From its humble beginnings as a family business to becoming a multi-location company employing hundreds, Bloedorns has grown to a household name in the West, while keeping true to its roots.
Founded in 1919 as The Torrington Lumber & Coal Company in Torrington, WY, the company was built by brothers Charles, Alvin, and Howard Bloedorn, along with additional family members. The company later became Bloedorn Lumber and the family spent the next 30 years steadily expanding in the Western U.S.
The company has since grown to 22 locations across Colorado, Montana, Nebraska, and Wyoming and also operates three truss plants, the first of which opened in 2008. Bloedorns offers a wide array of building materials from lumber, decking and railing, and engineered wood products to roofing, siding, trusses, and windows and doors, making it a local go-to for pros and DIYers alike.
However, even with all that growth over the company’s 100-plus year history, the reason for Bloedorns’ continued success always comes back to its people, President and CEO Mark Yung said. “Our difference lies in combination of multi-store resources and with incredible employees and local autonomy. This allows us to provide competitive prices and give our staff the ability to make decisions to best serve our customers in that market.”
Core values
Throughout Bloedorns’ history, the company continues to come back to its three core values: ownership, which is reflected through local decision-making, responsibility and selflessness; entrepreneurship, the spirit of adaptability, competition, and creativity; and the handshake, a commitment to accountability, honesty, and trust.
“We still believe in the value of a handshake and the significance of your word, which is forefront in our core values and guiding principles,” said Director of Marketing Nate Laible.
Those core values have carried Bloedorns through economic ups and downs over the years as well as consolidation and technological advances in the industry. In the last year, the company has revamped its website to be more user-friendly, allowing for growth in ecommerce as demand increases. “The building materials landscape has changed and continues to change more rapidly than ever,” Yung said. “Through this rapid change, we know we must understand the value that is important to our customers, investing in our people through advanced training and embracing technology are two avenues that are paramount in providing that value.”
While times may change, one thing that stays constant in the LBM industry is the importance of relationship building, which Bloedorns has made a priority in recent years.
“We have made a significant investment in our outside sales staff the past couple of years,” said Vice President and Corporate Sales Director Pat Day. “We are committed to providing a professional sales experience. We are focused on being a trusted resource that our customers can count on each and every day. This effort has been rewarded with new and stronger relationships with our contractor customers. Our people are our greatest asset, and we are committed to them and proud of their growth as professionals.”
Location expansion, further investments
Although Bloedorns is still headquartered in Torrington, its largest store in Alliance, NE includes more than 40,000-sq. ft. of space and serves as a prime example of the company’s retail experience goals.
“The Alliance store combines the best of high-level contractor experiences and large retail shopping inventory,” Laible said. “Our professional contractor salespeople, expanded display area, and customer experience room create a place that facilitates conversations for material takeoffs, design, and planning, as well as a variety of products where the customer can determine the right product for their needs. We have a whole fleet of trucks from 1- to 2-ton piggyback trucks that allow us to deliver across a 150-mile radius in rural western Nebraska. We made it a priority to create a retail shopping experience in which we brought items from the drive-through warehouse inside the store for easier browsing for the customer. We also have expanded our categories to provide more products that were traditionally hard to get or purchase in the market area.”
The company is also currently remodeling a handful of its existing stores while keeping an eye open for future locations. “We are always looking for opportunities to expand into new communities as well as investing in our current facilities to improve our assets and infrastructure to put deeper roots into our communities,” Yung said.
That level of investment also extends to the company’s employees. In 2024, Do it Best announced the company rebranded to become simply Bloedorns, which the company said is intended to highlight the company’s employee stock ownership plan (ESOP). Bloedorns also credits its vigorous training and career-building tools for its long-term employees and culture.
“People become invested once they are provided a sense of purpose,” said Lindsey Prosinski, Vice President and Director of HR, safety, and training. “We provide value to our employees with our in-house training portal for required product knowledge and safety trainings; on-site vendor or outside company trainings and hands-on, in the weeds training between our employees and our specialized sales trainers or leadership team members. When we hire, we aim to hire for culture. Qualifications are always a plus, but when values align, that’s when we see retention.”
It’s that company culture that Bloedorns leadership says will carry the company into its next century of business. “It can’t be overstated, we are only as good as our people and their ability to provide value,” Yung said. “Without them we are nothing.”
Get to know Bloedorns
Year founded: 1919
Ownership: Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP)
Number of employees: 400-plus
Locations: 22 retail locations, plus 3 truss plants
Co-op/buying group: Do it Best
