Company Acquires Stock+Field, Says Stores Will Not Close
Press Release
WARSAW — With a going out of business sale in its final stages, employees with Stock+Field in Warsaw and elsewhere got some potentially good news Friday.
In a news release issued Friday afternoon, March 19, R.P. Lumber Co., Inc. announced its pending acquisition of the assets of the Stock+Field stores and plans to begin operations under new management in April.
The stores will retain the Stock+Field name, and the new owners will seek input from employees and the communities they serve as the plan for the brand’s future, the news release said.
R.P. Lumber Co., Inc. is a family-owned retailer headquartered in Edwardsville, Ill., that operates 72 full-service hardware and building material stores throughout Illinois, Missouri, Wyoming and Iowa.
Founded in Watseka, Ill., in 1964 as Big R Stores, and eventually, Stock+Field, has 25 stores in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin. The company was founded in 1977 by CEO Robert L. Plummer in Staunton, IL.
Whether the Stock+Field store in Warsaw will close temporarily was unclear.
Signs in the Warsaw store Friday suggested the store was in their final ten days of operations.
A manager at the store along US 30 in Warsaw declined comment.
The team at R.P. Acquisition Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of R.P. Lumber Co., Inc., recognizes that the loss of these stores would leave a difficult hole to fill in each of their local communities. With this in mind, the team will endeavor to keep customers, employees and their families united as a community, rooted in the heartland.
“Our focus right now is on keeping Stock+Field stores open and serving the many communities they have served for years and, in some instances, decades,” said Plummer. “The Stock+Field teams at each store are personally connected to their customers and their communities, and we see tremendous value in maintaining and strengthening those bonds. Many great R.P. Lumber team members have worked and continue working hard every day to build a strong reputation in the communities where we operate. We intend to bring the same culture and community mindset to Stock+Field.”