R.P. Lumber launches new farm and ranch banner
Pro dealer R.P. Lumber has rebranded all of the Stock + Field locations it acquired this past March to the new R.P. Home & Harvest brand.
A complete interior, exterior, and online rebranding has been commenced and will be completed within 30 days, according to R.P. Lumber. The Stock + Field brand, previously known as Big R, entered bankruptcy and liquidation in early 2021.
R.P. Lumber stepped in this past spring and said it recognized the importance of the products and jobs the stores provide the communities they serve. That includes the stores, employees, and vendors working hard to keep the locations operating after a complete liquidation under prior ownership.
According to R.P. Lumber, a new management team has been put into place and the stores' transition to the new brand is the start of the new beginning. Additionally, R.P. Lumber has rehired and committed to the employees at the locations while rebuilding the culture that helped the company thrive in years past.
Jason Plummer, vice president of R.P. Lumber and president of R.P. Home & Harvest, said nearly 1,000 employees have been hired.
R.P. Home & Harvest currently operates 22 locations across Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
“We primarily serve small and medium-size communities,” said Robert Plummer, president and CEO of R.P. Lumber. “Retailers like us can often be one of the top employers and sales tax generators in the area. We saw an opportunity to breathe life into these economies and keep good, hardworking people employed.”
Founded in Watseka, Ill. in 1964 as Big R Stores, R.P. Home & Harvest plans to continue to serve its customer base by providing quality products essential to rural lifestyles at affordable prices.
Many of the new products and operational changes within the stores were specifically driven by a recent “It’s Your Store” campaign where input was sought from customers across the 22 locations.
Over 4,000 customers participated in the “It’s Your Store” campaign through the digital and in-store campaign, helping ensure the stores are responsive to their communities and prepared to meet the needs of their customers.
“Our customers played a key role in renaming our stores,” Robert Plummer noted. “We received over 2,500 suggestions via our website and social media pages and took each one into consideration. We now hope to pick up where Big R left off and will continue to earn the respect of our customers through good old-fashioned hard work and customer service.”
Based in Edwardsville, Ill., R.P. Lumber Co., Inc. is a family-owned retailer that operates 74 full-service hardware and building material stores throughout Illinois, Missouri, Wyoming, and Iowa. The company was founded in 1977 by Robert Plummer in Staunton, IL.
“These stores have a decades-long tradition as being a part of the fabric of the community, and our intentions remain steadfast,” said Jason Plummer. “We want R.P. Home & Harvest to be an extension of the culture of service we’ve cultivated at R.P. Lumber over the years.”
“In addition to our customers, I want to thank our great employees and our dedicated vendors,” he added. “Taking these empty stores that had just gone through some very rough times and then, in this economic environment, hiring nearly 1,000 great team members and refilling the shelves in such a short period of time was a monumental task and it could not have happened without great employees and great vendor partners.”
R.P. Home & Harvest also plans to launch a “robust” e-commerce platform offering over 100,000 products. That e-commerce platform will launch soon on R.P. Home & Harvest’s website, www.homeandharvest.com.
