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Bad Economy Shutters Mayfair Lumber

By Heather Cherone | December 4, 2012 7:20am
 Mayfair Lumber is selling off its inventory as it prepares to go out of business.
Mayfair Lumber is selling off its inventory as it prepares to go out of business.
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DNAInfo/Heather Cherone

JEFFERSON PARK — Mayfair Lumber, a landmark on the Northwest Side for more than 80 years, is going out of business, the owner said Monday.

“It’s the economy,” said Chip Konen, whose grandfather built the business on six acres near Lawrence and Cicero avenues in the 1920s.

Mayfair Lumber, whose neon sign can be seen for miles along the Kennedy Expressway, will close its doors for good sometime in the next several months.

“It wasn’t an easy decision,” Konen said. “But it was time to move on.”

The property is located in the heart of the Jefferson Park commercial center and not far from the CTA Blue Line stop.

Konen declined to discuss what his family planned to do with the land once the last 2-by-4 is sold.

“We have some ideas, but I don’t want to talk about them,” Konen said.

Frank Suerth, a member of the Northwest Chicago Historical Society, said the closure represented the end of an era.

“It is a big loss for the neighborhood,” Suerth said, adding that he would like to see shops built on the site because of its high-profile location.

The business sits along the Union Pacific Railroad line, and until last year, lumber was shipped to the yard along a spur along the east edge of the property.

Although the property is zoned for manufacturing, the area has changed significantly in recent years with the construction of several dozen row houses and single-family homes along Lawrence Avenue.

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