HARDS/@OD SPECIALilSTS

We're retail lumber yard specialists who can deliver in small 500 b.f.units and up.T&K has its own lrvington Moore steam kiln. We S2S and straight line rip one side of every board.

RED OAK WHITE OAK . ASH o HARD MAPLE. CHERRY AMERICAN BLACK WALNUT . AROMATIC CEDAR

P.O. Box 356, Springdale, Ar.72764 (501) 7s1.8049

(Continued from page 23) the statistics in the accompanying box. Share of Sales by Major Departments in Discount

Manufacturers of fence boards; posts and rails; decking; specialty items. Our sawmill and re-man facilities provide us with versatility in meeting your customer's needs.

Frum the Forest to the Fence

P.O. Box 248 Arcata, Ca. 95521 (707\ 822-1779

Russ & Bob Britt

According to the report nearly l89o of all hardware and tool sales are made in discount stores. Consumers buy over 2lclo of their lawn and garden needs, 7.60/o of their lumber and building materials and over 169o of their paint, glass, and wallpaper in discount stores.

The above represents a big chunk of volume that could go to the home center / building material dealers. I doubt that our industry is losing that volume because of price only. The volume may be going to the discount house because of their repeat traffic brought in by aggressive advertising, their convenient location and store hours, and their inviting visual merchandising.

As an industry, home centers and building material dealers are getting better at all these consumer attracting concepts. We have become a retail industry. We are learning how to compete. We must keep learning. We must keep innovating.

Seeing no turnaround in the immediate future, wholesalers and mill sales executives attending the 9fth annual meeting of the North American Wholesale Lumber Association at The Homestead, Hot Springs, Va., May 23-26, concurred that housing is apt to slowly build to I .4 to 1.6 annual starts over the next few years.

Both delegates and speakers were concerned with the current business environment. Douglas Kiker, Washington D.C. based NBC correspondent,confirmed common opinions, concluding that interest rates should come down, but only a little bit. With difficult "watershed" decisions facing the nation, speaker Lewis Timberlake emphasized that the Ieaders will have to be better organized and be better at communication.

Attendance was about 7590 ofnormal. Reducing the budget, the board held the line on most member services and dues. An audio-visual in-house training program was approved.

(Please turn to page 71)