store promotes new producls, Operation To Sell do=it-yourself mercha nd ise

Aggressive Yard Changes Shoulder Trade

66FXPANSION DEPENDS on a lot of u things these days, but I've seen our yard expand its operation in the past and, Irankly, there's no reason it shouldn't expand in the future.l'

Thus did Tim Berry, manager of San Dinas Lumber Company in San Dimas, sum up his feelings relative to the future.

Berry said his yard recently added a brightly appointed store whose job it is to sell the individual consumer.

'oThis doesn't mean San Dimas is leaving Iumber in second place, but the three of us felt we should take advantage of the ap. pliance market," Berry confided.

The three owners of San Dimas Lumber are Berry, Stanley W. Plumrner and Tom

Gore, the yard supervisor. In 1923, Plummer had come to San Dimas to take over the managernent of the sprawling yard 35 miles east of Los Angeles. l-or several years the yard was under the control of stockholders. But in 1946, Plummer bought the yard outright. His association with Berry and Gore followed.

Today, the yard caters to the needs of the resident home owner. The new store shows in its inventory the needs of San Dimas' home owners; but Berrv did reflect on the anemic conditions thai prevail in home building.

"Frankly, it's teaching us all a lesson," he pointed out. "I think this is a leveling period in our business and that, in a way, had to come because of over-confidence in the past and several other factors determining the future of our business."

Berry algo said he thinks that the overbuilding in the early Sixties had a lot to do with the current problem.

Cuslomer is King

Berry believes in the traditional ap. proach to the cash-and-carry customer. That is, the idea that he is king once he enters the door and until he leaves the premises.

"As an example of our pitch, we relied mainly on word-of-mouth advertising and some telephone work just prior to oux opening. We let the people know we were in. terested in them as indiai.d,uals.

'oWhen more than 1200 crossed our en- tranceway in June, when we opened, we had the stock on hand to take care of them," Berry proudly asserted.

Berry said that running a functional lumber yard and appliance store in a small town has eeveral advantages. One is tllat people know who you are.

Should Diversify

"This is absolutely true. Building contractors, painters, sub contractors, they all hear about your operation and they all refer their friends ,who need some footage or some paint-see what f mean?"

He also stressed that a lumberman's philosophy, usually optimistic and a product of good times, may flag when the unexpected comes. This is why several yards have had to diversify in order to stay open.

"And besides this, a savings and loan company in recent months has had to take in $IO million to loan out a thousand," he said wryly.

Tight money was indeed one of the reasons that San Dimas' merchandising methods changed to meet the readymade market where the individual customer pays cash.

ooAside from some remodeling jobs, the store's operation is successful because our customers are taken care of properly-as customers are supposed to be-and they come back to us the second time happier o{ every inch oI wall area," Berry pointed out. "In doing this we came out with what we call a wide open store." our community. And this means progress for everybody," Berry said bearningln and wishing us good luck.

M0DERtl MEIH0DS of merchandising show imagination and good sense of oustomers' needs in San. Dimas Lumbers' new appliance store. 0pened in June of this year, store sells virtually everything for homeowners and do.ityourselfers. Phots on bottom right shows effective use of wall space. Store is fully airconditioned a n d features numerous display racks.

San Dimas' yard itself is characteristically Old American. In the sense that it is as we would imagine a lumberyard to have appeared in our fathers' day. Two or three older buildings, some almost barn-shaped, rise thirty or thirty-five feet above the yard. In bright paint the words 'oSan Dimas Lumber" grab the eye and can be seen for blocks.

Broad emphasis is laid upon making shopping easy for the customer. Throughout the store bold signs turn the eye toward attractive merchandise displays. Tidy bins hold everything from door anchors to plumbers' elbows. In reality, San Dimas' store's general merchandising plan em. braces the concept of a typically American "geaeral store,tt and ready to shop for other things," Berry said.

IMPULSE BUYII{G habits are encouraged by this reminder sign taped to the paint and finishings section counter.

"Old time lumbermenthe guys who knew only board lengths and the diflerent species for this or that job had to learn that construction wasn't the only area in which they could make money," Berry said.

"Display o{ new products, the easy access to floor.shown merchandise, the advantage of colorful product design, all these things serve to draw more and more customers to your store."

The San Dimas store, a frame and stucco job with truss roof, air-conditioning .and ribbon windows for soft lighting efiects, is a model of spatial relationships. Counters and displays for various lines are clearly marked. Each product "area" is arranged so as not to conflict with the appeal of a totally difierent product "area." Net effect is good floor prornotion of stock on hand.

'oone thing we did was to take advantage o'W'e've always been in the country and some of our buildings suggest the older America we knew as kids," Berry told us. 'oBut we're going to expand some day soon when the freeway moves in."

The freeway?

"Right. The Foothill Freeway is skirting

The dimensions of the yard have not changed much since its creation around the turn of the century. Rectangularly shaped, its property abuts pleasant cottages and other city dwellings on one end and a partially open area on another. Cool shade trees gather behind a parking area across the street from the San Dimas office.