Meredith Deas Tollison always has a to-do list going.
One of her most memorable was in May 2002.
On May 1, she would open Keep It Casual, a high-end patio furniture store in Tupelo, Mississippi.
On May 4, she would get married.
Many people wouldn’t schedule those two events so close together, but Tollison isn’t many people. She came to her career in the outdoor industry honestly. Her father left the corporate world in the early 1980s and sold beach towels and pool chemicals and high-end patio furniture from a store called Patio Place, which was in an old house.
Tollison joined him in an import business, then took over the retail side. The rebranded store, Keep It Casual, started out in a 9,000-square-foot showroom space and then, six years ago, moved into a restored jewelry store nearby.
With spring right around the corner, what’s going to be needed this season?
“Merchandising is going to be huge — the guys in my store are phenomenal at merchandising,” says Tollison. “Our most important things are product knowledge and customer service. The knowledge and the ability to talk to our customers. You have to make them feel welcome and important. Building personal relationships are the primary thing that independent retail stores have to rely on.”
Tollison said sales have slowed somewhat, especially from the highs that she saw during Covid. She said that slowdowns and a general cooling of the housing market, coupled with the upcoming election, have caused some of the softening. She said that when sales go slower, she bears down on individual outreach to customers with follow-ups to sell accessories that are relevant to outdoor.
She said that she chooses the goods that she will sell based on quality, service and the appeal that they have in the marketplace, along with whether or not they have worked to develop a personal relationship with her store.
“If they ask about my dad, if they know my dog’s name, we are having these ongoing personal relationships,” says Tollison. “I make a lot of my purchasing decisions on the quality of those relationships as much as the quality of their furniture.”
To get the word out, she says she depends on aspirational ads in high-end regional magazines and social media and has stepped away from TV, radio, newspaper and direct mail. To set her store apart, she points out that hers is the only full outdoor store in the area and she has a lot of relationships and history in the business.
“We have a lot of vendors who are very good about protecting their locations and do not sell to full line,” she says. “We feel confident in the brand names we carry and the quality of merchandise and service we offer. Whenever we get nervous, we do it better. We want better relationships — the best we can do is the best we can do. Let’s make it even better as we go along.”
Tollison says that full-line stores have had some effect — a positive one.
“We are a specialty store and we intend to stay that way,” she says. “We have several great stores here in town who we work closely with for recommendations on indoor furnishings. It seems that a collaborative effort can benefit us all more than being competitive on everything.”
She says that she doesn’t believe that any business needs to be all things to all people.
“We are a quality furnishings company, and we don’t have to cover everything,” she says. ”Like most, we don’t sell online. We have agreements with vendors not to post pricing online. Online, you can get price, convenience and perceived value but you don’t really know what you are getting. There is a place for online and a place for you to get what you want from a small independent retailer. I consider them as almost two entirely different worlds.”
What advice does she have for struggling casual retailers today?
“Always be open to learning new things,” she says. “Ask for advice. Talk to seasoned retailers. Don’t fall into anyone else’s cookie-cutter molds. These are frustrating times with challenges and trials and failures, but this is an amazing industry to be in. There are 100 times I could have locked the door behind me and walked away but I didn’t. Hire good people and treat your people well. Give them room to make decisions on your behalf but not too much room. You have to build it up to a certain point to hand it off.
“Know what you are good at and hire people who are good at what you are not good at. I am good at purchasing, good at keeping the books, good at merchandising, good at business strategy, but not good at selling. Work as a team. Everything we do is collaborative.”
