Cannon's Building Materials Center at 1818 G St. in Lewiston is closing Jan. 30 after more than a decade in business.

The president, Brad Cannon, declined to comment Tuesday other than to confirm the closure date.

What will happen to the property is not clear. It's owned by a limited liability company, which has a mailing address of James Albright in Juliaetta. Attempts to reach Albright Tuesday were not immediately successful.

Cannon acquired BMC West Building Materials in 2001 and renamed the store. It was about six months before Home Depot opened in Lewiston. But Cannon said at the time the transaction had nothing to do with Home Depot's arrival.

BMC West was part of a 53-location chain that was choosing to focus on major markets in the West like Boise and Denver before Cannon took ownership.

His strategy for competing against Home Depot involved getting to know his customers on a first-name basis and providing them advice to complete their projects. Back then, contractors represented about 80 percent of Cannon's business. The store allowed them to drive into the yard so they could load up their trucks with supplies and be out in minutes.

Shortly after Cannon became the owner of the store, he began taking leadership roles in town, tackling some of the most controversial issues facing the community.

He was president of the Lewiston Chamber of Commerce in 2004. He successfully pushed for changes to streamline the city of Lewiston's building permit procedures, using that experience to help win a single term on the Lewiston City Council that began in 2010.

He also served on the board of the Lewiston Urban Renewal Agency. He joined the agency in 2005 when the group was just being revitalized and stayed until January 2014 after serving four years as chairman.

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Williams may be contacted at ewilliam@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2261.