Stock drops into bankruptcy.

• Position: Triangle

For more than two years, Stock Building Supply LLC offices occupied one of three floors in Colony Corporate Center in north Raleigh. It moved out halfway through its lease but kept paying rent. In early May, its landlord figured that was about to change. "After we read that they were filing for Chapter 11, we expected the lease to be rejected," says William Barnett, CEO of Henderson-based Center XXXIII LLC.

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Within a week, it was, making him one of many affected by recent woes of a company that started in Raleigh 87 years ago, came under British ownership and grew into one of the nation's largest suppliers of building products. Reading, U.K.-based Wolseley PLC bought and renamed Carolina Builders Corp, in 1985, keeping headquarters in Raleigh. Stock began buying lumberyards and other supply businesses. During the next 20 years, it averaged more than three acquisitions a year.

But the U.S. housing market peaked in 2005, and the company began feeling the effects the following year. That October, it began cutting jobs and closing stores. In its latest fecal year, which ended in July 2008, Stock lost $744 million on revenue of $3.5 billion. Last October, it began another restructuring. It has cut its work force 42%, leaving about 7,000--fewer than half of what it had in 2006--and shed more than 90 outlets. In May, down to about 200...