R.P. Lumber acquiring Kieffer Lumber
R.P. Lumber Co., Inc. announced that it has acquired Kieffer Lumber in Mount Carmel, Ill.
The move gives R.P. Lumber, a family-owned hardware and building materials retailer, its 59th Illinois location and its 85th location overall.
“For 50 years, Kieffer Lumber has served the citizens of Wabash County and the greater Illinois/Indiana bi-state area, and we are thrilled to have their team join the R.P. Lumber family,” said Robert Plummer, president, CEO, and founder of R.P. Lumber. “Recently, we have added locations in other states, but our roots are in Illinois, and we are excited to grow our footprint in the Land of Lincoln.”
The transaction will close on Sept. 23 and the store will begin operating as R.P. Lumber on Sept. 24.
The financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed
Kieffer Lumber’s team will remain on board while the company will look to hire additional staff and provide additional products and services to the region, R.P. Lumber said.
“My family has been in the hardware, lumber, and construction businesses for many years,“ said Duane Kieffer, who presently manages Kieffer Lumber, which was opened by his parents, Marge and Al Kieffer, in 1972.
“We’ve been blessed with a good business and good customers, and now we’ve decided to hand the reigns to a peer of the highest caliber as our family made decisions regarding the next steps for our business,” Kieffer added.
In addition to offering lumber, shingles, siding, drywall, and other building materials at competitive prices, R.P. Lumber said the latest location will feature a robust selection of hardware merchandise ranging from power tools and paint to plumbing and electrical supplies.
R.P. Lumber locations also maintain an experienced design team that in designing everything from decks and patios to cabinets and countertops for kitchens and bathrooms.
“As we explored this process with professional advisers it was very important that we selected a buyer my parents and I would be comfortable with, and the team at R.P. Lumber checked the boxes that were important to us,” Kieffer said. “Our community is important to us; our customers are important to us; our vendors are important to us; and our family is, of course, important to us. We’ve worked adjacent to R.P. Lumber in this area for many years. We know them, and we could not be more excited about this transition. It’s a true win-win.”
Plummer noted that the new location will allow R.P. Lumber to bridge the gap between several existing locations while the dealer better serves some of its southeastern Illinois and western Indiana customers.
“Mt. Carmel is a community that we have admired for a long time, and Kieffer Lumber is an anchor in the community,” Plummer said. “The Kieffer family has built a wonderful business. We were honored to work with them on this transaction, and we are excited to begin serving the market.”
R.P. Lumber was founded by Robert and Donna Plummer in 1977 in Staunton, Ill. and is now based in Edwardsville. The dealer operates locations throughout Illinois, Missouri, Wyoming, Iowa, and Wisconsin along with two truss manufacturing facilities and an e-commerce platform offering nearly 100,000 items.
The dealer celebrated its 45th anniversary this year.
The company’s subsidiary, R.P. Home & Harvest, operates 22 farm and home lifestyle stores in Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Ohio.
Earlier this month R.P. Lumber grew to 5 locations in Iowa after acquiring Southwest Builder Supply in Mount Ayr.
