R.P. Lumber chain buys Southeast Missouri Builders Supply in Cape

Home center and building materials supplier R.P. Lumber continues to extend its reach into Southeast Missouri, this time through the purchase of Southeast Missouri Builders Supply in Cape Girardeau.

For 30 years, Mark Beaudean, John L. Essner and Tom Spitzmiller owned and operated the local building-supply store on Jefferson Avenue.

Recently the three men set their sights on retirement and decided to sell the business to R.P. Lumber, which took ownership of the 111-year-old business earlier this month.

"We were just the last home-owned lumber yard to survive in Cape Girardeau," Beaudean said.

This purchase is the third R.P. Lumber acquisition in Southeast Missouri. The company purchased Pocahontas Lumber and Hardware in Jackson last winter. Kelso Supply Co. in Kelso, Missouri, transitioned into an R.P. Lumber store in June.

Like the two other acquisitions, all the Southeast Missouri Builders Supply staff has been retained.

"Nobody's going to lose their job," Beaudean said.

This most recent acquisition makes the company's 65th location in Missouri and Illinois. Jason Plummer, vice president of R.P. Lumber, said the products and services will remain the same under new ownership, though he said some product lines may be expanded.

The big change, he said, will come when the store is moved out of the longstanding location. For the time being, R.P. Lumber's Cape Girardeau store will remain at its three-acre facility near the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge, but Plummer said they are under contract to purchase a new facility and intend to move in the near future.

Plummer was not prepared to announce the new location.

Though jobs are secure, one person will be absent from the new store: Spitzmiller, who retired upon selling the business. Essner and Beaudean will continue to work at the store for a few more years before retiring, Beaudean said.

This isn't the first time the Cape Girardeau lumber supplier has changed hands or names, though it is the first time it's been bought out by such a large business.

It was founded as Phillips Lumber and Fuel Company in 1905.

In 1919, the business, owned by Charles A. Himmelberger and William J. Kies, was renamed Southeast Missouri Lumber Co. Jerry L. Reynolds took a turn running the company until John A. Essner and Michael Burger took over and changed the name to Southeast Missouri Builders Supply.

In 1986, John A. Essner's son and his two partners purchased the business and ran it until the Oct. 15 acquisition.

Plummer said like Southeast Missouri Builders Supply, R.P. Lumber is a family-run business, and the two companies share many of the same values.

"So the Jacksons, the Kelsos, the Cape Girardeaus -- those markets really make sense for us," Plummer said.

Plummer said his company is continuing to look for ways to expand its reach in Southeast Missouri. He said he respects and admires the long-standing history of the business they just acquired.

"I really can't emphasize enough the respect we have for Southeast Missouri Builders and how long they've been operating there and the team of people there," Plummer said. "We're really humbled that Mark and Tom and John felt we were a good fit for them. We know they're a good fit for us, and we think it's going to be a great relationship for everybody going forward."

bbrown@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3630

Pertinent address:

411 Jefferson Ave., Cape Girardeau MO