Throwback Thursday: Supply One plays in Reno

The opening of a new home center concept in Reno, Nevada, in 1984 carried the headline: “Supply One packs Reno whse into 30,000 ft.”

But Supply One  did more than that. It represented a new direction for the Steiner family, which made the Lumberjack home center chain famous in California, before Payless Cashways bought it in early 1983.

Jay Steiner led the family’s purchase of two Answerman home centers, one in Reno and the other in Sparks, and converted them to the midsize warehouse concept.

The store pushed the bounds of merchandising, according to the Aug. 27, 1984 issue of National Home Center News, the forerunner of HBSDealer:

“Reflecting Supply One’s skillful ability to maximize the store cube, some merchandise, such as wheelbarrows and bar stools, literally hang from chains attached to the ceiling.”

Unusual displays have been developed for items that don’t ‘show well in their box,’ Steiner noted. Phones, for example, were attached to a strip of pegboard and hung from the ceiling. A brass spittoon displayed in this manner helped generate more than 100 purchases of this item during the opening weekend.”

In 2000, the store changed its name in a deal with the Steiner family and Pacific Coast Building Products, when it became a Diamond Home and Hardware.

Jay Steiner died in 2007. Evidence of his impact on the people he worked with at Lumberjack and Supply One can be found here.

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