This article originally appeared on Prosales.

Our world was way different in October 1988: The Berlin Wall still stood, nobody checked your bags at the airport, and the World Wide Web didn’t exist. Also absent in those days was the notion that building material dealers that focused on professional contractors were a breed apart, distinct from the home centers that dominated LBM. But that notion came to life a few months later in a new magazine with a clear focus: ProSales.

You can read our back issues (you kept them all, right?) to see how dealers’ lives have changed in the 30 years since. For this special edition, however, we thought you’d get greater value by exploring how construction and construction supply will evolve over the next 30 years. We picked five areas of focus for the future. They point to exciting times ahead.

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