A Pompano Beach lumber yard will close today, the victim of the construction slump. About 50 workers will lose their jobs.
The yard, Holmes Lumber Co., is owned by the Holmes family, which operates two lumber yards in Jacksonville. Stuart Lumber of Fort Lauderdale is buying Holmes’ assets in Pompano Beach and is hiring about 10 of the workers.
The yard is the second industry casualty this year. In March, Mack Industries closed its Florida east coast operations and laid off about 150 workers.
“Our sales dropped 50 percent” over the past four months, Holmes President Lockwood Holmes said. “You just can’t survive when your sales drop off 50 percent.”
Holmes said that at its peak, the yard employed about 100. The company is trying to find jobs for the workers not hired by Stuart, and some might move to Jacksonville, he said. The yard will close today, but some workers will stay for about three weeks filling orders, he said.
Jeff Nudelman, president of Stuart Lumber, said it was hard for the Holmes family to operate the South Florida yard from Jacksonville, and the construction slump hit the materials industry hard.
“When the economy tightens up, everybody pulls in their horns,” he said.
