HardlinesStrategies_Fall_2024

HEART OF HARDWARE

and couldn’t run the business anymore,” Paul says. “I came on board to try to keep the business in the family. Some of our current customers are the children and grandchildren of our original customers. It’s important to take care of them because they’re our family too.” In addition to taking care of the family members of customers, Teague Lumber prioritizes taking care of its staff. While eight members of the Teague family are part of the operation, the remainder of the over 20 employees have grown to become like family. Together, the staff has more than 350 years of industry experience. To show appreciation for decades of service, the staff celebrates each other’s birthdays, anniversaries and graduations in the store. “Our business thrives because of our employees,” says Teague Lumber manager Brandon Teague. Similar to Paul’s move into the family business, Brandon left a 24-year career at an investment firm to join the Teague Lumber. He wanted to work with the previous generation of leadership so he could learn as much as possible from them. A major part of their business changed 10 years ago, when the store began its relationship with Blish-Mize. When their previous wholesaler went out of business, they tried another distributor, but weren’t satisfied. But Paul says all that struggle led them to Blish-Mize. “Since we’ve started with Blish-Mize, they’ve done a great job,” Paul says. “When you get a comfort level with somebody, it’s hard to get away from it.” The store has been at the same location since 1949. Over the last nearly 80 years, Teague Lumber has seen many surrounding

R.J. Teague retired in 2006 after working at Teague Lumber Co. for more than 50 years.

“ Blish-Mize is the equivalent of an extra employee for us. They do our inventory check and help us confirm what we need and help place the order so we don’t have to dedicate staff hours. ” —Brandon Teague, Teague Lumber

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