Stine Home & Yard is bringing its well- known brand of home improvement and building materials to Eunice and surrounding communities. Stine CEO Dennis Stine reports that the Sulphur based company has acquired the assets of a long-time community business, Fruge Lumber.
“We’re excited to locate in Eunice, a community we’ve been serving peripherally for many years from our Crowley and Jennings stores," said Stine. The Eunice store opened on Monday, Aug. 28, 2023 as the 11th Stine location in the state of Louisiana.
Freddie Fruge and his father, the late Cedric Fruge, started the business in 1972. Fruge says. "I'm extremely proud of our company's history. Our loyal customers and dedicated employees allowed us to build a great company over the last 51 years."
Stine says that their relationship with the Fruge family goes back 50 years when Cedric and Freddie joined the same buying groups as Stine: Allied Building Stores and Ace Hardware. "The Stine family has a great deal of respect for Freddie and his father before him, " Stine said. "We share the same lumber roots."
Wendy Stine, President of Stine, explains that there has been no interruption in service. Most of the current Fruge employees have accepted jobs with Stine and will continue serving customers at 801 North 8th St.
“Faith, Family and Community are three of our eight core values, "Wendy Stine said. "We will honor these values while serving our customers in the Eunice area."
Fruge says he is excited that Fruge Lumber has become a part of the Stine family. "Their focus on employees and customers, as core tenants of the Stine way of doing business, is what Fruge Lumber focused on as well," he added.
Initial plans for the store include adding inventory, expanding merchandise offerings and incorporating the same low prices customers have come to expect from Stine. Although inventory in the Eunice location will be limited by space constraints. In coming weeks, all merchandise found on Stinehome.com will be available for free ship-to-store.
Stine is Louisiana’s largest family-owned building materials dealer and employs over 800 associates in 11 stores across the state of Louisiana and one store in Natchez, Mississippi. In addition to Eunice, Louisiana locations include Sulphur, Lake Charles, Iowa, DeRidder, Natchitoches, Pineville, Jennings, Crowley, Broussard and Walker.
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About Stine
Stine began in Sulphur, La. in 1946 and now has 12 locations throughout Louisiana and Mississippi. Stine was awarded the 2020 Company of the Year, greater than 100 employees, by the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry – LABI which recognizes companies’ devotion to their employees, local communities and Louisiana’s future. Stine was awarded the 2018 LBM Journal Entrepreneur of the Year Award which recognizes companies that epitomize the entrepreneurial spirit. Stine was also awarded the 2014 National Golden Hammer Retailer of the Year Award at the National Retail Hardware Show. The award recognizes a retail company that has shown strong performance, embraces industry best practices and holds ambitious plans for the future. To learn more about Stine, visit stinehome.com/our-story.html