Soul Pick, lnc., Gordenq Yord, Pushes Plywood Sqles ond Wolks Fine Line Between Builder ond Do-h-Yourself Trode

After he immigrated to the United States from Germany back in 1947, Saul Pick was very hard-up and spent two years working as a carpenter so he could someday afford to go into business for himself. Then, in 1949, he established the concern known as Saul Pick, Inc., at Gardena, Calif.

"I couldn't miss," he says, "because plyu'ood was my specialty, and it was already much in demand. But I soon realized that the only .r's2y to expand was to increase my volume of sales by taking a smaller margin of profit."

This was due to the postwar housing boom, which caused building contractors and subdividers to use plywood in unprecedented quantities.

Many building material retailers weren't trying to cash in on the housing boom, because commercial buildersthen as now-expected substantial discounts on their purchases. But Pick figured discounts wouldn't be objectionable if they adequately increased his g'ross.

Some dealers with the same general thought in mind have sought to avoid reduced profit margins by selling second-rate materials and charging for delivery service, he said. Pick didn't, and doesn't.

"Customers don't return to the dealer who doesn't sell quality," he maintains. "And nobody likes to pay for service."

Pick's retail gross, including sales to industrial firms and commercial builders, zoomed over the $2 million mark during 1955, and there is every reason to believe it will increase another half million before the end of 1956. Although he sells a general line of hardrvare and building materials, his 'main stock in trade remains plywood. He has sold virtually every type of plyr.vood made during his meteoric seven years in business, but nearly all of his inventory at any given time comprises the Douglas fir variety-which accounts for about B0/o of his plyrvood sales.

"Aside from the fact that it is much in demand and consequently available at a relatively low cost," he avers, "fir plywood consistently meets the high quality standards which are essential to customer satisfaction. We order less popular types of plywood only when they are specifically requested by our customers."

To help his plywood customers see what they are getting, Pick has had a series of large swinging panels installed in his retail display room. Each panel comprises a type and grade of plyrvood which is currently available in the stockroom. Prices and obtainable thicknesses of the materials are indicated by typewritten labels on the panels. "Prices are shown," Pick says, "because we know they are low and don't want to be mistaken for one of those dealers who advertises one price and cl-rarges another."

Besides having stock materials cut to length for his customers, Pick maintains a battery of power tools r which anyone buying plywood in his shop can use free of charge. This, naturally, has done much to attract do-it-yourself trade.

Scraps accumulated in cutting plyr,vood are given modest price labels, stored in bins, and sold to customers rvho wish to make small articles. And, in many cases, persons with no particular desire to make anything suddenly decided to buy materials after looking at the elaborate display of plywood project plans and instructions in Pick's retail showroom.

Despite the present magnitude of his delivery op€ration, which keeps about a fourth of his 40 employes

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