THE 5TH QUARTER OF 2020

First and foremost, I would like to start with a sincere thank you to all those who took part in our WRLA Showcase this year. Your time, support and critiques over the course of this year’s show made the WRLA Showcase as good as it could have possibly been given the circumstances. However, having spoken to a number of regular attendees after show’s end, from vendors to retailers, the eagerness to return to shows in-person as soon as possible was echoed by all. After all, it’s the community we are part of as WRLA members that makes the WRLA Showcase so special.

As you read this, we are in the final month of the first quarter of 2021, I have heard it described as the fifth quarter of 2020, and I couldn’t agree more. Only this time around we have some recent history to learn from. Lumber shortages, historical high prices and new virus variants have us in a similar position to the one we found ourselves in last year. Only this year, with the experience and knowledge we have gained from 2020, we are better prepared to handle what lies ahead. We have been fortu nate enough to be able to remain open during the entirety of this pandemic so far. As I have mentioned before, many of our stores are the cornerstones of our communities. People are going to be turning to us in their time of need and it is up to us as an industry to rise to the occasion. With understanding and compassion, we can seize the opportunity to further cement ourselves as valuable contributors to our communities.

I am looking forward to the opportunities 2021 brings, as I hope you are too! I am looking forward to new and inventive ways the WRLA can help all of our businesses grow, such as the business sessions the WRLA is hosting virtually, which kicked off in February. I am looking forward to being called upon to help those

Joel Seibert CHAIR, WRLA

all again in person.