston, N.C. Jimmy Johnson, mill mgr., showed everyone around, pointing out that it is a hardwood single-band mill with a planer. They can dress most hardwood species with the exception of oak. Kinston has two package kilns and two track kilns with an annual