“I enjoy interacting with the people, we have a lot of retail walk-in business. I’m still very much a part of that. I sit at the counter and greet people just like the other two sales guys do, in addition to my other responsibilities.” – Alan Walters, Sales/Owner, Miller Lumber
Located in the Jackson metro area in Mississippi, Miller Lumber Sales, LLC boasts hard-working leadership and staff in operating a full-service lumberyard. Through building relationships one handshake at a time for over 70 years, Miller Lumber Sales, LLC supplies both common and hard-to-find Cedar, Cypress and Pine lumber.
Owner Alan Walters took the reins in his leadership position for the nine-employee company in 2020. His leadership team includes, Tracy Kirkpatrick, administrative assistant, Jim Jones and Mike Anderson, both inside sales.
Charlie Miller, who at the time had created a niche in the market by representing the Potlatch Corporation, founded the company in 1953. He ran operations until the early 90s when Mark Windham bought it. Mark sold the business to John Behan in March of 2019. John unexpectedly passed away in February of 2020 and for the remainder of that year, Walters ran the business for Behan’s family and bought the business from them at the end of 2020.
“We carry all of your Pine and Spruce materials, plywood, OSB, treated lumber, Cedar, Cypress, pattern Pine material,” Walters explained. “Our main focus is our treated materials, hard-to-find Cedar, Cypress and pattern Pine.”
Miller Lumber Sales, LLC stocks a full line of standard Western Red Cedar products including 2×4, 2×6, 2×8, 1×4 – 1×12 in No. 2 appearance grade along with other specialty Cedar products upon request. Western Red Cedar products are primarily procured from the West Coast and the Pacific Northwest regions.
Annually, Miller Lumber purchases a total of about 10 million board feet, as well as various engineered lumber and composite decking.
The lumberyard sits on five acres with two enclosed warehouses that store their Cedar, Cypress and Pine pattern materials: and some free-standing, open sheds to house Pine dimensional, Spruce and plywood. The company handles its large inventory with three delivery trucks with forklifts attached and three forklifts on the yard.
“We have a storage capacity of around 600,000 board feet and usually keep an inventory of around 400,000 – 500,000 board feet,” Walters said.
According to Walters, operations are handled by nine employees total who all invest in the value of face-to-face business.
“I enjoy interacting with the people, we have a lot of retail walk-in business,” Walters explained. “I’m still very much a part of that. I sit at the counter and greet people just like the other two sales guys do, in addition to my other responsibilities. So, getting to interact with a variety of people daily, see different people, new people and forge relationships is just something we value every day.”
Miller Lumber’s unique offerings remain a strong sell for their market even if competing against tough commodity markets. The company’s focus is to keep a larger quantity of Cypress, Cedar, treated Pine and pattern Pine than most of their competitors.
Mills and wholesalers supply Miller Lumber with their inventory which they buy in dimensions of 2×4 through 2×12, up to 24 foot in length of Pine; 1×4 through 1×12 and 2×4 through 2×12 Cypress; plywood in various grades including three-eighths through three-quarter; seven-sixteenths OSB; and 1×4 through 1×12 Pine.
“We try to be very competitive, price-wise,” Walters explained. “We try and make sure we’ve got good availability, we’ve always had a very, very good staff from both working inside, being knowledgeable and helpful to those guys on the outside, our truck drivers to our folks in the yard. The guys we got here working now, outside and in the trucks, are extremely knowledgeable, helpful, good with people and are going to put forth the extra effort to make sure that everybody that comes here has a good positive experience.”
Miller Lumber’s variety of products include their top selling half-inch new Pine flooring mostly for retail sales. Contractors, homeowners, and others continue to be Miller Lumber’s top purchasers for new Pine flooring.
Sales and company growth increased 30 percent during the pandemic. Alan says he is proud of the company’s strength to survive COVID.
“We’ve been very blessed to weather that storm and the last three years probably have been the strongest three years,” Alan said. “I think we’re about 23 percent growth over last year at this point.”
A member of the Home Builders Association of Mississippi, Alan credits Miller Lumber’s continued success to his core group of guys that strived to carry on operations through all challenges.
“We were at 14 employees before COVID and at one point we got down to six,” Alan said. “The guys here never missed a beat, worked their tails off, kept showing up every day and doing good work. Without those guys, there’s no telling where we would be but, we definitely had some guys go above and beyond show their loyalty to Miller Lumber and go the extra mile.”
In the years to come, the company is planning to maximize its land and expand storage capacities focusing on a stronger retail model.
“Being able to expand our warehouse space, expand some storage space, will be a big help in allowing us to store more material with less loss,” Alan added. “It will make it easier on our guys to pull orders as well as increase our carrying capacity.”
Alan is expecting a big wave of new orders to come in for 2024.
Learn more about Miller Lumber Sales, LLC at www.millerlumbersales.com.
