Riverhead Building Supply expanding to three North Shore locations
Riverhead Building Supply will be expanding to Long Island’s North Shore this year, having struck deals to acquire the assets of two existing lumber companies, and will establish new locations in Locust Valley, Huntington and Port Jefferson, the company announced last week.
The purchases are Riverhead Building Supply’s first forays into brick-and-mortar locations in that market and its first major acquisitions in the last five years, said president John Callahan.
“This kind of fills in pieces of the puzzle that were missing,” Mr. Callahan said. “We’re coming off two good years of business growth for us. We’re always looking. We’re looking for opportunity. We’re looking to expand.”
Riverhead Building Supply will add three full-scale lumberyards in the three locations as well as a cabinet showroom in Bohemia to its portfolio of stores. The assets were previously owned by Nassau Suffolk Lumber, which Mr. Callahan said will “essentially be shutting down” after the deal is finalized in early February. The cost of the transaction was not disclosed.
Riverhead Building Supply — which has been in business for more than 65 years — also bought inventory and trucks from Thurber Lumber and plans to fold those assets into the new Port Jefferson location, he added. The stores will reopen as Riverhead Building Supply locations with “minimal disruption in service to customers,” according to the company.
“This enhances our ability to service our customers on the North Shore where we don’t have the locations in any of those areas,” Mr. Callahan said.
Founded in 1948 by Harold Goodale, Jesse Goodale II and their uncle, Peter Ketcham, on Ostrander Avenue, Riverhead Building Supply has since grown to 11 locations and is one of the area’s biggest companies. The company and its founders also remain active in the local area, donating to various causes like the restoration of the Witch’s Hat landmark in Aquebogue or the Brendan House group home on Sound Avenue for survivors of traumatic brain injuries.
About six years ago, Riverhead Building Supply expanded into Rhode Island with two locations, adding to its nine stores and four showrooms on Long Island.
Mr. Callahan said the latest purchases had been in the works for a couple of years and were ironed out after the owners of Nassau Suffolk Lumber and Thurber Lumber approached Riverhead Building Supply with a proposal to sell.
Mr. Callahan said both Nassau Suffolk Lumber and Thurber Lumber were family-run operations that were “very much aligned with our philosophy of customer service and quality materials.”
“We’re very excited about the opportunity,” he added. “In the long term it’ll be a good thing for all involved.”
