CARIBOU — Expanding beyond the borders of The County, S.W. Collins Company will now be serving building material and hardware customers in the greater Lincoln area.
S.W. Collins Company purchased some of the assets of Haskell Lumber Company on April 5th. Both companies share similar histories in lumbering, selling building materials and serving their respective communities.
The Haskell Lumber Company, founded in 1926 on Military Road bordering the Penobscot River, milled pine logs and cedar shingles for the Maine and New England market, and in the 1980s, supplied S.W. Collins Company with some quality pine boards and interior pine paneling pattern stock.
In 1844, Samuel W. Collins joined with Washington A. Vaughn in establishing a sawmill and gristmill on the bank of Caribou Stream. Both family businesses assisted in building communities around them and evolved with the needs of the population.
Haskell Lumber provided pine and cedar shingles to the local communities, prefabricated homes in the late 1970s and early ‘80s, and later expanded into becoming a full-service home center, supplying the electrical, plumbing, hardware and building materials needs of the area. Collins enlarged its sawmill, built homes for the residents of Caribou after World War II and later expanded into a home center.
Today S.W. Collins Company remains a fifth-generation, family-owned building supply firm comprised of five distinct service sectors: a custom millwork shop concentrating on commercial and high-end residential work located at the Loring Commerce Center, a state-of-the-art kitchen and bath design center adjacent to the Caribou retail yard, and three retail lumberyards in Caribou, Presque Isle, and Houlton. The move to Lincoln adds a fourth retail store and is the first location outside of Aroostook County.
Sam Collins, the president of S.W. Collins Company (the third Sam to guide the business), and Gregg Collins, vice president, look forward to reaching out beyond Aroostook.
“We are pleased to bring the Haskell Lumber Company associates into our family and look forward to serving the people of the greater Lincoln area,” Sam Collins said. “The move to Lincoln will enable us to provide customer services and products that are unique to us. Our family-owned company is excited about becoming a part of the fabric of the local community and playing an active and positive role.”
The Lincoln store will be managed by Kerri McFalls, the current manager of the Haskell Lumber Company. She graduated from Lee Academy and attended Thomas College and Beal College, concentrating in retail management and business. She has been active in the community as a Cub Scout den mother, a volunteer in the school classrooms and the local Methodist Church. Kerri is married to Mike McFalls, president of Haskell Lumber, and they have two children.
Scott Dionne, the branch manager of S.W. Collins in Houlton, will assume increased responsibilities as the branch manager of both the Houlton and Lincoln locations. Dionne, a graduate of Caribou High School and Dartmouth College, has been active in the community of Houlton, recently serving as Rotary president and also as a member of the Houlton Fair Board. He has also been actively involved with the Retail Lumber Dealers Association of Maine and the Northeast Retail Lumber Dealers Association.
“Kerri, Scott and the Lincoln team understand S.W. Collins Company’s mission to provide excellent products and legendary service as we strive to be an active, positive influence in the communities in which we live and work,” Sam Collins commented.
S.W Collins Company plans to build a new drive-through warehouse storage and retail store on West Broadway in Lincoln, adjacent to The Bank of Maine. In the days to come, the community can expect to find all of S.W.Collins Company’s products and services available at the Lincoln store, including the reintroduction of the Do IT Best hardware line.
Due to relationships with national suppliers and buying cooperatives, the new Collins store will offer products not readily available in the community of late such drafting services for garages, additions and new homes, computer-aided designs for decks, kitchens and baths, a field technician to service Andersen Windows and Doors, along with sales professionals who make field measurements and complete material estimates.
