The Sun Lumber Company III

On Saturday, June 18th, The Sun Lumber Company, of Beverly Hills, Ventura and Oxnard, California held an open air picnic and annual celebration. The picnic place was in a beautiful grove near Camillo, about half way between Beverly Hills and Ventura. The Sun Lumber Company was the host of the occasion. The guests and participants were the employes of the Company and their families, and there were two hundred men, women, and children at this very sprightly gathering.

Such food and drink were furnished as is seldom seen at an affair of this kind. There was nearly a pound of wonderfully baked ham for every guest, as well as a lavish supply of other foods and delicacies without stint, and the gang put in a very happy day. There were games and races, with suitable prizes, and the grove rang with laughter and shoutS. There was a big baseball game between the Northern and Southern departments of the firm, and Beverly Hills won by a score ol 7 to 2.

The affair was typical of a very remarkable and interesting lumber concern. Since its advent in California in the early part ol 1924, it has been busy establishing a'fine place for itself in the lumber industry of the state, and helping to build lumber history by fine practice and splendid merchandising. The spirit of the Sun Lumber Company is of the sort that naturally begets admiration, and secures cooperation.

Frank N. Burnaby is President and General Manager. He bought the yard at Beverly Hills in February, t924, and immediately made tremendous changes in its entire arrangement, equipment, and operation. He built a new office right in the yard. The previous one was some distance away. He installed a big electric hoist for handling the lumber, and installed a carrier for hauling it about the yard. He changed the method of piling the lumber, and of stocking, preparing for market, and shipping. It costs fully $2.50 a thousand less to handle lumber in that yard than it used to do.

The mill is modern, efficient, and a money-maker. Most retail mills are not. Twelve million feet of high grade lumber is carried in stock at this yard, consisting of Fir, Redwood, Cedar, White Pine, Sugar Pine, Oak, Gum, Mahog-.

any, etc. It is located in the very heart of Beverly Hills, and a big fleet of motor trucks and trailers furnish the best of delivery service. They sold and delivered .twenty mil'lion feet of lumber out of that yard last year. The plant and yard covers eleven and one-half acres.

The new office is attractive on the outside, and a beauty within. It is all done in Southerh Gum of the curly variety, there are half a dozen glass-encased private offices, big sales, accounting, and display rooms, and ah altogether remarkable office, blending efficiency with attractiveness.

In the spring of 1925 Mr. Burnaby established his first branch yard at Ventura, eighty miles north of Beverly Hills. on the Coast of California, in a lovely and fast growing community. He placed Mr. L. R. Byers in charge, and that gentleman has made a splendid success of that opera- tion. It is one of the most punchful and at the same time highly attractive retail lumber plants in the entire state of California, as will be seen in the accompanying picture. This yard is close to the docks at Ventura, and most of their supply of lumber and all other materials carried in stock, are delivered by water. Tr'elve miles south of Ventura, at Oxnard, they established a small lumber sup- ply yard, as an adjunct to the Ventura yard.

Attractive architecture, attractive buildings, thoughtful arrangement, has made the yard at Ventura one frequehtly admired. They carry in stock besides everything in the lumber and shingle line consumed in that territory, a big line of side lines which they display very attraetively in their modern sales and display room inside. For instance, the outside of their counter is paneled with handsomely finished wood, each panel of a different wood or finish, thus attractively displaying the stocks they carry, and their appearance when finished. They sell and display built-in fixtures and furniture, hardware, and many Sorts of building material other than lumber and shingles.

The general slogan of the Sun Lumber Company is "The Very Best in Lumber." At Ventura they have added: "Serving All of Ventura County."

The Ventura plant covers seven acres, stocks three million feet of lumber, and operates a fleet of trucks that deliver all over their territory. The sales and display rooms are comparable to the finest in any retail lumber plant in the entire country. Mr. Ernest L. Vehlow is Assistant I\fanager of the Ventura plant.

Mr. Burnaby is ably assisted in Beverly Hills by a splen<lid organization of efficient men and women, headed by a particularly useful and capable man, Mr. E. C. Jamieson, rvho has the title of Sales Manager.

The spirit of the Sun Lumber Company has attracted general attention and admiration ever since it started. There is a square deal for everyone, buyer, seller, competitor. and all. F'rank Burnaby has been in the lumber business all his life, and is noted as a square shooter, and his organization reflects that attitude admirably. He believes in cooperation, believes in giving good service, selling good goods, and getting a good price for them. If all the lumbermen in Califor nia rvere Frank Burnaltys, this rvould be the most prosperous industry in the state. His business code has been published in these columns previously, and the entire organization practices the code.

Firms like the Sun Lumber Company help 'make the Iumber business more useful, more prosperous, and more appreciated