Diamond K Supply Is An Institution In Lafayette

The advertisements for Diamond K Supply in Lafayette used to describe the store as being "just a half-mile from the stoplight."

Yes, they didn't have to specify which light. There was only one in Lafayette at the time.

Diamond K Supply has been on the western end of Mt. Diablo Boulevard for as long as most people in town can remember.

"Sometimes I feel like Andy of Mayberry," said Miler Magrath, whose family has owned the home and construction supply store for more than 60 years.

The Magraths have had plenty of offers to purchase their one-acre site over the years. But Magrath said he and his brother and sister have no intention of selling.

"It's sort of the Magrath land trust," he said. "If we sold it, there'd probably be office buildings here."

Diamond K Supply opened in 1936. It was owned then by Lafayette resident Ogden Kiesel. The last initial of his name is where "K" in the store name came from. The diamond was a livestock brand.

In 1948, Bill Magrath and his wife, Nancy, purchased the store and the family has operated it ever since.

The Magraths' children -- Miler, Bill and Anne -- grew up not far away on Via Roble. They all worked at the store over the decades in one capacity or another.

Miler Magrath remembers stacking firewood when he was 12. However, his initial plans were not to work in the family business.

"I didn't know what I was going to do," he recalled.

Magrath went to Cal State Chico from 1974 to 1979 with one of those semesters spent at University of Oregon.

In fall 1979, his father called and said it was time for Magrath to come home and get to work.

"I had no other plans. That was the only job I'd ever done," he said. "I think in the back of my mind I knew I'd end up here."

Over the next decade, Magrath worked in the supply yard, as a truck driver and as a mid-level manager.

When his father died in 1990, Magrath took over as manager of the entire store. He's been doing that ever since.

Diamond K sells supplies for heavy duty home projects.

Their biggest seller is moss rock that they get from the Red Bluff and Redding areas. They sell 26 tons of the stuff every few days.

The store also sells concrete, bark and materials as well as the tools to go along with them.

A lot has changed around the store over the decades. Highway 24 was built in the early 1960s. Lafayette became an incorporated city in 1968. And, yes, a few stoplights have been added along the way.

Diamond K has expanded its facilities and increased its delivery capacity during that time.

However, the basic store operation hasn't changed much. Magrath said the biggest switch he can remember is when they gave up on the red lava rock that was popular in the 1960s in favor of gravel.

He said 60 percent of their business is homeowners and the other 40 percent is construction companies.

The secret to success is pretty simple.

"We treat people right and we sell what they want to buy," said Magrath.

Diamond K has 14 employees. It's open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday. From March to November, it's open 9 a.m. to 3 p.m on Sundays.

Magrath isn't sure yet when he'll retire, but it probably won't be anytime soon. One of his daughters just graduated from college and the other one just entered the halls of post secondary education. Those college loans, he says, will keep him working for awhile.

Besides, why step away from something that's working so well.

"It's pretty easy to work here," said Magrath.