Welcome to Kelly-Fradet
One of my early Thursday Doors was of Kelly Fradet’s lumber yard on the east side of Enfield. They have four different locations, but the main yard is on the west side of town, near the river and the railroad. They still get shipments of lumber and other building material by rail. Sometimes, when you buy something at one store, they give you three options” pick it up at the main yard, wait for it to be transferred to your store or have it delivered. I almost always opt to pick it up, because I love going to the main yard.
The history of Kelly-Fradet starts a few years before my history starts. According to their website:
In 1951, Clarence “Red” Weeks and Lloyd Fradet began the Kelly-Fradet legacy by purchasing the Carmel Lumber Company in East Longmeadow, Massachusetts. Their goal was to provide the building industry with the best products and, more importantly, the most dependable, knowledgeable service available.
That last sentence is the reason I keep going back.
When I was a kid growing up near Pittsburgh, the place that that paragraph could describe was Silhol Lumber in Bridgeville, PA. Silhol was formed in 1945. The similarities between these two companies is more than them having formed around the same time, they have a similar approach to business. When I walk into Kelly-Fradet, it feels like when I went with my father to Silhol’s. I think they both understand the following statement by Red Weeks, co-founder of Kelly-Fradet”
“Any business is a people business. It’s the families who work for Kelly-Fradet, and the customers who purchase from us, that create the foundation to our success!”
The big-boxes have driven most local lumber yards out of business. There’s something special about the few that survive.
If you want to explore my doors, click on any door and start a slide show.
Thursday Doors is a weekly blog dance choreographed by Norm Frampton. If you want to join the troupe, chasse over to Norm’s place. Perform a heel turn and look around at Norm’s doors. Look for the blue frog. With a quick inside partner step, click on that tadpole and enter the main stage.
I understand the feeling abiut lumber, it is like me with a brand new sketch pad and pens. So much possibility. I also love the smell of a lumber yard.
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Yeah, the possibilities just run through my head.
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Handsome doors leading to a whole world of DIY. These are definitely my kind of doors. :-)
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I think we’re all starting to think about spring/summer projects. I’m glad you enjoyed these.
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I can picture you with a smile in your heart heading off to the lumber yard :)
For me it would be the feeling of a new project about to begin.
This isn’t the kind of building I would expect from a lumber yard. I guess I’m used to the windowless boxes. All those windows makes it look inviting.
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I remember the stuff they would have up on the 2nd floor, hardwood lumber, nails, special items, so much fun to explore. They didn’t have a lot of lights up there, so I think the windows were important. These buildings have so much character. The big boxes got nothin but product.
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That’s a good way of putting it … nothing but product :)
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I imagine you love the lumber yard as much as I love walking through a greenhouse. It’s our happy places. I’m wondering how the “upper door” is used since it appears too high for the delivery truck and the reason for the skinny door. Has me scratching my head…
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These places are my happy place. The upper floor in some yards is used to store long lengths of special lumber, cedar, redwood, hardwoods. I’ve gone when they lowered 16′ pieces of lumber down through those doors. The Skinny door is the one that can be opened from the outside for people, when they want to keep the opening closed. Hope that resolves the itch :)
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Thanks for the explanation!
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I was worried that it was a rhetorical question, because I seem to love answering those ;-)
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I am going to guess the Carmel Lumber company which was bought out used some of the buildings for horse stables and some of those upper doors were for moving hay. Some of the technology keeps changing. Horse and wagon is technology ? uh-huh.
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Horse and wagon was reliable technology in its time, John. I’m old enough to remember when the family car wasn’t always as reliable as your average horse – my dad had a Rambler American with a manual choke, vacuum driven wipers and a carburetor that defied logic and engineering.
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ah – the old defies logic. there are / were products like that. I will try not to mention any of the current ones !
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Once again, you manage to come up with something different.
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Yeah, thoughts are turning to home improvement season :)
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Oh jeez, we just finished 2 bathrooms and the kitchen! No more for now – thank goodness!
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Ok, you can kick back with a beer or done wine and watch us work.
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Sounds like a plan!
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It’s so good to see old family businesses still thriving in the competitive market today. I like that statement; “Any business is a people business. It’s the families who work for Kelly-Fradet, and the customers who purchase from us, that create the foundation to our success!” If only more businesses went by that. Nice post and photos, Dan.
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Thanks Jean. I think that’s the key to survival. I don’t even think about the small amount of money I could save by going to the big box, doing all the work myself and getting a lower quality product.
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With a front door like this how can one not feel welcomed in their business…rather nice find, especially for a lumber business.
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If the door doesn’t get you, the people will. I always feel at home there.
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I can almost smell the lumber, Dan. I can imagine you going there to begin a project. Super tour. Thanks.
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Thanks John. It’s such a good place to be. Wonderful smell.
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Yup. I love it.
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Dan, this sounds like a great place and as you say, dependable, knowledgeable, and, I imagine, friendly service is at a premium these days. It’s also an attractive place, so it’s a win-win. I bet you feel there much as I do in a bookstore. :-)
janet
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You’re right Janet. I could hang out there all day. The people are super friendly, and very helpful. And, when you’re buying a pile of lumber for a large project, they’re cheaper than the big box.
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It’s always satisfying to be able to support a local business and get a bargain as well. :-)
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It is why so many people are alienated by the corporate culture that believes “Any business is a process business”.
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Exactly! Well said.
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How lovely, my late father was a timber importer, the memories of the yard and the smell of wood has just come whizzing back to me with your post!
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I can imagine. Thanks for the comment and enjoy those memories.
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It really is an attractive building. The doors are phenomenal. So much detail. Love the angle you got of the double doors. Great texture.
I don’t get to the independent lumber yards. I went to one, once, years ago. Apparently I am not the kind of people they’re looking for. To be honest, I’m ready for a female owned and operated lumber yard/ hardware store.
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My daughter, who knows how to do most of this work, and understands the language, has the same problem. She’s pretty bold about explaining that she knows what she’s doing, but she still has people looking around for her husband. It’s sad. We should really be encouraging women in all there areas.
Anyway, I’m glad you like the building and the doors.
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LOVE the doors :)
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:)
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Great post Dan – Oh the fun I could have in this place!
It’s sad how the small family-run places are being squeezed out by the Big Boxes. Sadder still is the whole generation of people who won`t even know enough to miss them when they’re all gone :-(
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Thanks Norm. To a large extend, we are that generation. Very few of my friends and coworkers would know what to do in a lumber yard, or with any of the products they could buy there. My daughter is trying to learn as much as she can, instruction and hands on, but there are very few people, men or women, in her generation that have an active interest.
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It’s nice to know a family run lumber yard is still operating somewhere. Our favorite one closed a number of years back. I’m sure Home Depot was the reason. :(
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My favorite lumber yard for hardwood lumber for furniture projects just closed. It was less than 3 miles from Home Depot and Lowes and it just couldn’t compete, despite prices that were almost as good and quality that was far superior. When we did the addition on our house, Kelly-Fradet talked me into better quality material on the two most expensive items (roof rafters and sheathing), and still beat Home Depot’s quote by 25%!
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Long may they remain open!!
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I give them what little business I have.
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What a lot of different doors on that one wall. I’m having Laugh-In flashback! :D Great doors post, Dan. Hugs.
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Ha ha – I remember that. Great doors. Thanks Teagan.
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So true, the kind of service a company/store has, makes one keep coming back! Love the red siding in one of your smaller images (siding is particularly “American” – that is not seen in W- Eur. Actually, anything of wood is only in the interior of a building)
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Thanks. Wood has always been widely available here in the colonies ;-)
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When you say colonies, are you referring to America in general? (It’s because I was born in a Dutch – at that time – colony in Asia)…
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Sorry, yes I was joking about America since we had several countries vying for us.
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Am happy America is not considered a “colony” anymore:)
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More good pics, Dan. Lumber yards make me think of being a kid around my maternal grandfather, who was an electrician and a total DIY guy. To this day, the smell of sawdust and creosote makes me think of him.
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I know that sensation, Paul. It makes me think of my dad.
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I like places which are quality driven, customer first (love their interest in your renovation plans, Dan!) and which hire knowledgeable clerks. I like our local Hardware Exchange much better than Ace or other name brand stores. I’m pretty sure you know it is a great place when there are a bunch of elderly customers! They are sometimes “shooting the breeze” here but give their honest opinions on projects or the smallest item your looking for, nothing’s boring in this building! The dock is high up, not sure if they sell wood but on the second floor, they hold an annual pancake fundraising event. The recipient of the fundraiser is given in posters and always a fair price for the tasty meal, too. :)
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Those places are part of the community. The owners and employees understand what that means. It feels good to know you can go there and get help as well as the stuff you need. I hope they all survive.
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I am a little bit adept, having two brothers and a Dad who liked us to do projects. We learned how to help build treehouses with trap doors in them where two adults could sleep on the floor in them. We liked even as teens to climb up in the last one we helped build in our backyard. Don’t forget my Dad had basically no childhood so he was all about giving us all the “activities” he missed out on. Not “things” since we each had to earn our musical instruments and bicycles. . .
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I think giving kids the opportunity to play, imagine and build is a wonderful approach.
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I am glad you see this bigger picture to my Dad’s way of parenting.
This sounds like a wonderful parenting philosophy, Dan. I believe he was trying his very best You have this technique “down pat!”
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Much like my dad. He prepared you for a role in life, not just to be (a) dependent.
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I forgot to add that I also believe in the “Buy Local” and support businesses which do really “go the extra mile,” Dan!
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Great post, Dan. You are so correct in giving thanks to hardware stores that always give great customer service; taking on DIY projects is always a daunting task when you don’t have the right tools or materials and a friendly, helpful salesperson giving you tips is always welcomed. The owner of an Ace Hardware Store near my sister-in-law’s home is just that kind of place and when I do projects for her the owner of the store always gives helpful tips or lets me borrow a tool instead of buying it.
Nice buildings and doors in your post too!
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Thanks. Its such a good feeling to have someone you can trust working with you, not just treating you like the next sale.
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Nice pics!…good post..
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Thanks.
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Nice doors, and a business with the best marketing plan I’ve ever read. We have a hardware/lumberyard in my small town that would be a good match. I’m happy when I realize I need to go there.
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Thanks Janet. It sounds like common sense, but I guess that’s pretty rare.
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What a great bunch of buildings! You’re right: it’s priceless, when you find a place where the staff know what they’re selling and can (and are willing to) help the customer. If I know more than the sales assistant in a hardware store or lumber yard, I’m scared.
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Ha ha – that’s never a good sign. These guys are all good.
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