A match made in heaven (a.k.fl. Maine)

By Carla Waldemar

ffOW'S this for a Match.com

Ilmicro-bio? "Hate present highprofile, high-stress job, love to golf, ski, play tennis. Willing to relocate."

Tom Cooke didn't put it into so many words, but his sister in Maine figured out the situation. She'd also gotten the message from her friend Debbie. So both were invited to spend New Year's with her at a nearby ski resort.

That was in 2003. By January 2004, the pair had bought a lumberyard together in Lovell, Me. In January 2005, they were married. In their spare time, they tripled sales at their business that first year, doubled that the following season, and are looking to double yet again when 2006 is all said and done. The only thing that didn't come to pass was all that talk about golf, ski and tennis.

Time for the backstory, as they say when you've tuned in midway through a mini-series. Explains Tom: "I came from 2l years in publishing-Wa// Street Journal. Newsweek-and the business just wasn't fun anymore. Twenty years later, the built-in integrity [of journalism] just wasn't there.

Says Debbie: "l rvas c.f.o. for a publicly held technology corporation and. following Enron. it was just too stressful. What we had in common was. we were both talking about looking for other jobs. I always wanted a small business"-a yoga studio or natural-food store. Tom favored a golf course or wine bar. Throwing glamour out the window. they bought a hardware store listed on the Internet as up for sale.

You'd think they'd knorv better.

Tom: "I was ahvays a handyman. rebuilt my New York home."

Debbie: "l loved hardware stores as a kid with my dad."

So here they are, in the middle of Lovell, Me. (i.e.. the middle of norvhere). And with zip experience.

Also, as they soon found out, zip inventorv. "Mv first customer." Tom recalls. "was a big excavator. the 'father' of the torvn. He needed electrical tape and we didn't have any."

So. until True Value membership and credit applications were cleared. Tom drove dorvn to Portland every night to pick up needed items at-gulpHome Depot. He also made a deal with a Vermont yard that rvas closing to take its inventory-"so it would look like more stuff on the shelves."

Early on. the Cookes added lumber to the mix. "lt had once been a lumberyard, so the infrastructure was there. People advised us, 'Don't! Don't take on commodities in Maine!' but not to carry 2x4s when people rvere asking for them seemed cnuy."

"Another thing." adds Debbie. "eight or l0 people came in asking for cleaner for hardwood floors. We got some and it sold like hotcakes."

Back to Tom: "In town here, they were excavating for a septic tank system and needed supplies. Their time is money. I stocked it so they didn't have to drive 30 minutes to Home Depot.

"Our builders basically tell us what they want and we get it. It's all been very gradual-a unit of this, a unit of that, buying by the tractor-trailer load. At first, they thought of us as 'the convenience store' and drove right by. Nothing was visible. So we starting putting stuff out in front-a pallet of mulch, or whatever. We also advertised in the paper, and of course, we grew by word of mouth." Today 70Vo of the Cookes' business comes from contractors, another l07o from the town's d-i-yers, and the rest from resort homes on the nearby lake.

There were no trucks two years ago. These days, there are four. Free same-day delivery is a point of honor-so much so that Tom is prone to jump into the driver's seat himself if it's a Saturday and a builder is stuck. "Our delivery policy is as good as anybody's," he declares.

The Cookes also purchased a POS computer system, to the delight of their big builders. "After we changed over," Debbie says, "they felt more conf ident that the records were straight-no longer manual. And we could easily find the products they were after."

Staffing also jumped, from the former total of two to seven full-timers and five part-time employees. "It's not brain surgery," Tom professes. "Many people in this small town came in. looking for jobs. You hire as needed and train 'em with NRLA (Northeastern Retail Lumber Association) and NRHA (North American Retail Hardware Association) classes and with vendors. We offer good pay, benefits, vacation. We treat 'em like family-which is pretty cool. We get along, we help each other out."

Especially Mark Moulton, the town's fire chief, who's the new general manager and brings 20 years in maintenance as well as serving as "the nicest guy you'll ever meet," testifies his boss.

Contractors are part of the family, too. This spring Lovell launched its first golf outing as a thank-you gesture. The company also includes these pros in training programs and takes them along to shows.

The Cookes credit (well, "bless" might be the better word) NRLA, along with vendors, for their own on- the-job training. "The members are happy to talk to you, help you figure something out," reports Tom, who's already an area officer.

Margins and pricing, for instance, are "one of the most difficult challenges," Tom allows. "We're constantly trying to figure out the markup for different products. But if we tweak [a sensitive item], the customers will let us know!"

Buying also can be an ongoing mystery. "We added a housewrap, and it was doing pretty well," says Tom. "Then someone suggested we try X, 'something better,' and sales were up. Pretty soon we were told 'something better' yet again and sales continued to rise."

However, "It's hard to predict for the cabins." Debbie adds. "I ordered the maximum number of gallons of stain ahead of the season, but it rained constantly" and few moved out the door. ("But it's selling better now that the rain has stopped," she adds.)

Fortunately, the couple could draw on capital of their own to get started, along with help from the bank and vendors. "We'd heard that small-business owners had a hard time at the bank," says Debbie, "but we had a good business background and went in with a good business plan," so a line of credit was forthcoming. "And vendors know each other; they spread the word that there was a good new operation in Maine."

In addressing pricing, good fortune again was on their side. To their surprise (and clear delight), they'd lucked into a second-home community unaffected by the economy. Second (and third and fourth) homes were owned by the likes of B.B. King, a media mogul of the Washington Post, Jonathan Denny and Rudy Vallee, Tom reports. (The secret, he says, is to focus on the contractors rather than the summer crowd.)

In turn. Tom believes in paying back. He's on committees to aid the town's library, church and performing ans center.

"How many new lumberyards are opening?" Tom wonders aloud. He's right. He's a member of a pretty small fraternity. The answer to success, he says, is "buying right and giving quality and service. I don't see any big push from the Home Depots of the world. Good contractors understand services and quality. I buy better. I'll stock the 2x4s that give them no complaints, and they appreciate that."

"Service is still key. If we don't have it, we'll special-order it," Debbie adds. "Get it: That's our motto"-anything short of wheat sprouts and Chardonnay. Natural foods and wine bar aside, the Cookes, in pretty darn short order, have realized their dream.

- A former award-winning LBM trade maga:ine editor, Carla Waldemar writes frequently on the lumber and building material industry. Contact her at cwaldemar@mn.rr.com.

Parr Lumber, Hillsboro, Or., has started construction on a 17,000-sq. ft. retail/warehouse building with 9,600-sq. ft. storageioffice building on 7 acres in Clark County, Wa., to open later this year, and suffered $4,500 in damage at its Prineville, Or., lumF.y*d.in an Aug. 7 fire of suspiclous ongm

P ontbriand's Hardware, Auburn, Wa., has closed after 79 years of family ownership, due to big box competition, but retains ownership of the building...

Lumbermen t has applied for zoning approval to expand operations and construct a new building at its facility in Klamath Falls, Or., doubling roof truss production

Rainier Hardware, Seaftle, Wa., has lost its lease and will be evicted Sept. 30 from its prime location next to the original Starbucks

Almquist Lumber Co. held a grand opening Aug. 12 for its new location in Arcata, Ca.. (see April, p.36) ...

Wally's Hardware, Porterville, Ca.. has closed

Stock Building Supply sold the former Anderson Lumber facility in St. George, Ut., to HM Investment Corp. for redevelopment into a retail center

Ace Hardware, Danville, Ca., has closed ...

Pro-Build Holdings finalized its purchase of 54-unit Hope Lumber & Supply, Tulsa, Ok. (see July, p. 38)...

Home Depot opened new stores July 27 in W. Inglewood, Ca., and July 13 in N. Fontana, Ca.

Home Depot Supply acquired privately owned Edson Electric

Supply, Phoenix, Az., and is being offered big tax incentives to move its Hq. to Orlando, Fl. ... Costa Mesa, Ca.-based subsidiary Wftire Cap Construction Supply has acquired Texas Contractors Supply, with DCs in Allen, Austin, San Antonio, Irving and Fort Worth, Tx. ...

Home Depot won approval to build a 129,000-sq. ft. store on ll acres in Auburn, Ca., as well as a $21.5-million store in east Long Beach, Ca., and is ready to start construction on a 102,000-sq. ft. store with 24,000-sq. ft. garden center and two-level parking garage in S. San Francisco, Ca.

Home Depot anticipates a January opening in Apple Valley, Ca., and a spring 2007 opening in Warrenton, Or.; began construction of a 140,000-sq. ft. store in Corvallis, Or.; submitted plans for a 141,000-sq. ft. store in Dixon, Ca.; will build on l3 acres in Moorpark, Ca., and won approval for a revised proposal to build its second Huntington Beach, Ca., store on the site of a shuttered Kmart...

Lowet Cos. opened a new 102,000-sq. ft. store Aug. 25 in Santa Fe, N.M. (Walt Cordova, store mgr.) ... the chain anticipates opening roughly 116,000-sq. ft. stores with 31,000-sq. ft. garden centers this fall in Redding, Ca.; in the fourth quarter in Tacoma, Wa., and early next year in Las Vegas, Nv....

Have a notice of your recent expansion, promotions or other company changes published in the next issue of The Merchant Magazine.

Just Fax your news to 94$852-0231 or email to kdebats@building-products.com.

Lowe's wants to build a 138,000-sq. ft. store on 14 acres in Port Orchard, Wa.; will build in San Jose, Ca., without demolishing a historic /BM building; applied to construct a 170,000-sq. ft. store on 29 acres in Dublin, Ca; is awaiting environmental review for a proposed store in Manteca, Ca., and sustained a $l million fire started by a welding accident at the construction site of a new store in Bullhead City, Az.

Meek's Lumber & Hardware, Redding, Ca., is sponsoring a contest to name its new mascot dog, for use in futurc advertising ...

Truckee Meadows Habitat for Humanity opened a discount building supply and hardware store last month in Sparks, Nv. (Tammy Martin, store mgr.) ...

Western Woods, /2c., Chico, Ca, is now distributing KLC Klear Choice reated millwork products USNR, Woodland, Wa., which designs and produces equipment for the lumber industry, acquired computerized sawmill equipment manufacturet Inovec, Eugene, Or., ftom General Electric ...

Boise Cascade, Boise, Id., has named CanWel Building Materials as exclusive Canadian distributor of its engineered wood products ...

Contact Lumber, Portland, Or., had its quality management and controls ISO 9001:2000 certified ...

Weyerhaeuser pledged $l million in cash and forestland intercss to the Nature Conservancy and agreed to sell its composite panels operations in lreland to CoillteTeoranta

Vandermeer Forest Products is the new name of Marulnn Forest Products, Vancouver, B.C.; business address and phone number remain the same

Anniversaries: Contact Lumber, Portland, Or.,6oth ...

Housing starts in luly fell2.3% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate (Please urn to page 75)