It started out with a need for outdoor furniture and a fateful drive by the base of Mount Tamalpais in Mill Valley, California, in 2004.
Steve Keihner was looking to furnish his new home in Marin County. Several years before, he had sold a successful delivery and logistics company — and the eclectic Benches, Etc. store caught his eye, especially since he wasn’t happy with some pieces he had recently purchased somewhere else.
It turned out that the store’s owner had what he wanted and then some. She was moving and wanted to sell.
Keihner was ready to buy.
Two decades later, Terra Outdoor Living has grown to 15 stores, including an outlet, a commercial division and a website. Its stock in trade is its collaboration with designers, manufacturers and artisans to produce its own brand, Ventana.
Jim Singer, a product developer with Terra Outdoor, says the business’ growth was in step with population growth in California and growth in demand for outdoor furniture in a place where the outdoor season runs pretty much year-round.
Singer says everyone felt the sting after Covid, but today’s challenge is about keeping the 180,000-square-foot warehouse full, because customers are increasingly about instant gratification and want to have the furniture delivered right now.
“We have a little different assortment mix, with our presentation in showrooms and in our website business,” says Singer. “We carry contemporary modern furniture — as far as design, we stay a step ahead. We have some competitive high-end pricing and good value.”
Singer says the chain’s biggest challenge is finding good help.
“A lot of people do not want to work in retail; they are not finding it romantic and lovely,” he says. “We are constantly looking for good help, good leaders. We see it in our numbers when we do not have a strong leadership team or employees. (Customers) ask a lot of questions and we need informed salespeople. Our sales director is running ads on LinkedIn and recruiting and training. We have got to get the right people in the right spots. We do have good people — motivated and who want to learn.”
He says the current economic climate has caused sales to slow a bit, especially with this being an election year.
“The political environment has gotten people nervous, and it’s super-hot weather,” Singer says. “There are some nervous people out there wondering what will happen after November. Housing is strong out here; the economy is strong. But I have heard other retailers had some slowdowns in July and it’s hard to pinpoint. Very uncertain times out there, and it has people nervous.”
Singer says that this season for him has been pretty close to expected, with the usual slowdowns after July Fourth through the beginning of school. He says that by summer’s end, customers have already bought the furniture they will buy, except for latecomers who will tend to search for end-of-season bargains in August and September.
To get the word out, Terra Outdoor does mostly digital and some direct mail and catalogs. And to decide what to carry, it sends its buyers to shows, mostly overseas.
“We will be going to Milan probably next year; we get design inspiration from there,” he says. “If we see something we like at a show, we will see if we can form a partnership and customize furniture for us — making chairs our own that can’t get shopped around. The other nice thing for us is that we have our own brand name and style. Quality is important for us.
“Good quality and good value, good relationships if we need something right away, making sure our photographers will have samples. We want people who will work with us.”
To set themselves apart from competitors, Singer says both its showrooms and products are superior — and its sales staff at Terra isn’t paid on individual commissions. Instead, pay is based on how well the store does overall, which means that the sales staff takes a team approach in getting the sale, instead of looking out only for themselves.
Singer says that he doesn’t blame full-line furniture stores for getting into outdoor, given that Covid taught everyone about the value of adding an outdoor room. Still, there is a greater value in specializing in one thing, because full-line furniture stores tend to de-emphasize outdoor in the off-season, while Terra Outdoor sees strong sales in outdoor year-round because it remains fully stocked.
What advice does he have for struggling casual retailers today?
“I would say try to be current. The current inventory is the right inventory that is selling. If it is not selling, it is not going to sell at a lower price. When customers are buying, it keeps turning inventory. You’ve got to react and get rid of it. We opened up an outlet store a few years ago, where we can funnel out slow-selling stuff and keep showrooms more current so that we’re not dealing with clutter. We really pride ourselves — we have to have current and fresh. Old stuff and dust doesn’t make it. Don’t let it just sit there, mark it down. Turn it into cash and buy new stuff.”
