Family owned and operated for three generations, Carter Lumber Company is a regional lumberyard chain based in Kent, Ohio. The company owns approximately 250 stores in nine states, and is growing by ten to 15 units per year by focusing mostly on smaller towns in Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, and Virginia. Serving smaller markets has helped the much smaller stores of Carter Lumber to thrive in a business generally dominated by such home improvement giants as Lowe's and Home Depot. While the latter may feature stores of 100,000 square feet, a typical Carter Lumber store is just 6,000 square feet. The company positions itself as a true lumberyard, devoted to both contractors, who account for almost 70 percent of its business, as well as do-it-yourself customers. Although it features plumbing, electric, and heating departments, Carter Lumber does not sell appliances and other home improvement merchandise. Because of the size of its chain, however, Carter Lumber does enjoy the benefits of volume purchasing in order to discount prices. In addition to stocking building materials, Carter Lumber also sells kits which include all the necessary materials for building projects that range from full-size houses and garages (its most popular kits) to smaller projects such as decks, swing sets, and kitchen designs. In addition to its stores, Carter Lumber owns two lumber and supply distribution centers, a 2,000-acre horse and cattle farm, and approximately 60,000 acres of timberland in Arkansas.