For Gary Braden, owner of Knoxville, Tennessee-based Braden’s Furniture, the secret to success in retailing is that beauty is only skin-deep.
But ugly goes clear to the bone.
“It always comes down to, ‘Do you have something somebody wants?’” says Braden. “Merchandising is always first in my mind. If it is ugly, it doesn’t matter if it is a good deal.”
Braden’s has always been about being practical, about using what works. Founded in 1956, Braden’s is in its third generation of family ownership. In its various iterations, it has been a wholesale furniture distributor and a traveling sales business in seven states, a large standalone furniture store, a furniture importer and a bedding company.
By 2004, Braden’s had a downtown furniture store and opened a separate Braden’s Lifestyles store in a shopping center, somewhat similar in appearance to a West Elm or a Crate and Barrel.
What happened next leads Gary Braden to say how much he loves the orange and white of the University of Tennessee, but he cannot stand the orange and white traffic cones of the Tennessee Department of Transportation.
The Lifestyles format “really did work,” says Braden. “It did not conflict with the downtown store; we would have continued on that way, but they literally closed my only entrance.”
Interstate 40 was shut down for two years, which prompted the closure of his downtown store. Braden pivoted quickly, changing focus in his Lifestyles store from a contemporary model to a blend of contemporary, traditional, casual and transitional, along with its large patio and outdoor business and its Oriental rug department. Braden’s also runs a clearance and distribution center in nearby Maryville.
These days, within the outdoor segment, Braden is closing out 2023 and has begun working on 2024. He says that lead times will be front of mind, but that good quality and a good value are uppermost, given that he has worked to build a store that goes from Buicks to Bentleys in price points. Along those lines, roughly 30% of patio furniture is special order with 70% stock.
“We do buy depth and if we order it in March, we want it by June and not by September,” says Braden.
Braden says that sales have slowed, but that he is leaving out the sales bump that came during the pandemic, looking instead to where sales would have been today if everything had been normal since 2019. He says that today, money that consumers used to spend on trips to Europe is again being spent on trips to Europe, because customers have purchased everything they need for their homes — for now.
“Our business doubled, but it has now backed off,” he sats. “But it is still way ahead of where we would have been on a normal progression. It is slower and obviously we have had inflation. But overall, we are way ahead of where we would have been. In 2020, 2021 and 2022, (customers) wanted it, we would get it for them and they would say yes.”
Braden says that the business continues to be a challenge, especially with hiring. Sometime back, he subcontracted out his delivery business to avoid triple ulcers. Potential delivery employees wouldn’t show up for work or would show up with a drug problem.
“It is still affecting me somewhat, trying to hire office personnel,” says Braden. “It’s a big disappointment. You have to set up five interviews and one of them would show. I don’t understand what they are doing. How do they want to live? They have adjusted to not working.”
Braden says that the store is rolling out new digital advertising — sending ads directly to smartphones and iPads — while moving away from classic advertising like television. He said that with Knoxville natives, the store is well known and respected, but that the city has grown exponentially, by 89,000 new residents. That means transplants from California and Michigan don’t know anything about Braden’s.
“To reach out and get the new people, they are going to search for you and we’re not very good at that right now, but we are going to be good,” Braden says. “We are trying to meet them where they are.”
To choose the goods that the customers will themselves choose, Braden says that he looks for value, quality and style.
“It has to be something that will sell, and it has to be made well,” he says. “Is the company going to be able to ship it and support it? Will they stand behind it? Will they do what they say they are going to do? We have to have relationships with people that count.”
To set yourself apart, start with saying yes.
“We just take care of you — whatever you need — and we can’t imagine anyone not buying from us,” says Braden. “We do commercial, residential, restaurants, apartments, mansions. We go low end to high end. We have great talent, a great staff, and people like what we have done.”
Braden says his biggest competitor in town for patio has been patio specialty stores, but the biggest effect on his business has been sales by online and big-box retailers. He is also fighting the perception that paying more doesn’t have value — like when a $750 patio set lasts for two years before it goes to the landfill and a $1,400 set would have lasted for more than 10 years.
“How do you fight the perception that it is not a better deal, it’s a worse deal, it’s cheaper stuff?” asks Braden. “You show them quality and features and you educate them. It’s fully welded. It’s Sunbrella cushions with a drain in it. You have to educate the customer.”
Any advice for a struggling casual retailer?
Consider branching out.
“I have never been only a casual retailer,” says Braden. “Look at the operation and manage what you can manage. It would be tough right now to start if that is all you are building. The No. 1 failure is undercapitalization.”
