Size Classes 

 thousands of dollorsi 



Over 1000 



601-1000 



5 1 - 1 00 



I I Corporation 

 Partnership 

 Single proprietorship 



40 60 



Percent of total yards 



80 



100 



FIGURE 2. TYPE OF OWNIRSHIP OF RETAIL LUMBER YARDS BY GROSS DOLLAR SALES 



VOLUME CLASSES. 



The single proprietorship is important in yards with gross sales of 

 S200.000 and under but it predominates only in the smallest yards. The 

 partnership is of little importance relative to the single proprietorship 

 and corporation. The corporation predominates in the ownership of all 

 yards having 8100,000 or more in gross sales annually, and thus domin- 

 ates retail lumljer merchandising in the Northeastern region. Its im- 

 portance, however, lies not only in the fact that the greatest number of 

 firms are under corporate management but that these yards account for 

 approximately 80 cents of each dollar spent at all retail yards. 



Single and Multiple-Unit Ownerships 



The majority of firms in the region own and operate only one retail 

 lum])er yard. Some 92 percent of all ownerships are of this type. The 

 remaining 8 percent of ownerships are concerns which operate two or 

 more yards and are classed as multi-unit ownerships. These multi-unit 

 firms are responsible for more than 20 percent of the gross dollar sales 

 volume. The average multiple-unit yard sells over $900,000 annually in 

 merchandise. The majority of firms in this category operate two yards 

 each. Two multi-unit organizations own a total of 113 yards throughout 



