Of all the things I really miss..

[Wilbur ★]

I miss the traditional lumber yard the most.

They didn't sell curtains or appliances or ceramic tiles and rare was a woman visitor.  If a woman was there, she was normally in the family sedan while the husband loaded wood on the roof racks.

My local store when I was a kid, was owned by a family that lived on our street.   I remember going there with my dad to buy wood, nails and screws.  I loved the smell of the yard, the smell of the nail bin but not the smell of the single toilette, filthy bathroom. 

If we went there, we were building something and it was exciting.

The local store was run by one man with two yard men, boys at the time.  The boys would help load the car and tie the load down.   My Dad and would go into the office where I would go get a few scoops of nails in the penny size my Dad wanted.  They would go into a paper bag of course.  No money changed hands.  It was magical.  Brian Kask would just say, "On the account Willie?"  He was the only person I ever heard call my Dad that slang.  There was nobody counting or weighing.  Everything was done on an honor system and a handshake. 

I just read a few years ago that that yard had closed, having been sold to a national chain.  Brian retired to Scottsdale, the two yard boys were paid out to retirement by Brian when he sold.  He looked after the guys who worked their entire lives at the same old yard job. He had even paid their kids education and carried the mortgage on their houses. 

Simple times. 

[TrentonMakes]

Nice memory. I remember going with my dad to a place that sounds similar, a small-ish Northeast US chain called Grossman's.   The one we usually visited was down near the railroad tracks in Rensselaer, a small city that had seen better days. 

It seems like my mom never came when we went there. I remember getting wood, hardware, and insulation there and probably not much else.

If we went to Grossman's we would have been out in the truck. Probably stopped at Agway on the way home for a bag of feed. 

[team scooter]

That was before the invention of the home renovation cable TV show. How could we know how our house was "supposed to look", how much work we could do, and how much money we could spend to make it look "fresh and modern" until they came along to tell us? 

[AirwickWithCheese]

Willie was a great man.      Wonderful memory, Captain. 

[Ralphie ★]

It is fun to remember the old chains also - around here, Channel, Rickel, Builder's Square, and Hechingers.

We still have one of the old independent ones here, near the dam on the lake in the park where I like to walk Ruby.  It is comforting to see it remain in existence.

But my favourite old time commerce memory is tube testing at the local corner store!  What a different world that was! Also nearby was a very well-equipped music store and a shop where you could get scissors sharpened or shoes fixed, and the little greasy spoon that looked and felt just like the one in Dagwood.  They had chili dogs to die for.   Always bought in twos.

My little town was pretty cool.

 

[Ralphie ★]

No one misses their brian? :D

 

[ChrisL]

We had the local hardware store "Kerm Rema" and Mr Rema was a good friend of my dad as my dad was the community handyman.  It still stands but is an Ace Hardware now.  The locals still call it Kerm Rema.  It's our go to hardware store, it has everything you need without having to walk miles to find it.

[maddmaxx ★]

10 hours ago, TrentonMakes said:

Nice memory. I remember going with my dad to a place that sounds similar, a small-ish Northeast US chain called Grossman's.   The one we usually visited was down near the railroad tracks in Rensselaer, a small city that had seen better days. 

It seems like my mom never came when we went there. I remember getting wood, hardware, and insulation there and probably not much else.

If we went to Grossman's we would have been out in the truck. Probably stopped at Agway on the way home for a bag of feed. 

I remember Rensselaer and indeed it had seen better days.

[Johnny Come Lately Name]

10 hours ago, Wilbur said:

Simple times. 

Yeah, then they went and got all that crazy, high tech stuff like tube testers.....what do radio and TV tubes have to do with hardware, I ask?

[bikeman564™]

I have a lumber yard a mile from me. Been around for over 100 years. Family owned.

[MickinMD ★]

I miss the prices and the quality of the 2 x 4's, etc. at the old lumber yards. Now, at Home Depot or Lowe's, if I want four 2 x 4 x 8's, I sometimes have to go through a dozen to find four that are straight, not seriously missing parts of the edge, or having a huge knot in the middle.

[donkpow]

I miss the devastation of old growth forests for lumber.

[Wilbur ★]

4 minutes ago, donkpow said:

I miss the devastation of old growth forests for lumber.

It is pretty much all in reserves now in BC.  It truly is a renewable resource and harvested twice within a human lifetime.  It isn't as grim as it once was. 

[donkpow]

When I was a young man, I would visit the lumberyard to get straight grain redwood for misc projects.

[Wilbur ★]

3 minutes ago, donkpow said:

When I was a young man, I would visit the lumberyard to get straight grain redwood for misc projects.

So, that is why Red quit? 

[donkpow]

Just now, Wilbur said:

So, that is why Red quit? 

Couldn't keep up, I guess.

[Dottleshead ★]

15 minutes ago, donkpow said:

I miss the devastation of old growth forests for lumber.

They've pretty much raped B.C. Even Wilbur won't deny that.

[Wilbur ★]

1 minute ago, Dottie said:

They've pretty much raped B.C. Even Wilbur won't deny that.

Yup, most.  There are still areas, now untouchable and in other areas, selective harvest rather than clearcutting.  I hear an new forestry plan is under development after all the fires last year.  It will be interesting to see if old growth comes back into play.  

[Dottleshead ★]

2 minutes ago, Wilbur said:

Yup, most.  There are still areas, now untouchable and in other areas, selective harvest rather than clearcutting.  I hear an new forestry plan is under development after all the fires last year.  It will be interesting to see if old growth comes back into play.  

Yep. We have the same thing. All the excess lumber sources are depleted. Folks out here see it as a 40 year crop.

[Dottleshead ★]

I will say for building the floor of a 12x12 shed, I am into lumber over $600. Of course it's all treated wood but still seems like highway robbery.

[The_Karen_Cooper_Incident]

I miss my friend Joe C.  The 26th marks the 7th year he left this place. 

Somehow, your post reminded me. 

Couch 

[Wilbur ★]

49 minutes ago, Dottie said:

I will say for building the floor of a 12x12 shed, I am into lumber over $600. Of course it's all treated wood but still seems like highway robbery.

Tariffs baby!  You are paying 24% more for fine Canadian SPF.  Price matched by Weyerhauser of course! 

[Dottleshead ★]

28 minutes ago, Wilbur said:

Tariffs baby!  You are paying 24% more for fine Canadian SPF.  Price matched by Weyerhauser of course! 

Yep. The great thing about tariffs as a weapon or defensive shield is that historically they don't work. But I shant turn this into a political thread. How 'bout them Argonauts?

[Longjohn ★]

I can go a tenth of a mile in either direction from my house and get local Hemlock lumber or local hardwood lumber rough cut at a very reasonable price. I have to drive about ten miles to get the kiln dried stuff. We had a chain lumber yard "Carter Lumber" that recently closed their local yard. We still have "84 Lumber, a western Pa. based chain. I used to buy a lot of stuff for projects I was working on for other people at a yard called "Wilson Lumber". They were nice to deal with and would cut lumber the size I needed saving me a lot of time. There is a winery in the building where they used to be but I noticed lumber out in the back buildings again so maybe they are still in business working from another building?

For the past week I could hear chainsaws behind my house all day and the neighbors were skidding logs (horse drawn log skidder) down the edge of my property all week. I took a walk across the field behind my house to see what's left, you can hardly tell they were in there. Timber is a renewable resource and at least in my area they know what they are doing.

[Randomguy]

I miss my sense of certainty and belief that everything always works out.  Getting older does that to you, I suppose.

[groupw]

Frank owned the lumber yard. His wife and I were friends in high school. Her aunt and uncle are my parents best friends. We bowled in the same league for a few years. 

Franks was into R/C planes. I was into R/C cars. We could turn 15 minutes to pick up supplies into a 90 minute bull session! He sold the store and retired about 10 years ago. The store closed within 2 years after he left. 

We have an Ace Hardware that has been in the same location for over 50 years. They did buy a neighboring property and tripled the store size over the years. The staff tends to stay over the years so you know who to loo for to help. 

[Longjohn ★]

11 minutes ago, groupw said:

We have an Ace Hardware that has been in the same location for over 50 years. They did buy a neighboring property and tripled the store size over the years. The staff tends to stay over the years so you know who to loo for to help. 

Our local hardware store closed this past year when the building they had been in forever was sold. The owner was older than me and considered moving the store but decided it was better to retire and they cut a deal with someone to open an Ace hardware store in a closed up Buick dealership just up the road. It's a nice store and seems to offer local hardware store services, it's not the same but not too bad. They also offered employment to all the workers from the LHS, some accepted it and some moved on. 

[Dottleshead ★]

20 minutes ago, Randomguy said:

I miss my sense of certainty and belief that everything always works out.  Getting older does that to you, I suppose.

It's a process. Hang in there RG.

[Dottleshead ★]

Before I left town, this was the place I knew. I would go there with my dad all the time. Turns out Home Depot was the start of the down hill slide.

 

http://www.federalwaymirror.com/news/federal-way-family-owned-lumber-yard-to-close-after-60-years-in-business/