Century-old dealer stays current

CTOUTHERN Lumber, Iocated in L)the heart of downtown San Jose, Ca., celebrates 100 years of doing business in the same location this summer, making it one of the city's longest continually-operating independent retail stores.

Store owner Jeff Pohle. the third generation of Pohle family ownership, says that the key to survival for Southern Lumber has been their vigilant emphasis on service and quality.

"A lot of people did not think independent stores like ours would survive the chain stores coming in during

Customers today

are often surprised to learn that the company is actually 100 years old, given the store's contemporary design and spacious showrooms.

The Southern Lumber story is worth telling for several important reasons. It's a story of heritage, tenacity, ingenuity, and survival.

Southern Lumber began as a logging operation in an area of the Santa Cruz Mountains that is now Big Basin State Park. Most of its business came from the quicksilver mines of Almaden, Ca., and the orchard businesses throughout the Santa Clara Valley. In 1910, the company opened a distribution yard in the location of the present store.

During the Depression, Ed Pohle, a former log-tagger and forestry major in college, saved Southern Lumber from going under, and focused on creating a family-owned retail business specializing in providing high quality wood products to its customers. He was early to recognize and meet the needs of a group of consumers now known as "do-it-yourselfers." His understanding of hardwoods and softwoods also made him popular with woodworkers and hobbyists, and he soon started cutting long boards into short pieces to meet their needs.

Bruce also stressed superior customer service, which has ultimately helped the store survive for so many years.

Customers of Southern Lumber today are often surprised to learn that the company is actually 100 years old, given the store's contemporary design and spacious showrooms. That's because in 1913 Southern Lumber burned to the ground in what is arguably the worst fire in San Jose's history.

The new Southern Lumber was rebuilt within a year. The Pohle's designed and built a modern 65,000sq. ft. building providing nearly threeand-a-half acres of fine woods, supplies, and quality building materials. To update and also commemorate the 100-year mark, this year the store completed a new remodel of all its showrooms.

the '80s and '90s," explains Pohle. "But I guess we already had a plan in place when the stores started sprouting up."

"The Plan" was business as usual. "Back in the 1960s, my dad actually started carrying more hard-to-find exotic woods and products than our competitors, and we have always tried to provide the best service for our customers."

When son Bruce Pohle took over the business, he expanded the store to include quality wood-related products. At one time, the store carried everything from El Toro sailboats to exotic veneers. While the sailboat line was eventually discontinued, Southern Lumber's reputation as a store where customers could find the hard-to-find has continued throush the years.

Although the actual hundredth birthday of Southern Lumber was July 2, throughout the year Southern Lumber has been offering special 100-Year anniversary sales and promotions. They included a first-timeever guitar giveaway and promotion with classic rocker Greg Kihn from 98.5 KFOX Radio. Southern Lumber is giving away guitars to Kihn and listeners made from unique hardwoods you can only find at Southern Lumber. This month, Southern Lumber is once again holding a "Toys for Tots" toy drive during the Holidays.

What does it take to make the best lumber in the business?

Certainly we believe it takes the best Timber and the latest Technology. But our biggest asset is our Talent - the exceptional people who make Riley Creek the largest lumber company in ldaho.

At Riley Creek, our facilities are a campus where we learn every day. Our people hold the highest quality ratings in the business. They take real pride in each finely crafted piece of lumber that we ship to you.

In other words, excellence has a face. lt's the people who show up every day at Riley Creek, determined to send Vou exactly the product you need, every time.