Copeland Lumber to close

By Dave Frank

Appeal Staff Writer

Copeland Lumber will close next week after more than 50 years due to the region's slow economy, according to its parent company, Tum-A-Lum.

"The economic downturn is very severe for home building in the Northern Nevada area," James Crawford, president of the Bend, Ore.-based company, said Thursday. "It was a tough decision we had to make."

About 17 full-time and part-time employees work at the store. Copeland, 906 S. Stewart St., will try to liquidate its supply before it closes March 7.

Carson City had been a great place to do business, Crawford said, but the market forced the company to close the store.

Tum-A-Lum bought Copeland in 2002. It has five other lumber yards in Oregon and California.

Meeks Lumber and Hardware in Carson City has been able to survive the slow economy, said Store Manager Tim Aldrich, but that's only because it sells other items for the home such as cabinets and doors.

The lumber and housing market is "not very healthy" for anyone, he said, and Meeks would be in trouble like Copeland if it had concentrated on lumber.

"Unfortunately, in these times, people are going to fall off the map," he said.

Copeland was a good business, Aldrich said, and it is sad to see it close.

Construction in Carson City has dropped sharply over the past year. The city issued 37 building permits for new homes during the first half of 2007, 13 permits for new homes the second half of 2007 and one in January this year.

The closure of Copeland, said Rick DeMar of the Builders Association of Western Nevada, "is probably an indication of the current market."

Northern Nevada has a better market than Southern Nevada, said DeMar, chief executive officer of the association, but residential building and now possibly commercial building is slowing.

Even Home Depot, the world's largest home improvement chain, has been hit.

The company reported this week that share earnings had fallen about 15 percent in fiscal 2007 compared to the year before.

Kathryn Gallagher, a company representative, said this was in part because of the slow housing market.

The company is now building a store in North Carson City next to the city's Wal-Mart. It's expected to be done this summer.

• Contact reporter Dave Frank at dfrank@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1212.