Pay 'N Pak To Sell 24 Stores

Pay 'N Pak Stores, Inc., Kent, Wa., expects to finalize in October the sale of 24 of its 26 California stores to Tri Equity Investments, San Ramon, Ca.. for $32.5 million.

Yuba City and Eureka, Ca., stores are exempt from the sale which will close the units. The Hawaiistore will be sold and leased back and I 16,000 square feet of excess space in the Kent distribution center will be subleased.

Reducing personnel of 2,800 by about 800, restructuring merchandising and department management and implementation in some stores of a new format also are planned. The format successful in the Puyallup, Wa., prototype Pay'N Pak unit will be adopted.

Pay 'N Pak will now concentrate its resources in two areas: the Interstate 5 corridor stretching from the California-Oregon border to Canada and the rural areas of Utah. Nevada. Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, South Dakota, A laska, Nebraska and Kansas. The remaining 77 stores will be organized into two regions with offices at corporate headquarters in Kent, John H. Markley, chairman and ceo since 1989, explained.

The redirection and streamlining seeks to improve the company's competitiveness and profitability, reduce operating expenses and redeploy resources. Between 1987 and 1989, the company experienced losses of more than $25 million, following a $265 million buyout led by previous management. Within the last l2 months, a California DC has been closed, the corporate jet sold, and jobs cut. In the same period, a new point-of-sale computer system for inventory control was installed and the Puyallup prototype store opened.

The 44,000 sq. ft. store, which opened June 26, is a one-stop design and remodeling center for homeowners with professional design services within a showroom environment. Using computers, automated paint color scanners and other high tech devices, design professionals help homeowners to visualize and plan projects both in the store and with housecalls.

The Merchant Magazine

Wood Panels Beat Quake

Panelized wood systems performed well under the severe seismic load conditions of the Loma Peieta (San Francisco), Ca., earthquake in October 1989.

American Plywood Association field representatives Ernst Bauer analyzed five wood-frame multistory structures in the damage zone and discovered virtually no damage. APA performance rated panels for floors, walls and roofs had been used extensively in all projects. A group of potential buyers touring a San Mateo project at the time of the quake were so impressed with the building's performance that they bought the complex.

Mills Paying Attention?

Even though he closed Stephen G. Freeman & Co. more than two years ago, owner Steve Freeman reports a number of sawmills still faithfully send their offering list each month.

"They make great scrap paper," noted Freeman, who closed his Newport Beach, Ca., lumber brokerage after 42 years to pursue his avocation of freelance writine.