Building materials supplier 84 Lumber Co. opened its first
new store in about six years on Friday and said it will turn a profit this year
for the first time since the housing downturn.
“We definitely hit rock bottom,” said Maggie Hardy Magerko,
the company’s president and owner, referring to the homebuilding slump.
“Now it slowly has started to accelerate, and we’re really
excited for the bright future,” she said at an event to open the company’s new
Bridgeville area store.
The new location off
Fayette, PA
Washington County-based company wanted to expand there and arranged a land swap
with the developer of the nearby Newbury community.
Now, 84 Lumber’s seven-acre campus includes the two-story
store and kitchen and bath design gallery, plus a lumber warehouse, railroad
spur and high-tech saw that can turn out custom-engineered wood components for
10 houses in a day.
Sales at the new location are projected to reach $25 million
next year, up from $10 million at the old store, Magerko said.
The company started in 1956 by her father, Joe Hardy, peaked
at 500 stores about five years ago but shed half its locations and refinanced
debt when the homebuilding industry collapsed. The last new store in the
in
 |
| 84 Lumber founder, Joe Hardy |
locations, Magerko said. “Before, it was all about being the biggest, and how
quick can we open stores. Now it’s very manageable.”
New home construction “will start coming back in another
year or so. The inventory is disappearing,” Joe Hardy said, adding housing
starts could return to the 1.5 million-a-year level nationwide in a couple
years.
