The hadwood store that tries harder

I T'S NO secret.

Ilt'sjust a logical key to success that Steve Penberthy says all too many hardwood dealers are ignoring.

"I'm a hardwood supplier with a difference," he explains. ''The difference is merchandising. A lot of people don't realize that there's an add-on business to hardwood that's not just hardwood."

Once the customer is in the shop, why have him go someplace else to get everything else he needs to complete his project? Penberthy's Woodcrafters Lumber Sales Inc. tries to stock every need in its 25,000 sq. ft. Portland, Or., warehouse.

"We're like a sewing store for woodworkers," he says. "We've got all the fabrics, the accessories, the books, the newest buttons, the latest fads, the traditionals, from Brooks Brothers to the Diane Von Frirstenbergs."

Woodcrafters' inventory boasts a large number of products and a wide range within those products, 4,000 items such as plywood lumber, exotic lumber, millwork, trim, cabinet hardware, scroll saws. drills and drill accessories. stairway parts, sandpaper, router bits and over 500 book, magazine and videotape titles.

Penberthy deals in the best ofeverything, buying in carloads directly from

Story at a Glance

Portland, Or., dealercarries it all for add-on sales. idea honed from growing up in a family of lumbermen...wide selection strcssed...rarc lumber and exotic add-ons draw customers.

manufacturers for maximum discount. To get this quality and range ofproducts, he has to deal with between 300 and 400 manufacturers from Louisiana to Denmark.

The 38-year-old's passion for the hardwood business and idea for the company grew from his work with the family business, a widely recognized lumber firm in operation for more than 55 years. "I was with Penberthy Lumber in Los Angeles all my life and got the experience of the active L.A. market," he says. "As an outside salesman, I was a little like a bee. I'd go from flower, (or customer) to flower, picking up and dropping off things wherever I went.

"I found many people having to gather lumber, plywood, tools, information, at different sources. My grandfather offered it from one source. The natural extension of this was to gather under one roof everything for the cabinet industry," he says.

In Portland on business, Penberthy came across Don Jenkins' Woodcrafters. ' A lot of the credit goes to Don, who showed that putting it all in one spot would work. But he didn't live in the area, kept it as a part time job, had other interests and no time to develop it."

When the business went up for sale four years ago, Penberthy stepped in. He pumped new life into Woodcrafters, adding to the product line and attracting a large loyal following.

He compares his business to Ray Johnson's Hardwood Center in Santa Ana, Ca. "They carry mouldings and mantelpieces, that's all, but everything on mouldings and mantelpieces," he says.

But Penberthy also realizes that any business is made up ofproducts and people. So he has extensively trained his seven employees and encourages them to take as much time as needed to talk with the customers. "We're not a rack-type of business," he explains. "Because we're a small specialty-type business, we can take the time to ask people what they need materials for."

Perhaps Woodcrafters' biggest drawing card is its stock of exotic lumber, numbering about 70 different species and including shedua from West Africa, satinwood from Sri Lanka and Louisiana tupelo, which he had to travel across the country to search for. Although exotics account

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' ' I i (,.', u* ii)

At prcss tirne therc was no Inlernutirnul Trrula Associutiort dccision on thc pctition for a/7'/,. dLrty on luurber shippcd l'ronr Canacla to thc U.S. ...if thc vcrclict due Oct. 9 scts a softwood (lut)'. it will be eflectivc until the frnal ITA dctermination Dcc. 23...

National Lurtrbcr & Supplt Int'., Firuntain Valley. Ca.. with a S103.ffi0 ne-t loss tirr thc second quartcr, has closcd a lcss-than-a-year-old stclrc in San Bernardino. Ca.; 1987 openings are plannecl in Sunnymead and south Orangc County. Ca.

Hrnte Depot has opencd its largest storc. 139.500 sq. fi., in El Cajon. Ca. ...Ltrtttln'r Otre has a ncw sklrc in Rarnona. Ca. ..Fottr,Se,c.rrlns Gurden & Homa (le rtrers is ope ning in San Dinras. Ca.. this month...

Buildars Squure will open a third sk)rc in Poftland, Or., pnrbably on the Wcstside. ..Coast rc Coust, a hardware whole saler in Denvcr. Co., bought Budtli e s , Dal las, Tx as part of a nrove to add 65 fl-anchised units...

Wickes Co. , Santa Monica, Ca.. has acquired Homecrafters Wrelutu.sc, Birnringharn. Al.: the Wit'kcsHotrc crafi e tr subsidiary will operate under Wicke.s Lumber... Diumond Lunber store s have been closed in Riverton, Wy., Anderson. Ca., and Brighton and Gunnison, Co.

Big Juke 's, Loveland, Co., is celebrating its second year in business with tcntative plans ftrr expansion... HonrcClub Inc. has ope ned its first Washington State location in Kent... Ganuhl Lunrber Co., Anaheim, Ca., is closing its 59 year old Lake Arrowhead, Ca., store which was extensively damaged by fire in June. ..

The Home E.rpress, a new Fre monto Ca., retailer, will open a store in Fresno. Ca., as part of 12 plannecl fbr thc Wcst.. .Fletnitry Lrurtber Co., Los Angelcs. Ca., has a new 1800 sq. ft. kitchen ancl bath center...

Handltrttur (Itrp. , Sirn Diego. Ca.. plans to sellor liquidate its 53 store chain before the cnd ofthe year (see story on p 5l)

Nntionctl Lunbe r, Fountain Valley, Ca., has sold the remaining 9 acres of its 12.9 acre s in Ontario. Ca. . for 52.75 million Lo United Ittct,rrre Properties /nc. of Beverly Hillst the store which occupies 3.9 acres was sold and leased back last spring...

Chundler Lumber Co., Van Nuys. Ca.. has purchased 9 acres in Fontana, Ca., lbr a mill ancl olfices; Mark Mycrs. exec. v.p., targets an early sunllner 1987 opening...

Drtt Blair Lturrber Co., Stockton, Ca. , has closed pe rntanently. retail lumber assets of Scrilo Cru7 Lumber Co., Santa Cruz, Ca., are being acquired by Bob Butcher Jr., San Loren:tt Lutnbar Ca. , San Lorcnzo. Ca,; Les Ley. Santa Cruz pres.. retains the Santa Cruz name...

Suntvvrtod,llc., has moved two blocks into larger new quarters in Palos Verdcs Peninsula, Ca.; their telex ancl telephone numbers are unchanged...Ensworth Foresl Product.s, Roseville, C:r., has a new office in Arcata. Ca.. Dave Winkle, mgr.

Davidson PW.P, Carson, Ca., will move corporate Hq. and manufrcturing plants to a ncw 395,000 sq. ft. building in Chino, Ca., early next year...Longtree hulustn n/ is a new trading co. in Bellevue. Wa. ..Ken McCaskey has firrmed Crystal Inke Lumber Co. , Albuquerque, N.M. ...

Tintbcrlinc Forvst Pnxltu'lr'is a ncu' wholesalc l'irnr tbunded b1'Je nnif'er Boden in Jackson. Ca. ...Sulnunt But Fot'e.s! Pntdutts is a ncll Kingston. Wa.. wholcsale operation cstahlishcd by Jay Stonc...

Rrtcklitr Frtrest Products, Int. Sacranrento, Ca.. is winding up its aftairs and is voluntarily dissolving... Sr.i:,llut,est Fore.st lrrclustnr,.s is raising money through an offcring of $140 nrillion in subor dinatecl debentures..

Santa Fe Frtrcst Proclucts, Ittt'., which has donc business fbr 40 years as Fir & Pine Lumber Co.,will drop the Fir & Pinc name and use the Santa Fe nante exclusively...

Lotri s irLrtu- PuciJic Co rp. plans t<r acquire Ki rhl, Rtrest Industries Inc. fronr Sanln Fe Southent Pacific'Corp. for $315 rnillion. ..Waltlron Forest Protlutts, Sacramento. Ca., has opened a Tulsa. Ok., sales office, Creg Sutton in charge...

Mutl'ille has sold its 20.000 sq. ft. Denver. Co., Hq. to Hughas Aircruf with plans to lease back about half the spacc.

Bri.ggs West Pl umbi ngtrare, Colton, Ca., is the new westem operating unit of Bngg.r Plwnhingv'ure, 1nc., Tiuttpa, Fl. .Cusnm Buildirtg Products , Bell , Ca., is building a new facility near Atlanta, Ga....

Victor Posner, Miami Beach. Fl., industrialist and chairman of DWC Holding Co. (Evans Products Co.), has been granted a new trial on his income tax evasion conviction (see p. 5l lirr story). .Building prttducts manutacturers sales in thc sccond quarter were up 5 %, profrts up 17 %...

Hutsing rtrIrfs rose 0.4% inAugust Lo a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.82 million units...single fumily homes starts were up 3%...multifarnily units dropped 4.3% i.

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Sunshine. And a coolbreeze off the Pacific. Those are two of the tools Georgia-Pacific uses to S-dry Common and Rustic gades of redwood at our Ft. Bragg mill in northem Califomia.

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