How are we doing?

Happy 2nd anniversary to the Lumbery!!!

How are we doing? We get this question a lot…but it’s asked in a way in which someone would ask “How are you doing?” to a friend that just got divorced. You hope they’re doing fine but you just don’t know so you prepare yourself for some hard truths and some real emotion.

But I want to reassure everyone that we are doing fine. In fact, we are doing better than fine. We are doing absolutely amazing.

This year, if everything keeps going the way it’s been going then I believe we are going to break even!!! Hoooray. Fireworks, Etc.

Yes. Break Even. This might seem like no big deal to you but to us it is extraordinary. In year 1 we had no concept of what COGS were, how to operate a POS or what a balance sheet actually showed. In fact we were so green at retail that our overconfidence in our mission and our model carried us through some very uncertain times…plus having a banker that believed in us…and some credit cards with room…and some grants.

It is ironic that our motto in our last business, Willard Square Home Repair, was “Putting the horse before the cart since 2005.”

Our motto at the Lumbery should be “Putting the horse somewhere…I don’t know…We’re smart people…I’m sure we’ll figure it out…Has anyone seen where we put the cart?”

And here is some other good news and updates that happened in 2022.

We expanded our staff and found some amazing people. I actually look forward to going to work.
We created systems to help maintain balance and order…kind of.
We expanded our inventory and were better able to meet the demands of average folk as well as contractors.
We spent over $300,000 at small family owned wood mills in Maine increasing our total to over half a million…this also translates into carbon emissions that were not emitted due to unnecessary transportation.
It looks as though overall sales in 2022 will increase by $200,000 over last year.
We transformed our lumber yard from a small mess to a large mess.
We stepped up our labelling and marketing game…thanks to Eve.
We supported local sports teams. We built cool stuff for the high school and middle school.
We increased sales to Land Trusts.
We started selling fasteners in bulk.

And we have made some super great connections. I’m sure I’m leaving something out.

In 2023 we are hoping to redo our yard again so we can “work smarter and not harder”…quoth Mindy. Expand our garden center, expand our building material inventory and continue our custom items and service.

We are thrilled to keep getting better at what we do and we are very happy to be the Lumbery in Cape Elizabeth, working with small mills and empowering people to build…and buy local.

If you want a fun reminder of what our space looked like before I suggest watching the video below. It is great.

See you at the store.

Sincerely,