Twenty-seven years ago, STATEWIDE LUMBER CO. was started as a lumber yard in the tri-state area.  L&L FURNITURE had been around for nearly as long and was the leading furniture manufacturer in the area as well as being STATEWIDE’s number one customer.

The owner of L&L, John L. Woodland, had owned the company since it’s beginning.  For the first three years, John ran L&L by himself.  The business operated at a profit from the beginning, making Mr. Woodland enough money to live and to reinvest some profits in advertising.  In the fourth year of operation, John borrowed money, hired workmen, and began selling his designs to a local department store on consignment. At this point the business began to expand rapidly. 

L&L quickly attracted attention as a reputable brand manufactured in the area and, in the fifth year, began to receive orders from other department stores.  In the seventh year, John hired administrative support personnel, more workmen, and moved L&L to new facilities.  The company continued to grow until, thirteen years later, L&L, John Woodland' s business reached $10 million in yearly sales.

For the next four years, L&L weathered economic trouble in the tri-state area.  While the furniture market was hit hard, L&L' s reputation sustained company sales at $10 to $11 million dollars each year.  However, the company was not well prepared for this unprecedented period of flat sales, and rising costs began to eat into profit margins. Three years ago, the area's economic situation began to improve, and sales began to climb again.  Unfortunately, accelerating costs continued to erode the company's profitability.

Tragically, at the beginning of L&L' s twenty-sixth year in operation, John was killed in a boating accident leaving no one in charge of the business.  It was the worst year in L&L' s history, and the company ultimately went out of business.

STATEWIDE LUMBER's owner, Bob Wood Jr., has realized that his lumber business will be severely hurt by the loss of his biggest customer.  He has further realized that the loss of L&L has left a large gap in the furniture market of the tri-state area.  This potential problem has created an opportunity such that Bob Wood Jr. has decided to start his own furniture business to capitalize on the gap left in the market and to boost his own sagging lumber sales.