TheBoyshore Lumber Co. stor/, OR . . Good Guys Don't Always Finish Last

HIS IS NOT a story about merchandising with its loss leaders, selfservice personality and electronic brain. Rather, and re{reshingly so, this story is about a yard that really hasn't noticably changed since it first opened its doors for business in September, 1939.

We speak of the Moncure {amily, and of Bayshorc Lumber Company at 175 Bayshore Blvd. in San Francisco. This fine old firm was established on what was then the edge of the bay by S. W. Moncure and his wife, Gladys Thomson Moncure. Edward Toloski, present manager of the business, made it a threesome when he left H. S. Thomson to help open the yard.

At that time. Moncure and Toloski rubbed elbows with another fine old lumber firm, Hobbs Vall Lumber Company, which then operated a cargo and distribution yard directly behind Bayshore Lumber. Although the Hobbs Vall yard is long gone, and the bay at their back door long since filled with rock from the San Francisco Mint excavation, Moncure and Toloski still like to reminisce about the Hobbs Wall gang next door, and believe it or not, crab fishing and duck hunting right in back of the yard!

Actually, in tracing the history of Bayshore Lumber we discovered the fact that Mrs. Moncure's family had been in the lumber business in San Francisco since 1874, when her grandfather, J. H. Kruse, opened a yard and mill on 23rd Street. Mr. Kruse died in 1935, but his name is still well known to the trade under the present banner of Ricci & Kruse Lumber Co., now out at Hawes and Armstrons Streets.

Besides her grandfather, Mrs. Moncure's father, the late H. S. Thomson, was also in the retail lumber business in the city. Mr. Thomson started the business in 1907, just after The Fire, and was running two retail yards out of Missouri Street at the time of his death in 1949.

Il|.E GAI{G THAT makes the wheels of this unioue operation turn: Ed Toloski, S. W. Moncure, Rav Toloski, Frank Ryan and Don Wilson at top ieft.'Office and. small store (top righD suits Toloski just fine. Eusiness was built on real service and- superior quality in the truest sense and customers have responded with almost unbelievable loyalty. phvsical disadvantages of this 25 year old yard (ctnter, teft) are apparent, little or no parking, tiny store and narrow frontage hemmed in by warehouses on either side. Nevertheless, a score of fine old lumber firms have vanished from the San Francisco scene while Bayshore Lumber continues to do business at the same old stand. Because of narrow aisle (center right) nearly all lumber is hand stacked. Inventorv is of better than average quality and is handled with metlculous care. You don't hardly see lumber handled this way anymore (lower lef0 bui that's the way thev d0 it here, for 25 years now-and still soins jtrons. Just. abolt every available inch of the ylrd-is used. Lumber is tallied when stacked so desir6d lencth can be pulled with minimum of fuss (lower right-photo).

Sol Moncure came into the lurnber business via a different route, though. After graduating from U.C. at Berkeley, Sol chose banking as his pro{ession and moved to New York City where he went to work for the Chase National Bank. Everything was going just dandy, then the Depression hit. "I'd saved a {ew bucks," Sol told us, "so I went to Europe for six months figuring it would blow over by then."

Needless to say, when Sol exhausted his funds and returned to New York to find guys peddling apples in the streets and vets marching on Washington, he could see that he had made a slight error of judgment.

'oGo West, Young Man" seemed like pretty sound advice at this point, so he returned to Berkeley and was lucky enough to get a job as a carpenter on the Edwards

Field Stadium-"snd damned glad to get it. too." he recalls. So that's how the banker ended up in the retail lumber business. We mentioned earlier that there was Iittle appreciable change in the business since it first began, and that's right. Moncure started the firm with a real desire to serve the smaller builders and industrials with superior quality merchandise, and that's the way it is today.

Moncure and his staff have brrilt up an almost unbelievable loyalty (in this dar and age) with their customers. Bargain hunters are politely told to go elsewhere because their business is not geared to this type of trade.

Whether this folksy, friendly philosophy would work elsewhere is o{ no consequence to us here. The important thing is that it's worked for Moncure, Ior 25 years during which time a score of fine old lumber firms have left the San Francisco scene.

Good guys don't always finish last after all !

Order any combination of these 19 different hardboards frorrr your Weyerha,errser representative

Just about anything your customers need in hardboard, Weyerhaeuser makes. Check the list above.

Generally these panels are available on combined orders with other Weyerhaeuser building materials.

Consolidated buying saves you money on freight. Reduces handling time. And your accounting is streamlined with one order. one invoice and one source of supply.

From a few panels to a car load, you can order any combination of Weyerhaeuser hardboards from your nearby distributor or distribution center.

Or if you would like additional information, write us at Box B-32, Tbcoma, Washington.