NORTHWOOD (AP) - Residents here used to solve the world's problems over a cup of coffee and pastry at Bart's Cafe downtown.

But in the wake of a tornado that left few properties unscathed, people turn to its second oldest family business for assistance and camaraderie.

Meland Lumber has distributed advice and materials to professional contractors and do-it-yourselfers for generations. Here residents bought screws, rope, staple guns, flooring or Weed B Gone.

Now the lumberyard, which also sustained damage, is a hub for the city's recovery.

Meland Lumber was started in 1949 by Noren Meland and his father. Today, two of Noren's sons, Rick and Randy, own it.

Randy's son, Tom, also works there.

Since Aug. 26, the day a tornado devastated Northwood, the store has been open from 6 a.m. to as late as midnight, seven days a week.

"You want to take care of people. They need things," Rick Meland said.

In the days immediately following the storm, residents stripped the store of rakes and shovels needed to clear debris. Before the Red Cross arrived with free plywood, homeowners and property owners purchased tarps, plastic sheeting and laths to temporarily seal roofs and missing walls.

Now they prepare for more permanent repairs.

Last week, suppliers and Meland's five full-time employees measured gaping holes for new windows. A truck filled with assorted steel and storm doors is parked near the store.

Sales of lumber, a signal that rebuilding has begun, are slow. Orders for repair materials like siding and shingles are trickling in.

Last week, Rick Meland estimated the store received 20 truckloads of roofing supplies. Stacks of shingles sit outside because the shed designated to house them was damaged by the tornado.

Typically, the lumberyard delivers supplies to three or four roofing sites a week, Meland said. Now they fill orders for 10 jobs a day. Most days the orders come in so fast, employees don't have time to enter them into the computer system.

"I'm impressed with how they're keeping up with everybody," said Charles Charette, who owns a roofing business in Finley. His crew, made up of family members, was shingling its eighth house in 10 days.

Meland's has kept up with the demand with some outside help. Over Labor Day weekend, salesmen drove material-laden trucks to Northwood after a company's unionized drivers had reached their limit of hours.