Quality products pay off for retailers

tl OME IMPROVEMENT pro- t I jects, whether as big as room additions or as small as garage shelves, turn out better when quality materials are used.

D-i-yers have discovered this and retailers who cater to them are noticing that quality products are easier to sell. For example, Brian McCoy, vice president of marketing for the McCoy Corporation in San Marcos, Tx., which operates the familyowned chain of McCoy's Building Supply Centers, comments that their customers often identify with certain quality brands and become repeat customers for those products.

For an example, he cited the consistent quality of Navajo Pine, a cutto-size-and-length Ponderosa pine which is directed toward the do-ityourself trade. "We have found that the Navajo logo sells quality to our customers and they keep asking for it," he said.

The McCoy firm which operates 72 stores, all in Texas, primarily purchases 1xl2 No. 3 common boards from Navajo for their retail outlets. "From shipment to ship- ment," McCoy continued, "the Navajo plant provides prompt and efficient deliveries and their products not only meet our specifications, they often exceed them."

"When our retail customers see the product, they are attracted by its appearance - clean, well finished and expertly cut. That's important to our customers and that's why many of them ask for Navajo Pine by name," he concluded.

Joe Shipman, general sales manager of Navajo Forest Products Industries, producers of Ponderosa pine boards with the Navajo Pine label and Nava-Pak Handicut, a kiln dried cut-to-size-and-length Ponderosa pine product for the home center market, is proud of the rigid quality control maintained by his firm. "The home center boards are called 'beeshlagaii,' the Navajo word for silver, as an indication of their utmost quality," he explained.

Navajo traditions permeate this 25 year old company which is located 20 miles north of Window Rock, Az., in Navajo, N.M. A Navajo Nation enterprise, it produces and sells more than 48 million board feet of various grades of Ponderosa pine products annually.

"When a retail customer comes into a local home improvement center looking for pine lumber, he usually has to cull through a stack of boards, trying to find those that are not damaged, and those whose appearance is not inferior or unsuitable for his project," Shipman said. "This process can make the customer angry and he may not come back to the store for other materials."

Story at a Glance

D-i-yers will pay extra for qual- ity materials. . retailers can build repeat business, have fewer headaches with top notch products.

"With Navajo Pine," he continued, "every board is top quality and the home center retail outlet doesn't have to worry about a lot of scrap lumber and inferior boards. We demand quality at our plant before we ship to our customers and our customers appreciate this special carg."

While Navajo Forest Products Industries is small compared with some of the giant lumber producers in the nation, the product has earned a nation-wide reputation for excellence - especially with the weekend carpenter or wood hobbyist.

"Our products are not the lowest priced," Shipman noted, "but they are recognized for dependability and outstanding board to board quality. Our customers never have to worry about our boards not meeting their special needs. We give what we promise and moreand our customers keep coming back for more."

"We are proud of the 'service' attitude at our company," he concluded. "We don't consider ourselves just as lumber manufacturers. We try to be sensitive to our customers' product needs and be flexible enough to fill those particular needs."

Diamond Lumber, Inc.. Carrollton. Tx., is included in a filing by Michigan General Corp. for Chapter ll bankruptcl' Krestmark Inclustries, Inc. was not included (see p.34for story)

Lumbermen's Building Centers opened a 16th store with 22.000 sq. ft. of retail space and 22,000 sq. ft. of lumberyard on three acres in Silverdale, Wa. . . Grossman's lnc. opened a building materials warehouse store in North Hollywood, Ca.

Sclnrpfs Twin Oaks Builders Supply, Albany, Or., has moved into new quarters on Pacific Blvd., S.W. . . HomeClub will open a new warehouse store in Colorado Springs, Co., this month.

{}mpqua Building & Hard**are has moved into larger quarters in Florence, Or. . Builders Ernporium has opened a new store in Lake Elsinore, Ca. . Coulee City Builder's Supply, Coulee City, Wa., has been sold to Ken and Susie Williams by Karen Cuice

The Painr Factory lnterior Design and Home Decoroting Centers, Brea, Ca., will open a store in Escondido, Ca., the first of several units planned for San Diego County... Furrov, Building Materials plans a new store in the West Mesa area of Albuquerque. N.M..

Dixieline Lumber Co., San Diego, Ca., purchased its sixth former Handyman location in Rancho San Diego, Ca., for $2.1 million . Thompson Building Materials. Orange, Ca., is building a larger yard in Fontana, Ca....

Chandler Lumber Co., Van Nuys, is nearing completion of its new lumberyard in Fontana,

Ca....H & E Home Builder's Center. Victorville, Ca., is building a unit in llesperia, Ca.. for opening in '88 lrtclerson Ltrmber, Grace. Id., has closed after 91 vears Diannnd Luntber units in Lakeport and Vacaville, Ca., have closed . . . 1r,es Paint Cct., Pasadena. Ca.. has sold its location andclosed...

Suverkrup Lumber. San Bernardino. Ca.. is celebraring its l00th anniversary .. C. Blackstock Lurnber Co., Seattle Wa., will celebrate is 75th anniversarv in October DMK-Pacdic, Fremont, Ca.. celebrated its 9th anniversaryonMayl...

Pay 'N Pak, Kent, Wa., is soliciting potential buyers afier re- jecting a take over bid lrom shareholder Paul Bilzerian, a Floridainvestor...

Snider Luntber Products Co.. Turlock, Ca., has been acquired by an investment group headed by First San l--rancisco Corp., Foster City. Ca. Dale Custafson has formed Gusta.fson Forest Products Co., Portland" Or....

Carlbr {/.Sy', Boise, ld., has been reorganized into two divisions with the Meridian, Id., remanufacturing center headed by Tony Muldoon; the Oregon distribution and national lumber trading divisions have been closed

Bear Forest Products is movine from Riverside to Rialto. Ca. .l Coastland Forest Produr:ts is the new name of Lynn Forest Products, Corona. Ca." which has acquired the Woodland. Ca.. div. of Canfor U.5.4 . . . Mariners Forest Products, Santa Ana, Ca., has enlarged its planing mill with the addition of a new sticker

The Merchant Magazine

Louisiana-Pat'i.l'ic (orp. has sold its Lakeview. Or., sawmill with 18,000 acres of pine and white fir to Ostrander Construction Co.. An L-P waferboard sales office has opened in Mission Viejo, Ca. . .

Philips Industries Inc. has acquired tlre Hytec facilities in Yelnr, Wa.. for its Lasco Products Group

Rubbermaid Inc. is building a 275,000 sq. ft. home products div. manufacturing and distribu- tion facility in Goodyear, 42... .GAF Corp. haswithdrawn its offer to buy Borg-Warner Corp. . . . \'ortek /nc. sold most of irs .Stanline stock after the Norwalk, Ca.. distributor indicated it wasn't interested in being acquired. . .

Acquisition of Southw,est Forest Industries, Phoenix, Az., by Stone Container is conrplete, the SF-l name will no longei be used, lumber operations will be: Stone Container, lumber products west for Phoenix and lumber prod* ucts east for Florida opera- tions.

Maxxom (Pacit'ic Lumber Co.) has been merged into MCO Holdings, 1nc., Westwood, Ca., as a subsidiary... Elixir Inclustrles, Gardena, Ca.. has sold its window div. to Morton Firestone, chairman of the bclard. and Manuel Espinoza, president of the window div. . .

Georgia-Pacllic's sales increased 160/, in the lst auarter . . . Boise Cascade Corp. posied a 600/o increase in lst quarter profits Louisiana-Paci/ic had record quarterly sales with substanlially higher earnings

Home loan interest rarcs broke through the l0% levellast monrh after having reached the lowest level in 9 years at 9.14%t in March housing completions fell 14.64/o in Feb, . .

Housing starts were,,down 3.20/n in March to an annual rate of 7.7J 4,000 single-family starts fell 4.2a/o. multifamily home starts dropped 0.90/o permits declined 0.30ft starts in the West were off 3.lo/o