Community

The Lumber Barn closes after 14 years

By Bill Murgatroy
Correspondent
GOSHEN — The Lumber Barn in Goshen has closed its doors and consolidated operations with its Bradford store. The business served area contractors and homeowners from its convenient location at 2 Mill Village Road North along Route 10 for the past 14 years.

According to Buddy Howe, a real estate agent with Coldwell Banker Lifestyles, “the property sold in the first week on the market.”

In late November 2020, the 5.05 acres of land and buildings situated along the south branch of the Sugar River sold for $530,000. Records made available at the Sullivan County Deeds Office list the buyer as Edina Realty Investment Corp., which has registered addresses in both Goshen and Newport.

Ernest G. Dennis Jr. established Dennis Lumber, LLC, at this location on Jan 22, 1986, and ran that company for nearly 20 years before selling to The Lumber Barn in 2006. Dennis Lumber, LLC, dissolved on May 18, 2005. In the following years, The Lumber Barn remodeled the main building and expanded their range of products and services to attract more customers.

The Lumber Barn is leaving a retail void for surrounding towns that will be difficult to replace. Often described by area residents as a typical mom-and-pop hardware store where you could buy one bolt or screw without purchasing the whole box, many visits were a quick in-and-out that offered an alternative to the high-speed, assembly-line-style associated with larger retailers.

The Eagle Times was unable to reach a spokesperson from the parent company, Soaring Goose, LLC, of Hampton, prior to publication. Whether or not the consolidation was an economic necessity to reduce overall operating costs in light of the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic remains unknown.

The Lumber Barn employed approximately half a dozen workers.

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