Third generation of this 120-year-old Boise business looks to the future
If you’ve driven on Boise’s State Street lately, you might have noticed that an iconic local business has gotten a facelift.
Capital Lumber, which has been around for 120 years and at its location on State Street for about the past 70, recently got a new look to its storefront, with a new sign and new facade.
“Obviously, the goal is to let people know that we’re here,” manager Travis Leslie said. “And obviously we’re trying to acquire new customers, with retail being a hot point for us. So it was a decision to give it a facelift, let people know we’re here, and also just let people know we’re kind of jumping into a new era for Capital Lumber.”
That new era is the third generation of this family-owned business stepping into the shoes of their grandfather, Bob Perrin, who bought Capital Lumber in 1974, and their father, Chris Perrin, who took over the business in 2017.
Stepping into the business are Chris’ children, Brynna and her husband, Travis Leslie, McKenzie Dondero and Dane Perrin.
Each of the kids has worked at the store at one time or another but went off to do their own things before all coming together the past six months, marking the first time they’re all joining forces as a team and looking ahead to the next 120 years.
“That’s kind of valuable point to this,” Dane said. “Why are we putting money into the building? To show people we’re not going anywhere. We’re not leaving. There’s a plan to this.”
Capital Lumber history
Capital Lumber has been in Boise since 1905. Originally at 111 N. 15th St., Capital Lumber moved to its current location at 3105 W. State St. sometime in the 1950s.
James Robert Perrin, best known as Bob, and his wife, Becky, bought the store in 1974 after Bob had worked for Boise Cascade for 21 years.
Bob didn’t retire until 2016, when he was 82 years old.
That’s when his son, Chris Perrin, took over the business.
Today, Capital Lumber has 12 employees, including the family members. Most of its business comes from contractors in the North End and surrounding neighborhoods, where it seems there’s some sort of remodeling project on every block.
Dave Nogle, of Nogle Carpentry, a contractor who does a lot of work in Boise’s North End, has been coming to Capital Lumber for the past 10 years.
“Partly because of the location, and also just because you get to know the guys here,” he said recently while picking up some two-by-fours. “It’s easy to grab things quick, and they have good customer service.”
Doing things old-school
One of Capital Lumber’s specialties is “takeoffs,” or taking blueprints and figuring out what and how much material is needed for a job.
They do it all by hand, the old-school way, which Dane says makes it more accurate, with less waste.
Dane also points out that because they work so much with older homes in the North End, they know the right materials, the correct type of wood and how to get just the right trim profile to match what was built 100 years ago.
“This place has some quirkiness to it,” Dane said. “Down in the North End is what it’s catered to, that’s kind of what sets us apart. And every contractor that’s been coming in here since they started contracting is still coming in here.”
Quoting a text from a customer, “I just feel like family when I walk into Capital Lumber.”
“You just walk in, you know their name, they know your name, you know their kids,” Dane said. “It’s very personable.”
Huge lumberyard
You wouldn’t know it from looking at the store’s front, but the property includes a huge lumberyard in the back.
“When you drive by, you’re like, ‘Oh, it’s a little hardware store, right?’” Travis said. “But when you walk out back, there’s three acres of a full-blown lumberyard out back.”
Being a small operation, they’ll help load every customer.
“We’re pretty big on customer service,” Travis said. “I think we can preach a little more to that.”
Bob Perrin was also prescient. Whenever a little lot or building went up for sale around him, he would buy it. Capital Lumber owns several lots, including the buildings that hold cute little shops flanking Capital Lumber, such as Lit and Co. Candles, a tattoo parlor, a consignment shop, a barber and a sports cards seller.
The family says they get approached all the time by developers interested in their properties: phone calls, postcards and visits.
The answer every time?
“Get out of here,” Chris said.
Competing with big-box stores
I have a friend who grew up in Boise, and he said in the days before Home Depot and Lowe’s, Capital Lumber was the place to go to get anything hardware-related.
So how does Capital Lumber survive in the era of the box stores?
“We hear from a lot of people that are like, ‘Gosh, it’s so nice to walk in and have somebody available to help me that has the knowledge,’” McKenzie said. “I think that’s the biggest thing, is those relationships.”
And they have longtime employees. Two workers have worked there for 25 years or more and have building experience before that.
They also stress personalized, customer service: helping load, delivering locally, cutting to specifications and having the right wood species for this climate — not just what was ordered in bulk.
‘Family mattered the most’
The store has an old-fashioned home-like atmosphere to it. The offices at the top of the narrow wooden stairway look like they haven’t changed much in the past 30 years or so, and Bob’s old office remains even more intact, looking like something out of 1974 when he first bought the business.
McKenzie tears up thinking about the business when Grandpa Bob and Grandma Becky ran the business when she and her siblings were all still kids, helping to stuff envelopes and clean toilets.
“I think we have to take from our grandpa and dad,” McKenzie said. “Family mattered more than anything, and he was running a super successful business, but at his core, family mattered the most.”
Grandpa might yell at them one minute, then turn around and say, “All right, let’s go to lunch.”
McKenzie remembered a time the family went to Stagecoach for dinner, where Bob saw a customer who owed Bob money. Bob went over and talked to the customer about making sure he paid up. And then Bob bought the customer’s dinner.
“He just knew what was the right thing to do,” McKenzie said. “Right was right, wrong was wrong, and you either fit on one side of those. And I think he was very well-respected for those reasons. People just know what he expected. They knew what he meant, and he always followed through.”
“And he passed that on to Dad,” Dane said, “and then it’s passed down to us.”
A poignant detail about the new facade serves as a symbol for Capital Lumber’s passing from one generation to the next.
When they pulled the old facade off the building to prepare for a new front, they discovered old-growth, clear, vertical-grain cedar underneath, a quality of wood that lasts forever and that you just can’t find anymore.
They kept that cedar on the building, providing the base for the new facade.
Kind of like the foundation Bob and Chris Perrin provided for the next generation of Capital Lumber.
Scott McIntosh is the opinion editor of the Idaho Statesman. You can email him at smcintosh@idahostatesman.com or call him at 208-377-6202. Sign up for the free weekly email newsletter The Idaho Way.
This story was originally published November 5, 2025 at 4:00 AM.
