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HISTORY OF 84 LUMBER
84 Lumber Company's origins date to 1956 when Joseph A. Hardy III opened the
original 'cash and carry' lumber yard in the rural town of Eighty Four,
Pennsylvania, 20 miles south of Pittsburgh. Within five-years of its
founding, 84 Lumber began an expansion program, opening new company-owned
building materials stores with the company's "no-frills" approach to keep
overhead low. As the company grew, stores were reformatted from the
traditional warehouse look. In newer stores, roughly half of the square
footage is dedicated to hardware and a showroom, featuring an expanded line
of plumbing, electrical, hardware, paint and sundries. The showroom
highlights kitchen, bath, door and window displays.
In the early 1990's, competition and pressure from big box retailers began
to siphon 84 Lumber's retail customer base and resulted in Hardy delivering
what has come to be known as the “Survival Speech.” He told company
executives that they needed to reinvent 84 Lumber and move away from the
retail segment and focus on professional contractors if the company were to
survive. To carry this vision forward, Hardy appointed his youngest
daughter, Maggie Hardy Magerko, as President of 84 Lumber Company. |
Maggie & Joe
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84 Lumber has grown by
offering unparalleled customer service, the lowest possible pricing and
value added services for its pro customers |
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This proved to be a turning point for the company as Maggie took the
reins, and has since grown 84 Lumber into a $4 billion company. Today,
84 Lumber operates 281 locations and employs 5,000
associates nationwide. Under Maggie's guidance, 84 Lumber has grown by
offering unparalleled customer service, the lowest possible pricing and
value added services for its pro customers, such as insurance; lending and
credit; no-fee
travel services; installation; the Inner Circle rewards program; and Builder
Plan Services..
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an
early newspaper advertisement
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Another unique service aspect of 84 Lumber is that the company evaluates
each of its markets on an individual basis so that every store carries
products and offers services demanded by the pro customers it serves. To
help builders save money on materials and building cycle time, 84 Lumber
continues to aggressively expand its component manufacturing division, 84
Components. The company presently operates 6 plants. The company has also significantly
expanded its Contractor Sales force and added a National Sales Division and
an Installed Sales Division to better serve the professional market. 84
Lumber maintains its corporate headquarters in Eighty Four, Pa., where the
original store continues to operate.
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