City slicker

f, sronre. On.. is a feisty little city lLhugging a bay etched into the Pacific coastline that separates Oregon from Washington. (Well, boasting a population of just 10000, one's tempted to call it a fishing village.)

Indeed, that's a major industry here, where the wild Columbia River meets the sea-where nature is so unruly that episodes for Ax Men and Deadliest Catch have been filmed for reality TV. Earlier, it charmed and unsettled Lewis and Clark in equal measure when they arrived in 1806, making it the oldest northern settlement west of the Mississippi

City Lumber Co. wasn't a project of those explorers' axes, however, but-launched in 1904, it can lay claim to being the oldest lumberyard in the state-abetted, in large part, by all those fisheries that needed boxes for the cannery (another stat: the largest in the country).

After a succession of ownerssome more savvy than others-in 1975 it caught the eye of Jerry

Newenhof, an entrepreneurial type who'd previously managed a warehouse, served as Sheetrock buyer, and as a manufacturers rep for ceiling tiles. His focus, until his death in 1995, was on the folks in town who needed his services: a strong retail thrust. And that's what continues to drive City's business today, recently voted Best Home Improvement Store in Astoria.

Sons Greg and Jeff, who grew up sweeping sawdust and stocking shelves, pledged to continue that legacy-well, after they took it on as their life's calling. Finishing college, Greg decided to take the summer off to bum around, until an injury at the store found Dad on the phone with a plane ticket back. Jeff's post-college dream was to play golf on all courses in the state. "I got to two or three" before he, too, was corralled. No regrets, they swear. It's all they know and all they love.

Greg manages purchasing, payroll and accounting, while Jeff oversees advertisins and sales. "I'm the one who gets to talk on the phone," he says on the phone. (He's also the one with the Internet savvy, which we'll get to later.)

And, although they haven't been tapped by the cameramen yet, the business of keeping a home center afloat-nay, prosperous-in this day and age tops many a survivor challenge on reality TV. Business admittedly is down 307c, but, true to Dad's ethos, all I 1 staffers are still on board. "We've never laid off anyone for lack of work-part of Dad's philosophy," says Jeff. "And if we did, it'd take a couple of years to get a new employee up to speed. Besides, we're operating in the black; we're very careful."

Close to lOTa of City Lumber's business is generated by small remodelers and the town's valiant d-i-y brigade. Despite close quarters ("at 6,000 sq. ft., we're jammed to the rafters"), City offers a full panoply of building products: fancy and commodity lumber, myriad types of plywood, moulding, roofing, insulation, toolsand tool rental-and the list goes on. A popular home d6cor department, launched early on by the brothers' mom, flourishes with everything from cabinets and lighting to wallpaper and paint. with in-home measuring services offered.

Lawn & garden also has taken off. The building's exterior is lined with dozens of pallets of soil, bark and mulch-plus vibrant pots of posies. "They add a spot of color-the only one on the block-which sets us apart and brings in traffic." As do the frontand-center Weber grills on sale and also utilized by vendors cooking treats for the public as they showcase their latest and greatest-another facet in that Best in Town award.

Other contributors: Backed by Dad's emphasis on service, "We greet people at the door and take 'em to what they need, and either my brother or I are always on the floor," says Jeff. The service ethic continues to loading and delivery (take that, Home Depot!), so when you order 25 bags of concrete and scores of heavy pavers, there's a boom truck at the ready. Plus a cement mixer in the rental department, or a sander when you buy floor stain.

The Home Depot behemoth that arose five miles away doesn't present a problem. But just before it opened, City's purchasing partner, Do it Best, cautioned to expect a 2OVo drop in sales. "But the first month, we were only down $1,000," smiles Jeff. Chalk up a win for superior service-and services, including propane exchange, pellet storage after payment. pipe threading, key cutting, and free popcorn.

Another business driver is City's Best Rewards Club, offering participants $5 off every $250 in purchases, plus notices of special members-only sales. And how about the annual chance to win $1,000 in a shopping spree? (Again, check out the website; this year's winner looked pretty darn ecstatic.)

Jeff's the go-to guy for the web. "It's my baby, I guess," he allows. "We segued from our first computer in 1983 to a software feature designed to facilitate online sales." City (okay, Jeff) also makes good use of the company's Facebook page and keeps folks titillated with Twitter tweets. such as a recent "Sign of spring, just like the swallows returning to Capistrano: The Adirondack chairs have arrived." "We tweet to announce new products, but with a sense of humor because a simple hard sell gets tuned out."

But City has not abandoned print. It distributes a monthly Do it Best circular and regularly purchases the back page of the newspaper's TV section. And just this week, City moved its message to a full page every Friday, to catch the eyes of the Weekend Warriors about to gear up.

All forward moves in trend with the times. But the best push forward ever, insist both brothers, came in 2006 when they attended a trade show that allowed them to reevaluate their purchasing partner and-bottom lineswitch to Do it Best. "Our former buying association hadn't been honest with us, so we started looking around," says Jeff. "Changing to Do it Best was one of the best moves ever. After making the switch, our business tripled. We only wish we'd done it earlier. lt was an eye-opening experience, offering us a huge variety of products with consistent tracking and deliver service, and a store design crew when we were thinking of expanding, including a survey of 3.000 of our customers."

And the future? "Things are starting to bounce back. Oregon is always behind the rest of the country, so when other dealers were moaning in 2008, we were still doing fine. Now, it's down some. But I'm 52, and I plan to stick around. And my son, Jerry, who's 8, comes in to pop the popcorn and pick up nails-just like I started, a lifetime ago."

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By fames Olsen