Doug Donaldson

Tum-A-Lum Lumber’s Pendleton, Ore., store will start a second century next year with a beautiful new building that has injected excitement in the community.

Tum-A-Lum Lumber

Pendleton, Ore.

When TAL Building Centers (recently rebranded from TAL Holdings) converted a former car dealership into a reimagined version of Tum-A-Lum Lumber, the company boldly stepped into the future of retail hardware store design. As an opposite to any cookie-cutter store look, the Tum-A-Lum design has won high praise within the hardware industry and has proved to be a tremendous success among customers in Pendleton, Ore.

A fifth-generation, family-owned business, Vancouver, Wash.-based TAL Building Centers has focused on customer experience at their 32 locations in the Pacific Northwest, each tailored to the communities they serve. Such community spirit was especially important for Tum-A-Lum Lumber, the company’s new flagship store in Pendleton. “The family has been in this area for a long time, and it was important to bring that sense of community with us into the new store,” says TAL Marketing Director Katherine Cornelius.

Inside, the most striking feature of the store is a 1,000-square-foot design center. With a sleek, contemporary look, the center showcases cabinets, countertops, doors and windows.

NEW LOOK, DIRECTION

Serving the community since 1924, the original 2,000-square-foot Tum-A-Lum store in Pendleton was beginning to show its age.

“Aisles were small and items were crowded, so it wasn’t an ideal shopping experience and it didn’t fit our customers’ needs,” Katherine says. “We saw an opportunity to expand our reach in this community and relocating was the best way to do that.”

TAL sought a customer-centric design it calls placemaking—a people-inspired approach to creating a space where customers want to come in, stay and work with the Tum-A-Lum team.

Tum-A-Lum added a full-service paint center with four aisles featuring Rodda and Miller paints, both popular Northwest brands.

The store layout is emphasized by bright LED lighting, easy-to-read wayfinding and end caps with side paneling that minimize visual clutter.

“We didn’t hire someone who just designs lumberyards, because we wanted to push the boundaries,” says Billy Cornelius, TAL’s director of property, facilities and asset management, who oversaw the Pendleton construction. “We wanted a non-traditional way of presenting hardware. We want our hardware stores to be an experience.”

The new Tum-A-Lum building process involved about 36 months of negotiations with contractors, securing permits from the city and converting the car dealership and 4.5 acres and existing building into a hardware store and lumberyard. In February 2022, Tum-A-Lum Lumber opened the doors to its 10,000-square-foot home center.

SIGNS OF THE TIMES

Located next to the town line, Tum-A-Lum placed a welcome to Pendleton sign on the property. Once opened, the store welcomed customers with a whole new retail hardware experience, too.

The Tum-A-Lum building exterior boldly displays word clouds of the store’s expanded assortment. The new store also offers plenty of parking and easy access to the covered lumberyard. Inside, the most striking feature of the store is a 1,000-square-foot design center. With a sleek, contemporary look, the center showcases cabinets, countertops, doors and windows.

“We want to make the design center a destination,” says Billy.

With more room in the new store, Tum-A-Lum added a full-service paint center with four aisles featuring Rodda and Miller paints, both popular Northwest brands. The store layout is emphasized by bright LED lighting, easy-to-read wayfinding and end caps with side paneling that minimize visual clutter. The framed end caps provide a consistent, architectural look, and the side panels include names and icons of products down each aisle.

Large windows at the front of the store allow in plenty of light and create a welcoming visual as customers enter the store. This area features elegant wood slats that offer views of millwork displays in other areas of the store.

Connecting to the company’s long service to its community, the store displays many large historic photos, like the Tum-A-Lum delivery truck depicted behind this contractor sales desk.

The service counter was moved to the front of the store, so each customer can be greeted with a smile. The base of the front counter recreates the previous location’s exterior signage.

CUSTOMERS, HISTORY UNITED

Tum-A-Lum Pendleton’s customer base is about 70 percent contractor, so the store was designed with a dedicated pro sales center that includes multiple desk spaces where contractors can spread out plans.

Katherine says the shift in store design has been praised by long-time, regular contractor customers. “Now that we’re in this much bigger store, the pros know we can partner with them on larger jobs and they take us more seriously,” she says. “Plus, lots of builders are bringing in customers, talking about plans and shopping more. The new store has changed the perception of us in the community in a big way.”

Another striking change with the new design: The service counter was moved to the front of the store, so each customer can be greeted with a smile. The base of the front counter recreates the previous location’s exterior signage.

While the fresh look provides a new energy to the space, TAL Holdings wanted to preserve the near-century old company history, so they included some signage from the previous location, such as an old logo made in cedar that is now above the new Pendleton store’s paint center. Throughout the new store hang enlarged historical photos of the previous location. For example, in the contractor area, a large historic photo of a Tum-A-Lum delivery truck is on the wall.

The family is thrilled that their investment in the new store has paid off with award-winning design. From left to right: Billy Cornelius, Katherine Cornelius, Bill Cornelius, Susan Cornelius, Adam and Teresa Halverson with kids Rainier and Zooey.

Sales have increased 45 percent year over year since the reopening.

NEW DESIGN BENEFITS

Tum-A-Lum Pendleton celebrated their grand opening on April 1, 2022 with a VIP night and ribbon cutting that attracted a thousand people. The new store has had a big impact on the community and on the company’s bottom line. Sales have increased 45 percent year over year since the reopening.

TAL coordinated the new assortment planning with their distributor Do it Best, which helped provide assortment advice for the biggest addition, the lawn and garden department with an exterior garden center and nursery. It’s paid off: The category has seen a 146 percent increase in sales and a 265 percent increase in transactions since its debut. Cabinetry category is another area that’s experienced tremendous growth since its inclusion within the new Tum-A-Lum design center.

These customer-friendly designs are also a way that TAL competes against online retailers. “For hardware stores, ecommerce is both good and terrible for our industry,” Billy says. “The challenge is convincing people to get off the couch and come to the hardware store. That means thinking about how we engage the community. We solve problems for customers with not just materials but services.”

For TAL Building Centers, the solution includes connecting with customers through multi-functional spaces. For example, not only can customers shop for lawn and garden products but also drop by the design center or millwork displays to experience the services Tum-A-Lum provides.

“We’re trying to encourage customers to come for more than one reason,” Billy says. “We want to give our customers a place to call home. When someone looks at Amazon or Walmart, they might be able to find a similar tool or fastener. But we’re so much more than products on a shelf.”

“Our goal is to have a positive impact on our community, and to have industry peers acknowledge reshaping and changing the lumber-building materials shopping experience is flattering and an honor,” Billy says. “We have received many awards through the years, but this is the first one for the family, for the family business. This really means a lot.”

Chris Jensen

Michael (left) and Turner Townsend (right) took over Townsend Building Supply from their father, Dale (center), in 2012.

Townsend Building Supply

Panama City, Fla.

Townsend Building Supply began as Hughes Law Lumber in Chipley, Fla., in 1921, making it a member of the Century Club. In 1949, Austin Townsend purchased the company and it has been solely owned by the Townsend family ever since. In 2012, the family’s third generation—Michael and Turner Townsend—took over the operation from their father Dale. They currently operate seven locations in Alabama and Florida.

Following Hurricane Michael’s devastating impact in Panama City, Fla., in 2018, Townsend Building Supply set up a makeshift lumberyard—essentially just a pole barn on sand with an old shed—to help the local community rebuild.

Breaking ground in 2021, the Townsend family built the lumberyard portion first and moved the operation there before building the main warehouse and showroom. The completed store opened in August 2022.

“Our Chipley (Fla.) store was affected the most—it was on the western edge of the storm path,” says Michael. “The community was without power for a week or two and rebuilding went on for months. The Panama City area needed a lot of help, so we were able to start shipping materials down shortly after the storm hit.”

In 2020, the brothers decided they wanted to make the store permanent. Breaking ground in 2021, they built the lumberyard portion first and moved the operation there before building the main warehouse and showroom. The pandemic delayed the store’s construction by 10 months, so it opened in late August 2022.

“We wanted to help the Panama City area however we could. We never went down there with the mindset it was going to be temporary,” says Michael. “We decided to stay because we felt we could fill a need in the community for many years to come.”

The company had some outside help on the yard design and layout, but they relied on Orgill’s help to design the 6,000-square-foot retail space. “We know what we needed from a lumberyard standpoint, but Orgill helped us come up with the right product mix for the market. They’ve helped us with other store sets and remodels and been a great partner,” says Michael, who adds that their dad began buying from Orgill in the late 1970s.

They wanted a store that was easy for pro customers to get in and out but that also serviced their delivery operation out the back door.

The company had some outside help on the yard design and layout, but they relied on Orgill’s help to design the 6,000-square-foot retail space.

Designing a One-Stop Shop

The new store was designed to be a one-stop shop for construction projects, targeting their core customer segments of contractors, builders and heavy d-i-yers. As Turner explains, “We wanted a store that was easy for our pro customers to get in and out but that also serviced our delivery operation out the back door.”

The store interior is clean, organized and decorated in a modern and beachy style. That design concept is carried through outside, where they planted more than 100 palm trees on the property.

The store features a completely paved lumberyard and a drive-thru warehouse with an automated Auto-Stak rack storage system for easy loading and an area for customers to park their trailers to load with products. Merchandising displays include a high-end deck display facing the highway in front of the store. A showroom highlights the window and door product selection and features a conference room for builders and their customers.

The new store was designed to be a one-stop shop for construction projects.

The store features a completely paved lumberyard and a drive-thru warehouse with an automated Auto-Stak rack storage system for easy loading.

Townsend Building Supply is constantly seeking innovative ways to better serve their customers. They employ a premium millwork specialist to provide next-level service to customers. Installation services are offered for both homeowners and contractors.

The company offers a secure online customer portal that integrates with QuickBooks, allowing customers to view invoices, credit notes, orders and quotes. The portal enables customers to generate their own statements or reports showing products purchased for their project.

Michael and Turner say the new store has far exceeded their expectations, with strong sales growth right from the start. More importantly, they were able to increase gross margin by 6 percent in the first four months. “We’ve been very pleased and humbled by the reception from the community,” Turner says.

Despite facing competition from Lowe’s and Home Depot five miles away, the Panama City store is seeing more walk-in trade business with the new store. “Customers are very complimentary and say they love the convenient location and how easy the store is to shop,” Michael says.

Every decision was driven by what they perceived the market needed, Turner points out. “We’re not open 90 hours a week, so being able to get pros in and out quickly is critical,” he says.

A high-end deck display faces the highway in front of the store.

Improving Efficiency and Service

Townsend Building Supply switched over to Epicor for their point-of-sale system in 2011 and embracing the latest retail technology tools has helped the company better serve its diversified customer base.

“Epicor has been a great tool for us,” Michael says. “It helps us keep our finger on the pulse of business with analytics and to operate more efficiently. We’re focused on using Epicor’s BisTrack as an ERP platform to improve the customer experience by tracking performance with our delivery and accuracy.”

Three years ago, the brothers hired Steve Riggs to serve as president and created an EOS operating system to run the company while they stepped into more defined roles—Turner on the sales side and Michael in finance and administration. As Turner explains, “We wanted to be more intentional in how we operated with more accountability for everyone.”

Employee development is another key focus at Townsend Building Supply, which has 28 employees in Panama City and 135 total in the company. They hired a former teacher as a full-time training coordinator to create a comprehensive training program for new and current employees, utilizing a spacious training facility on the second floor for continuous education on products and processes.

Employee recognition programs reward team members for outstanding performance. Kudos cards are given to employees who exemplify the operation’s core values and can be redeemed for prizes during the store’s Christmas party. Employees can submit a write-up about a fellow staff member who exemplifies the store’s core values, with winners receiving the Employee of the Quarter designation. Employees who go above and beyond or are acknowledged by customers for their outstanding service receive a Superior Service award.

Michael and Turner Townsend say the new store has far exceeded their expectations, with strong sales growth right from the start.

Community Involvement

Townsend Building Supply holds regular contractor appreciation events and is an engaged member of the Bay Building Industries Association, sponsoring monthly meetings, fishing events, golf tournaments and other gatherings.

They are an active member of the Bay County Chamber of Commerce and hosted the group for an after-hours event at the store with hors d’oeuvres and beverages. The company is a strong supporter of United Way. Employees are given the option to donate a portion of their salary to the cause.

With strong community support behind the new Panama City store, Michael and Turner were eager to adopt similar concepts in some of their other locations. A grand reopening was held in June for their Troy, Ala., location, which was remodeled to reflect the successful design aspects of the Panama City build.

Winning the Beacon Award for Best New Store is really humbling, according to Turner, who says, “It makes you reflect on the fact there’s just no way we could’ve done this without our excellent team.” Adds Michael, “I’m most excited for our employees, who stuck it out so long in less than desirable conditions. They had the hard part.”