R.P. Lumber Acquires Kieffer Lumber in Illinois
Originally Published by: LBM Journal — September 23, 2022
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R.P. Lumber Co., Inc. has acquired Kieffer Lumber in Mount Carmel, Illinois, making this the family-owned hardware and building materials retailer’s 59th Illinois location and its 85th location overall.
R.P. Lumber store front.
“For 50 years, Kieffer Lumber has served the citizens of Wabash County and the greater Illinois/Indiana bi-state area, and we are thrilled to have their team join the R.P. Lumber family,” said Robert Plummer, president & CEO of R.P. Lumber. “Recently, we have added locations in other states, but our roots are in Illinois, and we are excited to grow our footprint in the Land of Lincoln,” Plummer continued.
“My family has been in the hardware, lumber, and construction businesses for many years,“ said Duane Kieffer, who presently manages Kieffer Lumber, which was opened by his parents, Marge and Al Kieffer, in 1972. “We’ve been blessed with a good business and good customers, and now we’ve decided to hand the reigns to a peer of the highest caliber as our family made decisions regarding the next steps for our business.”
The transaction will close on Friday, Sept. 23, and the store will begin operating as R.P. Lumber on Saturday, Sept. 24. The Kieffer Lumber team will remain on board.
“Some of my family will continue on with the business. As we explored this process with professional advisers it was very important that we selected a buyer my parents and I would be comfortable with, and the team at R.P. Lumber checked the boxes that were important to us,” said Kieffer. “Our community is important to us; our customers are important to us; our vendors are important to us; and our family is, of course, important to us. We’ve worked adjacent to R.P. Lumber in this area for many years. We know them, and we could not be more excited about this transition. It’s a true win-win,” he added.
“This new location not only allows us to bridge the gap between several of our existing locations, but it helps us better serve some of our great Southeastern Illinois and Western Indiana customers. Mt. Carmel is a community that we have admired for a long time, and Kieffer Lumber is an anchor in the community. The Kieffer family has built a wonderful business. We were honored to work with them on this transaction, and we are excited to begin serving the market,” Plummer added.