SANDPOINT - ProBuild Holdings officials announced last week it's closing the Sandpoint location due to insufficient business.

A spokesperson for the national supplier of lumber and building materials said the local store, located at 1400 N. Division Ave., shut its doors Dec. 5. According to company officials, the location was viewed as unsustainable and somewhat redundant with the Post Falls location, which is staying open.

The Sandpoint ProBuild was staffed by 10 employees who have been invited to continue working for the company at different locations. Some have taken the offer, a company spokesperson said.

ProBuild officials said local employees were notified about the location closure in early November. Since then, they've been preparing the facility and removing inventory in anticipation of the shuttering last week.

The closure of the Sandpoint ProBuild ends a lumber and building supply presence originally established as Alpine Lumber Supply. The regional distributor of lumber, millwork and building products was founded by Robert Myers in 1978 and operated throughout the Idaho Panhandle with locations in Sandpoint and Post Falls. Myers began selling cedar from a small facility in Sandpoint and gradually expanded into a full-service lumber and building materials supplier in the mid-80s. The business offered professional installation of several home improvement and construction products.

ProBuild Holdings, one of the largest supplier of building materials to professional contractors in the nation, purchased all of Alpine Lumber Supply's assets in September 2007. Company officials said ProBuild duplicated Alpine Lumber Supply's services, making for a fairly seamless transition.

While the Sandpoint ProBuild location might be closing, company officials said they're committed to maintaining a stake in the North Idaho lumber and building supply market. They hope to attract some of the Bonner County customers to the Post Falls location without managing the overhead of two separate locations.