BY BILL FREEHLING
Roper Brothers Lumber Co. closed the doors permanently at its Spotsylvania County operation yesterday at 5 p.m., costing about 15 local people their jobs.
Roper Brothers, which has been in the Fredericksburg area since 1988, sells a wide variety of building materials to home builders, remodelers and homeowners.
Fredericksburg is one of six Virginia markets in which the Petersburg-based Roper Brothers has operated. The others are Lynchburg, Petersburg, Williamsburg, Richmond and Win- chester.
A weak economy and glut of existing homes on the market has lowered demand for new homes, which has hit Roper and other suppliers hard. The company reportedly plans to close down all its operations, though Roper officials didn't return calls seeking confirmation.
The 15 people who worked at Roper's operation at 11631 Shannon Drive off Lansdowne Road learned at noon Thursday that the local branch would close down at 5 p.m. yesterday, said Richard Anderson, who worked for Roper for 21 years.
Anderson said there had been rumors of that for some time. He worked in outside sales for Roper and hopes to get a similar position with a local lumber company.
Roper employed 47 people locally as of 2006, according to the Spotsylvania Department of Economic Development, but Anderson said weak demand reduced that to 15 as of this week.
Anderson said Roper Brothers entered the Fredericksburg market in 1988 when the company bought J.W. Masters on Alum Spring Road in the city. Roper moved the operation to Spotsylvania about five years ago.
Roper Brothers had been a "mainstay" of the homebuilding industry locally for years, said Glen Raymond, part-owner of Goglia Homes and president of the Fredericksburg Area Builders Association.
"We're all feeling really bad about it," Raymond said yesterday. "It's just not good for the industry."
Bill Freehling: 540/374-5405
Email: bfreehling@freelancestar.com