Neither rain nor cold nor flocks of pigeons meeting in his showroom could stop John Billings in his pursuit of building a patio business.
The store is now known as Daylight Home & Patio in Paso Robles, California, and Billings can say truthfully that where he is these days beats a planter box on a sidewalk, the enclosed entrance to a shuttered stereo store and the leaky 100-year-old building that came with pigeons.
Billings has clearly been there and done that. And done that. And done that some more.
Billings started out in 1973 with $100 worth of cut flowers, added in plants and pots, and set it all up in a 6-by-10-foot planter box in the unused entrance of a Pacific Stereo store. He added a 6-foot-tall wooden box over the planter, stored all his inventory inside at night and was open seven days a week.
Three years on, Pacific Stereo charged Billings rent for enclosing the whole entrance and making it a 400-square-foot, tile-floored space with 20 feet of custom wood and glass doors. A geodesic space frame marquee projected 10 feet over the sidewalk to hang plants. And the store became Earthly Pleasures, an award-winning Teleflora flower shop selling jewelry, baskets and gifts.
In 1978, an abandoned 100-year-old, 16,000-square-foot lumber mill a mile away became the home of Daylight Gardens. On a Sunday, when Billings was converting part of the space into a greenhouse, Herbert and Elaine Weinberg walked up and asked if he wanted to buy some patio furniture. The Weinbergs, who had sold the first patio furniture to Brooks in Syracuse, New York, and Hill and Co. in Philadelphia, were in the process of spreading their lines throughout the western U.S.
“I had listed patio furniture on my scratch paper business plan and he offered dating terms, so I was all in,” says Billings.
Those were heady days for the new business. Customers loved the redwood plank floors and the corrugated steel roof — and tended to overlook the fact that the roof leaked horribly, got as cold as 39 degrees during one December and served as a meetinghouse for pigeons, who did not clean up after themselves at all.
Fifteen years later — and a year after the building was partially condemned — Billings knew it was time for a change. He moved to a complex of three buildings built in the 1950s closer to downtown.
“Our new location, in 1992, was clean, dry and warm, so we added indoor lines in one 5,000-square-foot building, and across the parking lot, a 5,000-square-foot building of patio lines,” says Billings. “In addition, we had 10,000 feet of outdoor display of patio sets. During our 18 years at this location, we offered plants, pots, fountains and nursery supplies. We also expanded the home décor, gift and ethnic craft offerings. Business was booming with a bit of a glitch in 2008.”
The next year, a Cadillac dealership five blocks up the street became available. A year of renovations later, the 1948 Art Deco-style building opened with leather, wood and metal furniture indoors. In 30,000 square feet of selling space outside, Daylight Home had 100 patio sets, pottery, fountains, plants and garden décor.
What the store was lacking was on-site warehouse space, so in 2014, Billings leased a 5,000-square-foot warehouse 30 miles away that came with a 25,000-square-foot furniture showroom. The showroom was evenly split between indoor and patio.
The beginning of the pandemic marked the end of a long-standing relationship. In March 2020, the store closed for seven weeks, giving Billings time to relax. He said that he decided that since the landlord in San Luis Obispo would not agree to terms for the lease, he would close that location.
“Nov. 1, 2020, was the last day, after 47 years in that town,” says Billings. “Of course, 2021 was fantastic and 2022 almost as good. 2023 looks to be a challenge although our costs have come down with many of our lines. Like most everyone, we are extremely fat with inventory.”
Today’s retail landscape
“Our floor looks great — we have a full complement of what we want to sell,” says Billings. “Lead times are way down, four to 27 weeks delivered, depending on the line. Most important will be having enough buyers to clear the late deliveries from 2022 and the 2023 product ordered in May of 2022. We did not cancel any 2023 orders, even though lots of 2022 stock did not arrive until most of the season was over.”
Billings says he is planning on a sales slowdown — and will be using a shorter margin if that means a sale will come from in-stock merchandise. He says he would continue to push what he has on hand while stressing immediate gratification and making attractive deals.
“We’re pretty low-tech and if we can match online deals we do,” says Billings. “We’re not experiencing pricing objections from our customers as the majority of our vendors have lowered prices or the ocean shipping fees have declined as much as 92%. So, prices are lower than a year ago.”
In terms of challenges, he said that the number of employees is the main one. He said he has a small crew for a 25,000-square-foot store – three full-timers and one part-time employee for sales and one and a half positions for warehouse delivery.
“When everyone is healthy, the crew is perfect for our volume,” says Billings. “We’ve had to get friends of the crew to help temporarily for deliveries lately due to staff out sick.”
How does the store decide on what to offer?
“We’ve always focused on comfort even though that’s a personal thing,” says Billings. “Quite often, a chair that looks good is uncomfortable for many. Secondly, quality and the history of the manufacturer to stand behind their product. Over the last 45 years in the patio business, we’ve sold pretty much every line. There are some great lines that look good, are priced right but don’t stand behind the product and the dealer, and have trouble fulfilling, we tend to drop those lines quickly.”
How does Daylight Home & Patio set itself apart?
“We have a long history with the lines we offer,” says Billings. “We have lots of inventory and over 50 years of patio experience between the three people on the sales floor. Differentiate yourself from the competition. Be where the other stores are not. Find your niche and commit to it.”
