Home improvement center sells excitement

r TERITAGE and modern merJTchandising achieve an easy compatibility at the 8l year old Buena Park Lumber and Hardware Co.. Buena Park, Ca.

A newly expanded home improvement center has added 8,000 sq. ft. of selling space along with additional warehouse facilities. Use of the latest merchandising techniques is flavored with reminders of the past. Sharp signing, stimulating use of color and well organized merchandising create an exciting place to shop. This type of atmosphere is one of the goals of the management, according to James H. Nelson, president.

An appreciation of the past and, perhaps, a bit of carry over from the neighboring Disneyland and Knotts Berry Farm attractions are glimpsed in the organization of departments. Merchandise is categorized in old time village displays with a yellow brick path leading the customers from section to section.

Prominent is a mural illustrating the early days on Buena Park's Beach Boulevard. This 17 x 72 foot wall of art shows old time businesses, horseless carriages and the eucalyptus trees which characterized the area in the early 1900s. Costing $9,000, according to James G. "Jimmy" Nelson, the company historian, the brown and white mural was inspired by a l9l4 photograph.

Other facade type displays include a creamery which once occupied the land the store is located on and three dimensional scenes of a lumber yard and a blacksmith shop. A storage area recreates the tomato cannery which was a neighborhood operation in the '60s.

The company's interest in things past comes naturally since it dates back to 1904 with the same familv as owners since that time.

Arni Thordarson. an Icelander who later changed his name to Nelson when nobody could spell his original name, opened a store in Buena Park in that year to sell bikes, cigars and ice cream. Before long he was in the lumber business, hauling lumber from the docks at the Los Angeles harbor in a horse drawn wagon. After a couple of successful years, he moved the business to the site it presently occupies. A freeway now runs close by, making the location convenient to much of Orange County. As neighboring businesses closed, the Nelsons acquired them and expanded the original 2Vz acres to its present 6 acres.

Story at a Glance

Remodeling adds 8,000 sq. ft. ...sharp modern merchandising combined with whimsical three dimensional villages and heri' tage murals creates an exciting atmosphere.

Arni Nelson sold the first store to his son, Richard G. Nelson, in l92l and opened Buena Park Hardware. In 1950 after Arni's death, the two businesses merged with his grandsons, James H. Nelson and Richard David Nelson, as partners. James as president, his wife, Mary, and two sons, John A. and James G. "Jimmy", are presently active in the business.

Sales are expected to exceed $14 million in 1986, bolstered by the newly expanded sales floor and green nursery scheduled to open by early summer. The remodeling and expansion also resulted in a new employee lounge which will double as a classroom for customer clinics.

"Our personal and company commitment is to promise our customers value, quality and service in an exciting place to shop," notes James H. Nelson, "and the new Buena Park Lumber & Hardware is certainly that. "