50 Years Of Sturdy Business: Th' Lumber Yard Greenville County

Th’ Lumber Yard marks 50 years of sturdy business in Greenville County

It’s not often a business can survive 50 years in operation, managing to withstand the whims of fate and economic circumstance. But in the case of th’ Lumber Yard, located at 1011 Mauldin Road, 50 years is only one piece of a greater legacy.

“Before my father, there was my granddaddy working in a lumber yard before he came to Greenville,” said owner Buddy Summey, who grew up around the lumber business, working nights after school and helping out on weekends. “I enjoyed it. It was kind of just part of our life.”

Buddy Summey’s father, Calvin Summey, started his own career in 1954 as a manager at Mauldin Lumber & Supply Co. In 1974, Calvin Summey purchased the business, renaming it th’ Lumber Yard. Half a century later, the name and the business remain as sturdy as the oak boards customers load onto their truck beds each day.

That longevity was never guaranteed, of course, and Buddy Summey said there were more than a few occasions when the fate of the business seemed uncertain. In the early years, the recession of the mid-1970s, which thrust millions of Americans into unemployment, threatened the business just a few years after Calvin Summey took over. The Great Recession of 2008 was even more dire, as the collapse of the housing market meant construction projects — and therefore the need for lumber — all but disappeared.

“It was some hard times,” Buddy Summey said. “Getting over those was just about finding things to do to make it work.”

But in recent years, an odd kind of revival has occurred, as more and more younger Greenville residents, spurred in part by the pandemic, began to experiment with home woodworking projects. For Buddy Summey, who has worried “home workshops were fading out,” this comeback has been doubly refreshing for the number of women who have been getting involved in woodworking, breaking down what had traditionally been a male-dominated domain.

“People had stuff that needed doing at home and said, ‘Hmm … I might could do this myself,’” Buddy Summey said. “And I think a lot of times somebody figures out they can do a little bit — you know, they start small — and slowly build on that. Soon they’re making furniture and stuff for family members, their kids, teaching the next generation, and it grows from there.”

As for what the future holds at th’ Lumber Yard, Buddy Summey is used to weathering economic storms. Just like an heirloom piece of family furniture, he hopes the business will continue to hold meaning for the community for many years to come.