Meet Mr. Plywood

1|REGON has a well-deserved l.,f reputation as being the home of some very progressive legislation in the social area, such as cleaning up the Willamette River, decriminalization of marijuana and their early and successful coping with the energy shortage.

In the business sector Oregonians are equally active and progressive and Robert Kordisch, president of Consumers Building Marts, Portland, is a good example of the type.

As the president of a publicly held company (over-the-counter) he keenly realizes the value of maintaining a good price in the company's stock and has watched with dismay as the price of the stock declined as the firm set impressive earnings and sales records as it continued to expand. The fact that the rest of the stock market was also sagging like a 1940s beauty queen, was of little comfort.

So, with v.p. Paul Moore in tow, Kordisch took off for New York to beat the drum for his company with the influential New York investment community. With an energetic approach that is typical of the man, he bore down on the facts and figures of Consumer Building Marts, Inc., the company that owns and operates the Mr. Plywood stores.

Among the results of their safari East was a listing for the company in the $50,000 supervised portfolio of the Growth Stoch Outlook, an investment guide. No mean feat, considering CBM is an over-thecounter stock and the Growth Stock Outlooh requires a firm to show a 25o/o annval growth rate compounded for three years to qualify for listing.

The six Mr. Plywood stores are plywood specialty retailers, "the ceilings, floors, walls segment of the home improvement business," is the way Kordisch describes it. In addition to both hardwood and softwood plywood, they sell panel- itg, moldings, lumber, hardboard, carpeting, insulating materials, adhesives, paint and related home remodeling items.

The six stores are located in Portland (2), Denver (3) and one in Bellevue (Seattle) Washington. An additional unit is planned for Kansas City. They hope to acquire the land this year.

The newly-opened Seattle store, which more than doubles their space in that city, was not opened without the usual share of grief that inevitably seems to go with the building of a new unit.

As manager Mike Fanning stated in his report:

"Construction on the new store finally got under way after an unexpected delay caused by having to remove an existing gas line. Excavation started and went well for the first three hours, then came our next delay when the 96,000Ib. D-8 cat fell from sight. Fortu- nately, this delay was only for four hours and things are now going smoothly."

Story at a Glance

Growth oriented Mr. Plywood stores, now in three Western states, merchandise via stressing employee salesmanship coupled with low overhead and cash and carry operations , more new stores in the planning stage.

The new Seattle store will eventually replace the existing Canyon store.

The new Denver store, on East Colfax, opened last fall and has really beefed up their merchan- dising punch in the Rocky Mountain city. Just off a well-travelled freeway, in a new residential part of Denver, it is being managed by Ric Hayes who moved over from the Stark store in Portland to take over the new unit. It has 16,000 sq. ft. of display and 8,000 sq. ft. of warehouse area.

Additional property has already been purchased in Denver for another unit (with a possible 1974 construction date) and it is understood there are more expansion plans, but the company has so far made no public comment on them.

The company has a keen appreciation of what good and dedicated employees can mean to an aggressive, growth oriented firm and it goes to some effort to communicate this to them. In a recent copy of their in-house publication, Mr. Plywood Progress Report, items about successful salesmanship (good for a free dinner for two) Positive Mental Attitude, sales quotas exceeded, records broken and the positive doings of the employees are stressed.

The company has several incentives for employees, not the least being the Qualified Stock Option

PIan that rewards selected employees with the right to buy Consumer Building Marts, Inc. stock at a favorable price.

While lavish with their encouragement of their employees, the stores, especially the earlier ones, tend to be on the spartan side. The warehouse atmosphere reflects an image of economy and self-service to the customers. Advertising and overhead expenses are kept minimal and sales are mostly on a cash and carry basis. Signing, for example, tends toward the functional and in-store banners are used with more restraint than is generally associated with priceoriented chain outlets.

The company is bullish on its future as it is tied to repair and remodeling. Noting in a recent company publication that the National Home Improvement Council expects remodeling expenditures to quickly accelerate to a 10o/o per year growth rate, CBM expects Mr. Plywood to grow at a faster rate than the rest of the industry.

Looking at what they have done so far, we wouldn't advise betting against.them.