Supply One in Chapter 11

Supply One Corp., owner of nine West Coast home improvement stores including one in south Carson City, is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Chief Administrative Officer Nick Parino said the company filed because it wanted to reorganize its stores, located in Oregon, Nevada and California, while being legally protected from lenders.

Parino said Supply One, based in Reno, will put together a plan in the next 60 days to determine which stores are profitable and which aren't. The company filed on Aug. 24.

"I think the corporation just needs to work on being more competitive in the future," Parino said. "The stores that are profitable will be part of the restructuring and those that aren't profitable probably won't be."

Parino said two of the five stores in Oregon are now being liquidated but he does not know if any other stores will close.

Parino said Home Depot, Lowe's and other similar stores have provided a lot of competition for Supply One, but he said the market is large enough for everyone.

"I think there is always room for good competition," Parino said. "We have a lot of good product."

A Supply One in Meyers, which has been open for about seven years, will impact more than just its customers if it is forced to close.

The Heritage Mural Steering Committee in South Lake Tahoe hired Bruce Rickett, an artist from Nova Scotia, to paint a ranching theme mural on the outside of the store's wall this month.

Greta Hambsch, head of mural committee, said she is going to discuss the possibility of postponing the mural until the committee is reassured by Supply One that it will not close.

Hambsch said the wall has already been prepped for the painting and the committee was just waiting for Rickett to arrive. Hambsch said the mural is so large there is not an alternate wall big enough to hold it, so she will need to talk to Supply One before she decides the mural's fate.

"At this point we have everything ready to go," she said. "But it may behoove us to hold until spring."

The company has been in business since 1984.