Hearth & Home Magazine – 2019 February Issue by Hearth & Home

THE VOICE OF THE HEARTH, BARBECUE AND PATIO INDUSTRIES

FEBRUARY 2019

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FEBRUARY 2019

Big Products. Big Ideas. Only at North America’s Largest Indoor-Outdoor Lifestyle Event.

Everything’s Bigger in Texas... including the Opportunities at HPBExpo 2019 in Dallas. Get to HPBExpo 2019 to access the BIG developments in indoor-outdoor living. Exciting new brands and product launches on the show floor. A robust education program, including industry certifications, sponsored by Hearth & Home Technologies. Thousands of professionals eager to share insights and strike new deals. It will all be here waiting to be experienced. REGISTER TODAY at hpbexpo.com/register.

EXHIBITION: March 14-16, 2019 • EDUCATION: March 13-15, 2019 Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center • Dallas, TX

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THE BIG OF INDOOR-OUTDOOR LIVING Featured fireplace courtesy of Kozy Heat Fireplaces.

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DIY Network star, Mike Holmes will share his thoughts on housing and product trends, the importance of fireplaces in the home, and how outdoor products enhance the homebuying experience. Sponsored by Napoleon Products.

THURSDAY, MARCH 14 | 8:00AM – 9:15AM

| CONTENTS | FEATURES

1 0 Fire Outside Fire outside has taken its place as a regular category in the product lineup of most manufacturers.

2 0 Quietly Growing In 1980, “Barney” O’Donnell saw an opportunity to use his company’s expertise in gas heat; he purchased Mendota Hearth Products and has been growing it (quietly) ever since.

2 6 Following Fruehauf’s If you create a destination location, customers will follow – even if you move 20 miles away.

Attack? 3 4 Heart Fifty-five percent of U.S single-family housing starts in 2017 did not include a fireplace.

3 8 Pellet Power After only three decades, pellet grills are an overnight success, and smart retailers are jumping on the bandwagon.

Life of Design 4 4 A Perfectionists Richard and Catherine Frinier reflect

on lives well-spent in the worlds of travel and design.

6 0 Now in Vogue The trio of Teak, Ipé, and Roblé are at the pinnacle of fine outdoor wood furniture.

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DEPARTMENTS

Perspective

66 Industry News

67 Business Climate

70 72 72 73 74

Stock Watch Classifieds Ad Index Who Reads Hearth & Home? Parting Shot

ON THE WEB News

10 Trend Questions: An Update (Part 1) Median Household Income Rises in November

Recipes Evo’s French Crêpes Vision Grills’ Grilled Green Pepper Omelet

THE VOICE OF THE HEARTH, BARBECUE AND PATIO INDUSTRIES

FEBRUARY 2019

On the Cover

Bobé Fire & Water Features transform pools, spas, and landscape into working art.

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SUBSCRIBE ONLINE For Print and Digital editions!

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Contributing Writers Lisa Readie Mayer, Tom Lassiter, Bill Sendelback, Paul Stegmeir, Dr. James Houck, Mark Brock, Kathi Caldwell-Hopper

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CopyrightÂŠ 2019 by Village West Publishing. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. All advertising is subject to approval by the publisher. Please address all correspondence to Hearth & Home, P.O. Box 1288, Laconia, NH 03247, (603) 528-4285, (800) 258-3772, FAX: (603) 524-0643. Hearth & Home, The Outdoor Room and Vesta Awards are registered trademarks of Village West Publishing. Village West Publishing is not associated with and has no financial interest in, the Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association.

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Hearth & Home (USPS 575-210/ISSN 02735695), Vol. XL, No. 3, is published monthly by Village West Publishing, 25 Country Club Road, Ste. 403, Gilford, NH 03249/P.O. Box 1288, Laconia, NH 03247. Subscription price $36 per year; $60 (USD) in Canada; $120 (USD) overseas (first class, airmail only). Single copy price $15 (includes postage and handling) in U.S. and in Canada. Periodicals postage paid at Laconia, NH and at additional entry office. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to Village West Publishing, Circulation Department, P.O. Box 1288, Laconia, NH 03247.

| Perspective |

Slip Sliding Away

or decades, the incidence of fireplaces in new construction (both tract and custom homes) hovered around 60%. Six out of every 10 new homes were equipped with a fireplace. The majority of those fireplaces were the cheapest products being manufactured. That 60% number remained fairly steady for years, but the Great Recession and resulting downturn changed the game. By 2017 – the most recent numbers available – the incidence of fireplaces in HEART ATTACK? new construction had dropped to 45% (that’s a 25% drop from the steady 60% number of years past). The company with the most to lose E from that decline is certainly Hearth & Home Technologies. With its brands of Heatilator, Majestic, Monessen, and Heat & Glo, the company has, by far, the largest share of the new home construction market for fireplaces. To confront the situation, it recently created a small committee, headed by Roger Oxford, to study the problem and find a solution. His title is now senior vice president – Strategic Growth – New Home Market. Oxford has worked new construction for decades, and if there is a solution, he is most likely the one who will find it. The rapidly increasing cost of a new home certainly is a factor. Most budgets are being stretched these days when younger generations go shopping for a home. Another factor could be that the chickens are coming home to roost. As Nick Bauer, president of Empire Comfort Systems, put it: “For years and years this industry sold its cheapest products to builders of new homes. Now, those cheap “builder boxes” are what tens of millions of people think of when a fireplace is mentioned.” Round it off at an average of 1 million builder boxes a year, and that’s 46 million homes from 1973 (when the new | New-Home Construction |

“The fireplace? The heart of the home itself.” — Frank Lloyd Wright

Fifty-five percent of U.S. single-family housing starts in 2017 did not include a

fireplace.

By Bill Sendelback

ven with new-home construction slowly continuing to improve, the chance of a fireplace being installed in many of the new homes is slipping away. That should be, and is, a major concern for the hearth product industry, particularly fireplace manufacturers. The number of housing starts has improved in recent years, but are nowhere near the totals from the heyday of homebuilding around 2000 to 2005. In 2018, single-family housing starts appeared to stall. Single-family housing starts in 2016 were at 722,000, up 68% from the low of 2011. That total rose again in 2017, up another 21% over 2016 to 877,000.

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However, the latest totals from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) indicate that 2018 single-family housing starts totaled 865,000 units, down about 1% from 2017. Even so, the NAHB forecasts that single-family housing starts will increase by 7% to 927,000 units in 2019, while multi-family starts will drop 4.4% to 366,000 units. A bright spot for the hearth products industry is the NAHB forecast that, in 2019, it expects home remodeling to be up 7% after a 9% increase in 2018. Both consumer confidence and builder confidence remain good, but are sliding down, according to The Conference Board. “Consumers are still

quite confident that economic growth will continue at a solid pace into early 2019,” according to Lynn Franco, senior director of Economic Indicators. “However, if expectations soften further in the coming months, the pace of growth is likely to begin moderating.” Franco bases this forecast on “a less optimistic view of future business conditions and personal income prospects.” While builder confidence in the market for new single-family homes is high, that confidence recently dropped eight points to 60 (anything over 50 is considered good), says The Conference Board. The drop is attributed to growing concerns about the affordability of new

hearth industry began) to today. That’s not counting all the family members in that home, all the relatives who visited, the neighbors, etc. As an industry, we’ve done a great job at putting our worse foot forward. Make no mistake, the trend we’re discussing here will affect everyone in the hearth industry. (See article “Heart Attack?” page 34.) A Life of Design The year was 1989; we were at the Casual Market for the first time. When we entered the Brown Jordan showroom, we saw collections that were just flat-out beautiful – unique and gorgeous. It was our first encounter with the work of Richard Frinier. From that day forward, the Brown Jordan showroom, and the artistry of Richard Frinier, became our first stop at market – every year, and for a few decades. There was something intangible about Frinier’s stunning collections. Certainly they were pleasurable and exciting to view. But there also was thought, intelligence, and attention to detail that seeped through his designs. Nowhere is that seen more readily than in the collections he created for Century Furniture. Based on travels he experienced, Frinier used memories of places and cultures to create outdoor furniture designed to stimulate similar emotions in those who eventually would place those products in their backyard. Through the years, Frinier has also partnered with Dedon, Sunbrella, and most notably, Brown Jordan. It was with Brown Jordan that he created his first outdoor product – Quantum – in 1982. Thirty-six years later it’s still in production. Impressive. It’s time for a retrospective. (See article “A Life of Design,” page 44.)

homes. “Builders report that they continue to see signs of consumer demand for new homes, but customers are taking a pause due to concerns over interest rates and house prices,” according to the Board. Mortgage interest rates, too, are having an adverse effect on new-home sales. The Conference Board reports that the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate is now 4.9%, up a little more than one percentage point over last year. One reason for a slowing in single-family housing starts is that homebuilders are having trouble finding qualified workers, a top issue with homebuilders

www.hearthandhome.com | FEBRUARY 2019 | 35

Ed. Note: You will notice that the Weather Report charts that normally appear in the Business Climate section at the rear of each issue of Hearth & Home are missing from this issue due to the government shutdown. Click here for a mobile

www.hearthandhome.com FEBRUARY 2019 | 7 friendly reading |experience

Design Wood Fireplaces

Here: A-3RL-80h

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Made in Germany. 7

| Fire Places, Pits & Tables |

FIRE OUTSIDE Fire outside has taken its place as a regular category in the product lineup of most manufacturers. By Bill Sendelback

here’s no question about the increasing popularity of Outdoor Rooms. While grills and outdoor kitchens are a huge part of the outdoor living trend, outdoor fireplaces, fire pits, and fire tables are rapidly becoming the focal point and a must-have for homeowners seeking to extend the seasonal use of their outdoor spaces. Industry sales figures on outdoor fireplaces and fire pits – or any hearth

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product – are no longer available from the Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association. But a three-year-old study by Hearth & Home Technologies (HHT) indicates that fire pit sales topped $60 million. Two years ago, Agio reported that it had sold $50 million in fire pits. The consensus among manufacturers is that outdoor fireplace sales are growing rapidly, but are nowhere near the volume of fire pit sales. The reasons? Fire pits can fit

into even the smallest outdoor space, and while the retail price of outdoor fireplaces can range from $1,500 to $10,000, the retail price of fire pits are from $200 or $300 to $4,000 from specialty hearth dealers, and even less than $100 from mass merchants. Lot 113, Saguaro Forest at Desert Mountain, Scottsdale, Arizona, by Rains Design.

PHOTO COURTESY: ©2019 RAINS DESIGN. WWW.RAINSDESIGN.COM. INCKX PHOTOGRAPHY ARCHITECTURE + INTERIORS. WWW.INCKX.COM. BUILDER: THE PHIL NICHOLS COMPANY. INSTALLING CONTRACTOR: WAYNE HOLSAPPLE FROM SPECIALTY FIREPLACES.

Galaxy 48-inch from Napoleon.

Sedona Fire Pit from Hearth Products Controls.

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www.hearthandhome.com FEBRUARY 2019 | 11 friendly reading | experience

| Fire Places, Pits & Tables | Outdoor fireplaces are selling well for Empire Comfort Systems, according to Nick Bauer, president. “They are still a small part of the market, but we’re seeing steady sales growth,” he says. “For us, this category is not growing at 50% a year as it was in the past, but we’re still seeing double-digit sales growth across our line.” Empire Comfort has introduced high-end outdoor fireplaces with retail prices ranging from $6,000 to $8,000. “I’m amazed but pleased that we sell at these prices,” says Bauer, “but we also offer $1,500 models for homebuilders.” The company recently added a short line of drop-in fire pit burner systems for on-site fire pit construction. These systems are available in 48- and 60-inch lengths. Linear styling for outdoor fireplaces is popular for Empire Comfort, as well as “ventless” models allowing flue gases and heat to vent out the front of the fireplace. These models are particularly well suited for installations in covered areas where conventional venting is not possible, says Bauer. Burners in these ventless models are standard vented burners, and log sets need no oxygen depletion systems (ODS) since the installations are outside. Using standard burner systems provides larger flames and more heat than ventless log sets, Bauer adds.

The Lanai from Heat & Glo.

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LED lighting also is popular with Empire Comfort’s outdoor fireplaces. “Two-thirds of these sales include LED lighting,” he says. Outdoor fireplaces are a “growing and leading” sales category for Innovative Hearth Products (IHP), according to Tom Krebs, executive vice president of Sales and Marketing. “We’re seeing this category move toward higher-end linear models in larger sizes and with more fancy features,” he says. IHP used to offer just a 36-inch model in stainless steel, but now it offers models as large as 72 inches. New from IHP are battery-operated controls for its outdoor fireplaces. HHT offers outdoor fireplaces and not fire pits, but they are one of HHT’s top sales growth categories, according to Monica Turner, Outdoor Category manager. “We’re seeing strong sales growth, and we expect this category to continue to grow,” she says. HHT also offers wood-burning models, “but sales of (those models) are growing at a slower pace,” adds Turner. While the majority of HHT’s outdoor fireplace sales are traditionally styled, the company is seeing the greatest sales growth in its linear models. “Many of these models now include multi-colored LED lighting, a feature consumers want,” she says. Another style that is selling well

48-inch outdoor linear fireplace from Empire Comfort Systems.

The Barcelona Lights linear fireplace from Innovative Hearth Products.

for HHT is its indoor/outdoor model featuring a view of the flames from both indoor and outdoor. New from HHT is its Courtyard and Lanai models. “What differentiates these models are their realistic flames,” she says. “It’s all about realism,” Turner explains. During summer 2019, new 36- and 43-inch models in the Courtyard series will offer 56 different looks, says Turner, including four firebox refractory options, two log sets, and colored crushed glass. “This will be one fireplace that can provide whatever look the customer wants,” she says. Strong sellers for Mason-Lite in the outdoor fireplace category are its vent-free outdoor models, says Bill Harris, managing partner. “These linear, vent-free outdoor models are selling like crazy. They are perfect for installations where there is not enough height available for a flue, such as under an overhang or roof.”

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| Fire Places, Pits & Tables | Harris points out that, in some locations, local code requires venting if the fireplace is within 10 feet of the house, and vent-free models offer an option. Mason-Lite’s vent-free models use standard vented log sets, allowing greater heat and not requiring an ODS since the installation is outside. Outdoor installations of its fireplaces have grown to 50% of Mason-Lite’s sales. “Sales of outdoor fire features are growing, even in Canada, as customers want to use their Outdoor Rooms year ’round,” he says. Mason-Lite also offers 48-inch-round fire pits and an outside pizza oven.

Fire pits and fire tables are a “giant” portion of OW Lee’s business, says Leisa McCollister, vice president of Marketing. “Fire pits are our number-one selling category, representing 30% of our sales for the last few years,” she says. “Customers are asking for cleaner, more modern, simple styling. While we offer fire tables in all heights, chat height (24 inches) has always been our top selling size, coffee height (12 to 18 inches) and counter height (36 to 38 inches) sales are growing. Traditional styling is becoming less and less of a factor,” she says.

WS54 See Thru Indoor/Outdoor fireplace from Town & Country.

Basso from OW Lee.

“Today’s homebuyers are highly interested in an Outdoor Room space,” according to John Czerwonka, vice president of Hearth Sales for Napoleon Fireplaces, “and there is now a trend for the second fireplace in a new home to be outside rather than inside.” Czerwonka points to Napoleon’s Hot Spots Research Study, an extensive, professional study of consumer preferences contracted by Napoleon in 2015. “Many consumers are looking for outdoor fireplaces, flame tables, and outdoor heaters to extend the use of their Outdoor Room space.” Outdoor fireplace trends, according to Czerwonka, include larger models with cleaner, more modern faces and a selection of burner ember media. Napoleon will be showing at the HPBA show more updated fireplaces with these features, plus the company will introduce a new fire table.

Gray has become a popular color for OW Lee, and the company is selling more black finished models, according to McCollister. “We’re now offering fire table tops in wood looks, tiles, and a cement look.” A few years ago OW Lee began offering collections with fire tables matching its outdoor furniture. “But the consumer did not care about a match, so we have dropped the matching collection idea,”she says. New from OW Lee is its Basso fire pit, a 36-inch round, bowl-shaped model resembling spun metal. Also available is a matching side table to hide an LP tank. OW Lee’s new Forma fire pit is a sleek, clean, all metal model available in 35 inches square and 25 x 45-inch rectangular sizes. The Outdoor GreatRoom Company offers just one outdoor fireplace, but more than 50 fire pits and fire tables. “We’re

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focused on fire pits, and this is a category that is growing quite a bit,” says Rene Schmitz, vice president of Business Development and Marketing. “Fire pits are more inviting because more people can sit around them.” The Outdoor GreatRoom now offers models in chat height, dining height (28 inches) and pub or bar height (42 inches). “The chat height is most liked by consumers,” says Schmitz. The company sees increasing sales strength in linear fire tables, but Schmitz says round shapes and smaller sizes are also coming back in

popularity. “Many of today’s homes on smaller lots just don’t have the backyard footprint to allow larger models,” according to Schmitz. New looks from The Outdoor GreatRoom Company include metal finishes, shiplap, Douglas fir, and concrete-like tops. All of the company’s models include matching covers that hide the fire area when the fire is out, and to make the unit a full table. Price points are going up, Schmitz says. “We offer models retailing from $759 to $3,999, but models retailing from $1,500 to $2,000 are our best sellers. Consumers want design and quality, a product that will last for quite a while.” The company will be introducing new, lower profile linear models in a new round-shaped collection. Outdoor fireplaces are not a “huge category” for Pacific Energy Fireplace Products, but the company includes

Our passion is our people – welcome back! We are excited to be back with our Hearth & Home Technologies family. We are all passionate about the innovation that Heat & Glo is known for and now we can bring our innovative designs and technologies to the Heat & Glo brand starting with the new Foundation Series. Being part of the team that develops and leads growth in the emerging high-end market is an exciting endeavor. Doing it with our HHT family makes it even more special.” –– Ross Morrison, Rob Sloan, Gary Butler and Rick Berg

| Fire Places, Pits & Tables | high-end models in its Town & Country line, says Cory Iversen, Sales manager. Sales of these units are growing, and the company plans to spend more effort on expanding the category. Pacific Energy now offers five Town & Country outdoor models in stainless steel, including a widescreen 54 and a widescreen indoor/ outdoor model. All are sealed, direct-vent models, making them more wind-proof, says Iversen. These models include 24-volt ignition. Iversen is seeing a lot more high-end and semi-custom outdoor fireplace models being used in commercial applications such as restaurants. RH Peterson sees “continued, steady sales growth opportunities” for outdoor fireplaces, fire pits, and fire tables, according to Bob Dischner, senior vice president of Marketing. “We’re expanding our line with a new bright White Aspen finish for our fire tables and fire bowls/urns, plus several new tipi-styled log sets.” Coffee table height (12 to 18 inches) is Peterson’s most popular height for fire tables, but Dischner points out that height is not high enough to hide a standard LP bottle. “So most run natural gas to them or LP from a remote site, or use a smaller LP tank.” While traditional styling still is very popular in outdoor fireplaces, Dischner sees fire pits moving toward contemporary, modern, “more sparse” styling using crushed glass or stones as an ember bed. Peterson sees growth in contractor models of outdoor fireplaces where the contractor can field-clad the fireplace in stucco or whatever finish the customer wants. Most of Peterson’s outdoor fireplaces can be converted to vent-free operation when, for instance, the fireplace is installed under a covering. “We use standard, radiant log sets in vent-free applications, allowing more heat to be thrown out of the front,” Dischner explains. New from Peterson is its LED lighting on five fire tables. Peterson is also introducing a new “Firefall” product, combining fire with water running down the back wall, and LED lighting with rotating colors operated by a remote control. Peterson’s new Milan fireplace is a linear, see-through model.

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Model MFP39-PD. Masonry 39-inch firebox kit with 2 sq. ft. of masonry chimney and Mason-Lite Running-Bond Firebrick Panels.

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| Manufacturing |

QUIETLY

GROWING In 1980, “Barney” O’Donnell saw an opportunity to use his company’s expertise in gas heat; he purchased Mendota Hearth Products and has been growing it (quietly) ever since. By Bill Sendelback

Ron Schinnerer, North American Sales and Marketing lead.

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ome companies spend a lot of time praising themselves. Others simply let their products tell the story. That’s the way of Mendota Hearth Products, a manufacturer of high-end, vented gas fireplaces and inserts. Despite flying under the radar, Mendota has consistently enjoyed double-digit sales growth to become one of North America’s highly regarded manufacturers of luxury hearth products. Mendota Hearth is a division of Johnson Gas Appliance Company; it was created in 1901 by the Johnson family in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and acquired in 1937 by the O’Donnell family as a manufacturer of gas lamps. Today, Johnson Gas is still a family-owned and family-operated company; it designs and manufactures industrial gas furnaces, gas heat treating furnaces, and concrete curing systems.

Model FV42.

L to R: Steve and Bill Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Donnell, vice presidents, Mendota Hearth Products.

Model ML72.

Click here for a mobile

www.hearthandhome.com FEBRUARY 2019 | 21 friendly reading| experience

| Manufacturing | In 1980, family patriarch and Johnson Gas president Barnes “Barney” O’Donnell saw that the gas fireplace industry was in its infancy, and that represented an opportunity for the company to get in on the ground floor. So Johnson Gas purchased Mendota Hearth, a small manufacturer of multi-fuel furnaces then based in Mendota Heights, Minnesota. “Barney recognized that, at that time, there were no big manufacturers producing gas

Conducting a quality check on an antique copper door.

Cedar Rapids factory location, now with 360,000 sq. ft. of manufacturing and warehouse space. In addition to warehousing products at the Johnson Gas facility in Cedar Rapids, Mendota also has regional warehouses in Nevada and Pennsylvania, that allows it to offer products in a timely manner. Mendota produces a wide range of direct-vented gas fireplaces and gas fireplace inserts, all heater-rated with overall efficiencies exceeding 77%. The current line includes 17 gas fireplaces and six gas fireplace inserts. The company’s fireplaces are available in 21 sizes in square, landscape, arched, and linear styling. Add in 15 styles of fireplace fronts, four different log sets including birch, Norway spruce, white oak, and premium oak, and 15 styles of refractory firebox lining in a variety of finishes and you have at least a thousand different variations, all based on basic fireboxes and two burner styles. Mendota’s exclusive Burn Green technology, available on most products, allows the customer convenient control of the fire to increase efficiency. That control includes turning burners and pilots on or off, adjusting the heat and blowers, turning off the rear burner for less heat, and controlling room temperature with a remote control. “We’re not just offering a black box,” says Ron Schinnerer, North American Sales and Marketing lead. “We offer customers

fireplaces,” says Bill O’Donnell, Barney’s son and company vice president, “so this was an opportunity to combine our strong expertise in gas appliances and burner systems with Mendota’s hearth product engineering to create the extensive line of high quality, luxury, vented gas fireplaces and inserts we have today.” Today, Mendota represents 80% of Johnson Gas’ sales. Now in its third generation of family ownership by the O’Donnell family, in addition to Barney, in his late 80s, and son Bill, Barney’s other son, Steve, is also company vice president. As company president, Barney now is taking life a little easier, letting sons Bill and Steve run the day-to-day operations. With 124 employees, Johnson Gas, including the Mendota division, still operates out of the original

Mendota’s fireplace assembly line.

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Welding a firebox.

the opportunity to design their own fireplace. If you’re a golfer, you don’t go to the golf course with just four clubs in your bag. We offer our retail partners a complete bag, from sand wedge to driver. We want to make sure our dealers have a full bag and the club they need to make the sale. We want our dealers to be able to say ‘yes’ to whatever the customer wants.” Mendota’s online design tool allows its dealers to create virtual fireplaces from these hundreds of options. The company

soon will be adding three new linear models, including a new 72-inch model. “Our goal is to offer high-efficiency, heater-rated appliances,” Schinnerer says. “We offer single-sided fireplaces rather than less efficient, decorative-rated, see-through or three-sided models. The sales percentages of those styles are not yet large enough for us to consider. “We build our fireplaces and inserts with a ‘wood stove’ mentality – heavy-gauge steel to retain heat, reduce noise, and ‘oil canning’ during start up and cool down. We combine more than 100 years of gas technology with craftsmanship, quality materials, and innovative product development to offer high-end, top-quality models.” “And we believe we offer the industry’s best-looking flames,” adds Bill O’Donnell.

Mendota focuses solely on specialty hearth dealers in the U.S. and Canada, according to Schinnerer. “We want a direct line of communications with our retail partners,” he says. “By taking the middle man out of the mix, it gives us a better ability to support them. That’s important to us.” With the very broad range of shapes, sizes, features, and options in the Mendota line, Schinnerer says dealer training is critical to the success of Mendota’s dealers. “We don’t talk a ton about Btus and technical things on the retail sales floor, but we train our dealers to be able to communicate to their customers the variety we offer and how we can tailor products to fit their homes and their wants.” Mendota does not sell directly to homebuilders, but encourages its dealers

“We’ve expanded our Operations, Sales and Marketing teams, and that collaborative effort with the rest of our company is bearing fruit.” — Bill O’Donnell

Assembling accent lights.

Assembling fireplace fronts.

to work with builders, designers, and architects. “Traditionally, tract builders are looking for price points we don’t offer,” explains Schinnerer. “We and our dealers look more for builders of larger, custom homes, those building 10 or 15 homes a year rather than 1,500 a year.” The company also hosts roundtables for designers, architects, and builders to demonstrate to them the very wide range of product design options Mendota offers. “We’ve recently made some changes in our staff, and those changes are working out wonderfully,” says Bill O’Donnell. “We’ve expanded our Operations, Sales and Marketing teams, and that collaborative effort with the rest of our company is bearing fruit.” O’Donnell also points out that the company has hired more women, another move he describes as “great.” With a very broad and strong line of today’s most popular gas hearth product categories, Mendota Hearth continues to do its own thing in a quiet way that is bringing more innovative products and more options to its dealers. That all adds up to success in the marketplace.

www.hearthandhome.com | FEBRUARY 2019 | 23

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| Retailing |

FOLLOWING

FRUEHAUF’S If you create a destination location, customers will follow – even if you move 20 miles away. By Tom Lassiter

here will be no one tasked with snow removal at Fruehauf ’s this week, even if the winter weather brings a record snowfall. Nor will arriving boxes of early-buy products stack up in the parking lot, waiting to be shuttled through a two-acre conglomeration of tents, pavilions, and out-buildings to a distant storage shed. That would be so 2017. February 10 marks the one-year anniversary of Fruehauf’s move from the university town of Boulder to Westminster, a city of more than 100,000 that strategically nestles between Boulder and Denver. The shift represents something far more transformative than a mere 20-mile relocation. The 40-year-old business, founded as a nursery, evolved to become a nationally recognized force in the casual furniture business. Under the leadership of the late Mary Fruehauf, the store won an Apollo Award in 2011, and enjoyed a reputation for its creative, individualistic approach to merchandising. Fruehauf ’s earned its bragging rights as Colorado’s largest casual furniture retailer. In Boulder, Fruehauf ’s truly was a shopping destination. Returning customers looked forward to exploring the maze of indoor and outdoor spaces, where the process of discovery was every bit as enticing as the merchandise presented. It mattered little that Fruehauf ’s was inconveniently tucked away on a side street, where its nearest neighbor was a Salvation Army Family Store.

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Fruehauf’s CEO Mariah Maydew and brother Micah Maydew, Operations manager.

After all, where else could one find such an eclectic array? A trek to Fruehauf ’s could result in loading the Range Rover with a Vera Bradley handbag, a gift bag stuffed with bath and body lotion products by Crabtree & Evelyn, and perhaps some sparkly bangles and beads by Chamilia. The new gas grill, the cantilever umbrella, and the deep-seating conversation group – those would soon follow in a Fruehauf ’s delivery van.

Fruehauf ’s president and CEO, two years’ notice that the store would have to find a new home. The decision, announced in the fall of 2015, actually was all in the family. The family-owned retailer rented its location from another arm of the family business, Fruehauf’s Investments. The property-owning entity had determined that, after four decades of growth and change by Fruehauf ’s and Boulder, it was time to divest of the site.

20,000 sq. ft. can hold a lot of patio furniture and gift items.

All those products – giftware, grills, outdoor living products, and more – remain available at Fruehauf ’s new home in Westminster. Now, however, they are consolidated under one roof, protected year-round from the elements in a 40,000 sq. ft. space that anchors a suburban strip mall. The landlord takes care of snow removal. Half of the space is devoted to retail showroom; the other half is an onsite, climate-controlled warehouse. Retrieving a coffee table from inventory no longer requires sleuthing through numerous outbuildings jammed with boxes of furniture. One year in at the Westminster location, the new Fruehauf ’s is still finding its way forward. Now that doing things differently is possible, management is recalibrating old strategies and discovering what works best in its new home. The real estate maxim of location, location, location determined much of the funky character of Fruehauf ’s in Boulder. Pristine new quarters in a new town erased that cachet overnight. To be sure, the move generated some uncertainty, which hovered in the background throughout 2018. Would the new Fruehauf ’s be the same – or at least as successful – as the old Fruehauf’s? Now, as the store marks its one-year anniversary in Westminster, the answer becomes clearer every day. The original landlord was kind enough to give Mariah Maydew,

“The whole property was set up to be a nursery,” Maydew says. “We didn’t have a proper loading dock or air conditioning, things that most modern properties have. Over the years it had deteriorated and was out of date.” One thing in particular made the prospect of moving less onerous. “About 80% of our business was coming from outside of Boulder,” she says. Fruehauf ’s customers came from throughout the Denver metro area and beyond, justifying the store’s long-standing marketing claim that, “It’s well worth the drive.” Once the shock of the news wore off, Maydew began to see opportunity. “We realized that we should have moved years ago,” she says. “This gave us an opportunity to move closer to our market and into an updated facility.” Excitement replaced dread. Still, it was difficult to bid farewell to the site that helped determine Fruehauf ’s eclectic environment. Making the ill-suited hodge-podge of structures function as a fashionable giftware and outdoor living shopping experience called for constant innovation. Customers literally didn’t know what to expect. “That’s what made people remember us,” Maydew says. “There was a second level; it was shaped like a pyramid. There were outbuildings and all these separate rooms.” That sort of thing might not have flown in San Diego or Dallas or Miami. But it was just right for Boulder. Click here for a mobile

www.hearthandhome.com FEBRUARY 2019 | 27 friendly reading |experience

| Retailing |

A colorful array of chairs, umbrellas, and cushions.

“Their uniqueness and quirkiness really fit that market,” says Steven Dennis of Dennis Sales Associates, which represents Breezesta and other lines. He has served Fruehauf’s for more than a decade. Fruehauf ’s – first under the guidance of Mary Fruehauf and then under Maydew, her understudy, friend, and successor – figured all that out and made it work. Boulder, Dennis explains, is unlike any other community in the nation. The city is known for its forward-leaning politics. Friends as well as detractors often refer to it as “The People’s Republic of Boulder.” It’s the home of the University of Colorado and a place that attracts hipsters as well as retirees. People flock there for the granola atmosphere, but it helps to have a no-limit American Express card. Housing today is at a premium and lots are typically small, often too cramped for expansive Outdoor Rooms. The lifestyle leans more toward bohemian than fashion statement. “Everything is very, very small there,” Dennis says, with recent construction dominated by condos, patio homes, and apartments. Add to the mix the homes of the very well-to-do with “big, expensive outdoor areas.” Fruehauf ’s adjusted its product mix to accommodate the needs of its hometown customers, he says. As Fruehauf ’s evolved to satisfy Boulder’s tastes, Boulder itself was changing. “Over the past several years, that community has moved away from Fruehauf’s,” says Gary Deane of G & R Deane Associates, “and Fruehauf’s has moved away from them.” Deane is a sales representative for OW Lee and Treasure Garden. Over time, Fruehauf ’s became more and more dependent on customers who lived elsewhere, in localities not hemmed in as Boulder is, in communities with larger backyards and vacant land for more typical single-family housing. Both Dennis and Deane understood the risks at stake in Fruehauf ’s decision not just to move, but to move beyond Boulder.

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“That’s a big transition for anybody,” Dennis says, “especially for a company that is under fairly new management. It’s a lot different than a chain opening one new location. It’s moving the entire business. We were all concerned.” But staying in Boulder wasn’t an option for Fruehauf ’s. Finding affordable space of sufficient size was highly unlikely, and the executive team already knew that a significant majority of customers traveled in from elsewhere. If customers didn’t mind driving 45 minutes to Boulder and Fruehauf ’s, they reasoned, they shouldn’t mind driving to Fruehauf ’s in another Denver-area locality. For that reason, Maydew and her team didn’t set their sights on a particular city for Fruehauf ’s relocation. The most important item on their real estate shopping list was square footage. Maydew figured that Fruehauf ’s would need around 20,000 sq. ft. of retail showroom space in order to replicate the amount of space, indoors and out, that the store enjoyed in Boulder. She wanted at least 10,000 sq. ft. of warehouse in the same location. Size requirements trumped all else. “The particular neighborhood wasn’t as important to us,” Maydew explains, “since we pull from all over Colorado.” The site in Westminster more than met Maydew’s requirements, creating the needed 20,000 sq. ft. of showroom with an additional 20,000 sq. ft. of warehouse. The showroom has 14-ft. ceilings, allowing merchandisers to install vertical elements to subdivide the space into vignettes, and display cantilever umbrellas at full height. The only feature missing from the new location was a bit of outdoor space to display outdoor living products in an eye-catching way. There’s only room on the sidewalk for a few colorful resin Adirondack chairs. But then Maydew remembered that outdoor displays can have drawbacks, such as squirrels, birds, and tree sap. “In hindsight,” she said, “we realized that having an outdoor space is not really as important as we thought.”

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| Retailing | The Big Move The last day in Boulder was Feb. 5, 2018. Five days later, Fruehauf ’s opened in Westminster. The store wasn’t fully merchandized and accessorized. There were no rugs or other floor coverings on the polished concrete underfoot. No metal art hung on the walls. But Fruehauf ’s was open for business. With one notable exception, the business plan was to stick with what worked in Boulder until experiences dictated a change. No outdoor space meant that Fruehauf ’s no longer would sell live Christmas trees. The majority of those sales had been to Boulder residents, who now were 20 miles away. “It didn’t make sense for us to sell Christmas trees anymore,” Maydew says. Everything else, however, survived the transition. The store has hundreds of giftware lines that earned repeat business from loyal customers at the Boulder store. Would those customers come to Westminster to shop for birthdays and holidays? Would new customers discover those products and check out with beads and scarves and body lotion? “In the end, we said, Move it all. We’ll see how it goes,” Maydew recalls. “Then we’ll make some decisions.” Not everything on the old property made the move to Westminster. Forty years in the Boulder location, with two acres to stow various odds and ends, required a massive effort to clean up, sell through, throw out, and recycle. Overseeing that job fell to Micah Maydew, the CEO’s brother. He serves as Operations manager. “You can imagine the amount of extra stuff that accumulates,” he says. “Parts. Extra parts. Parts that customers didn’t pick up. Over 40 years, that stuff just builds up.” A closeout, moving sale to find new homes for old stock merchandise began in August 2017 and didn’t end until the store closed. The challenge of figuring out how to move what was left in an organized fashion fell to the Operations manager. “That was probably our biggest challenge,” he says.

Gifts are a major part of Fruehauf’s business.

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Groupings of teak furniture.

Fruehauf’s was able to begin moving goods into its new warehouse well in advance of opening the new store. One by one, the various tents, pavilions, and outdoor spaces were emptied and shuttered. Among the critical items to be moved to the new space: nearly 200 artificial Christmas trees. Come the Yuletide season, each one is decorated with a different theme. The previous occupant of Fruehauf’s new home left in place a conveyor belt to move goods to upper-level storage. It came in handy in getting the Christmas trees properly stowed away. Nearly 180 trees were erected throughout the store for Christmas 2018. There was an orange-colored tree for fans of the Denver Broncos. One tree featured polar bear ornaments, another featured penguins. One tree’s ornaments were German-themed, while another had all things Mexican. You get the picture. “We have to decorate all of those, every year,” Micah Maydew says. “It’s pretty cool.” There’s enthusiasm in his voice. He’s not kidding. Micah, who started his career at Fruehauf’s as a part-time floral delivery driver, assists his sister on buying trips for giftware and furniture. “We get along really well and think similarly,” he says. “It helps to have two people doing the buying. You kind of bounce ideas off of each other.” Fruehauf ’s has made its name in the casual furniture industry, but the role of giftware in the store’s success cannot be overstated. “We’re geared toward women,” the CEO explains. There’s a boutique with jewelry, handbags, and scarves. Nice stuff for special-occasion giving. There’s a children’s area with playhouses and toys. Another section has products for dogs and cats; or perhaps we should say for the owners of dogs and cats who want to pamper their pets. Shoppers will find things for the kitchen, but they won’t be the same type of goods found in a department store’s kitchenware department. “We’re not selling pots and pans,” Maydew emphasizes. To be selected for Fruehauf ’s, an item has to be “something that would make a unique gift.” The giftware helps attract walk-in shoppers at the new location, she says. She attributes that to the store’s suburban strip mall location. Walk-in business simply didn’t happen at the Boulder location.

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| Retailing | “People will drive 20 minutes for patio furniture,” Maydew says. “For a candle, I don’t think so. We’re having to re-establish ourselves as a gift store here.” Selling from Stock Fruehauf ’s big, on-site warehouse is not just a convenience; it’s a necessity. About 80% of casual furniture sales are from stock, Maydew says. The remaining 20% can be considered special order, though not necessarily in the traditional sense. “It’s not your usual swatch-book special order,” she explains. Instead, a Fruehauf ’s special order is more likely to be add-ons (such as extra chairs) or replacements for sold-out items. Fruehauf ’s customers like to know that their furniture purchase won’t be weeks in transit; they expect to see it in the Outdoor Room pronto. “We bring in lots of early-buys,” Maydew explains. “We need the warehouse space to bring it all in at the beginning of the year. By the end of the year, we’re mostly empty. That’s the idea.”

Store Name: Fruehauf’s Patio Address: 6795 W. 88th Avenue, Westminster, CO 80031 Number of Stores: 1 Owner: The Fruehauf family Year Established: 1977 Web Site: www.fruehaufs.com Phone: (303) 449-9551 Number of Employees: Fulltime – 10-12 % of Gross Sales by Product Category: BBQ – 3%; Patio Furniture – 94%; Gifts and Holiday – 3% Square Footage: Showroom – 20,000; Warehouse – 20,000 Lines Carried: Grills – Big Green Egg, Napoleon, Weber; Pizza Ovens – Fornetto; Fire Pits – OW Lee, Plank and Hide, Pride, RATANA, Vin de Flame; Outdoor Furniture – Breezesta, Fermob, Gensun, Homecrest, Jensen Leisure, Kingsley Bate, OW Lee, Patio Renaissance, Pride, RATANA, Telescope, Woodard; Awnings – Solair; Umbrellas – Articulated Shade, Bambrella, Treasure Garden, TUUCI % of Annual Gross Sales for Advertising: TV – 3%; Radio – 2%; Print – 2%; Social media and SEO – 1%

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Maydew learned the trade from the ground up. She was hired some 18 years ago, fresh out of college with a marketing degree. She answered a Fruehauf ’s ad for “a greeter position,” and Maydew needed to pay bills. Her responsibilities included greeting shoppers and running the register – “very entry level.” Best of all, she lived nearby. She took the job thinking she would stay “until I find something better in my field.” Maydew was a quick study; she learned the trade from Mary Fruehauf, acknowledged by the casual industry as one of the best retailers. They became fast friends as well as colleagues. When Mary Fruehauf died of cancer in 2015, Maydew was the logical choice to take over. Her mentor’s impact on the casual furniture industry continues. The International Casual Furnishings Association in 2017 created the Mary Fruehauf Retail Genius Award to recognize casual retailers “whose creativity invokes the spirit of the late industry leader’s unique approach to igniting excitement, and emphasizing the fun in outdoor living.” The New Home The initial year in Westminster has, as expected, been one of discoveries and lessons learned. Maydew expected “a big chunk” of business to continue to come from Denver, some 10 miles to the south – and it has. Yet “a surprising amount” of patio furniture has been sold to customers in Westminster and neighboring Arvada, she says, an unexpected “nice bonus.” As those first weeks grew into months, customers came and purchased furniture in an environment that everyone admits was not quite ready. “We hit the ground running,” Maydew says. “We didn’t have time to accessorize or merchandise the space. It was bare bones.” The expertise of Fruehauf’s staff likely helped keep sales churning even if the store lacked some ambiance. Deane, the sales rep, says the Fruehauf’s team “is not your everyday, regular salesperson. They really carry on conversations with folks. That’s their personality.” Even with a relatively smooth move and the crackerjack sales staff intact, even with a year of planning, Maydew had concerns that Fruehauf ’s would experience a soft year. She feared that it would take time to rebuild market traction and sales momentum. “I thought it would take a year or two for people to find us, for us to get back to where we were in sales,” she says. Her fears were unfounded. Fruehauf ’s concluded its first calendar year in Westminster with sales almost even with the last year in Boulder. As it turned out, Maydew says, the effect of the move “wasn’t a big deal.” Fruehauf ’s remains Colorado’s largest casual furniture store, albeit in Westminster instead of Boulder. The giftware business was off slightly in 2018, but growing walk-in business and returning first-time gift shoppers may fix that in 2019. Overall, Micah Maydew says, the gift business has been “pretty consistent, surprisingly.” From an operations and efficiency standpoint, he’s loving it. “Every day, we realize how much better it is here,” he says. One year in, there’s no question that Fruehauf ’s is set to thrive in its new home. “Fortunately,” the CEO says, “we’re a destination.”

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| New-Home Construction |

HEART ATTACK? “The fireplace? The heart of the home itself.” — Frank Lloyd Wright

Fifty-five percent of U.S. single-family housing starts in 2017 did not include a fireplace.

By Bill Sendelback

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homes. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Builders report that they continue to see signs of consumer demand for new homes, but customers are taking a pause due to concerns over interest rates and house prices,â&#x20AC;? according to the Board. Mortgage interest rates, too, are having an adverse effect on new-home sales. The Conference Board reports that the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate is now 4.9%, up a little more than one percentage point over last year. One reason for a slowing in single-family housing starts is that homebuilders are having trouble finding qualified workers, a top issue with homebuilders Click here for a mobile

www.hearthandhome.com FEBRUARY 2019 | 35 friendly reading |experience

| New-Home Construction | for the last four years. While over the last year almost 128,000 workers were added to the residential construction and remodeling industries, in October, 2018, there were 292,000 unfilled jobs in the construction sector, according to Robert Dietz, chief economist for the NAHB. That is partially because of the current U.S. unemployment rate of 3.7%, near a 50-year low. Other issues helping to slow new-home construction, according to Dietz, are that “home prices are rising faster than income. Affordability continues to decline as home prices rise.” Available property, or lots, continues to be an issue for homebuilders. Sixty-four percent of homebuilders say the tight availability of lots is a problem, says Dietz.

highest percentage of new homes without a fireplace since 1973, and that percentage has been increasing every year since 1973. Surprisingly, 60% of owner-built or custom homes do not include a fireplace, the Bureau reports. Currently, in the West, 60% of new single-family homes have no fireplace. The South is close behind at 57%, while the Midwest is at 47%, and the Northeast champions fireplaces with only 41% of new homes without a fireplace. “As home prices go up, fireplaces tend to be dropped by the builder in an effort to sell houses,” says Tom Krebs, executive vice president of Sales and Marketing for Innovative Hearth Products (IHP). “These builders tend to cut out a $2,000 or $3,000 fireplace or make them an option. Our industry needs to worry about

60% 57%

47% 41%

SOUTH

WEST

NORTH MIDWEST EAST

New homes without fireplaces by region.

Although most manufacturers believe that a fireplace is one of the most desired features consumers want in a new home, the incidence rate of a fireplace being installed in a new home continues to fall, and that’s a major concern for fireplace manufacturers. “This declining incidence rate of fireplaces is a real challenge for our industry,” says Jeni Forman, senior vice president, U.S. Sales & Marketing, Dealer & Wholesale channels for Hearth & Home Technologies (HHT), “and it will have an impact on our business.” According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 55% of U.S. single-family housing starts in 2017 did not include a fireplace. That’s the

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fireplaces being ‘optioned out’ of existence in tomorrow’s homes.” “We can’t complain about the dropping incidence rate of fireplaces in new homes when we sell the crappiest fireplaces to homebuilders,” according to Nick Bauer, president of Empire Comfort Systems. “This is a product where you just can’t compete only on price. If the customer’s first experience with a fireplace is a cheap model, they won’t want another one. Our industry needs to do a better job of promoting the quality products we offer.” Empire Comfort Systems does not count itself as a “big player” in manufacturing fireplaces for new-home

construction. “We are more a manufacturer of higher-end, heat-producing models, so we’re more focused on the custom homebuilders,” says Bauer. “Even so, with the early cold weather this winter, we have been slammed with orders. We’re going to remember the winter of 2018-2019.” “We’re seeing a softening in new-home construction, so we don’t expect 2019 to be as strong as 2018,” according to Roger Oxford, senior vice president – Strategic Growth – New Home Market for HHT. “The demand is there, but interest rates are rising and with inflation, new-home affordability is being adversely affected. With the constraint on homebuilders of fewer workers now available, the ability of homebuilders to produce is slowing and builder confidence has dropped.” Oxford points out that new-home buyers want a fireplace, but the consumer awareness of the variety and improvements in new fireplaces is very low. “Even so, we expect growth in 2019, but not as much as in 2018.” “Our sales to the new-home construction channel have become somewhat flat,” according to IHP’s Krebs. “The rising costs of construction materials and of land, when it is available, are affecting the affordability of new homes. This is having an impact, particularly on starter and tract home sales.” Krebs points out that new environmental restrictions in some states are “about to eliminate entry-level, wood-burning fireplaces. Regulations now in California and Texas, aimed at reducing the air exchange rate in new homes, are having a major impact on this market, probably eliminating open hearth fireplaces.” Krebs points out that, as a result, many homebuilders believe it will double the price of a fireplace for them to install gas, direct-vent models. So they just won’t include or offer fireplaces. He acknowledges, however, that mid-level and custom homebuilders are still offering fireplaces. IHP is upgrading all of its gas, direct-vent fireplaces to improve efficiency, produce more heat, and include better flames and larger log sets. Mason-Lite by Masonry Fireplace Industries began manufacturing modular masonry fireplaces 12 years ago to take

advantage of the existing growth in higher-end custom homebuilding. “But with the economic downturn of 2008, much of that business petered out,” says Bill Harris, managing partner. Now, with new-home construction again on the rise, Mason-Lite is focused on architects and designers of larger homes, $500,000 and up, most including multiple fireplaces. “These people want a larger, open hearth fireplace, especially in a Great Room.” While most new fireplaces are factory-built, zero-clearance models, Mason-Lite has taken advantage of the disappearance of skilled masons to offer site-built, high-end masonry fireplaces. Napoleon Fireplaces sees the U.S. new-home construction market flattening in the last few months because of mortgage rate hikes and the lack of qualified labor. “During the economic downturn of 2008 to 2010, homebuilding labor left the industry to find work, and most have not come back,” according

to John Czerwonka, vice president of Hearth Sales. “Homebuilders continue to be very bullish, but consumers have retreated some.” The new-home building market in Canada is “down a little,” and Czerwonka expects that to continue into 2019. “However, we expect new-home building in the U.S. to be fairly good for the next year or two, maybe falling back in three years. “With consumer confidence up, and with money to spend, we see more homebuilders, those building 200 to 300 homes a year, putting in Design Centers and using specialty hearth dealer showrooms, as an opportunity for fireplaces. Hearth is back and will improve if we educate homebuilders and consumers about the available new hearth products.” Recognizing the value in educating homebuilders and hearth products dealers of the importance and influence on consumers of hearth products, Napoleon three years ago commissioned an extensive, professional consumer study to learn

how home areas and various factors impact homebuyers and their purchasing decisions. This Hot Spots Research Study interviewed 900 potential homebuyers, 30 to 50 years old and with an average annual household income of at least $100,000. In just one small part of the study, when consumers were asked to evaluate rooms with a fireplace versus rooms without a fireplace, those rooms with a fireplace were much more likely to be associated with the positive emotions people crave, the study said. Napoleon commissioned the study for the benefit of the entire hearth product market, Czerwonka says. The Hot Spots Research Study and Hot Spots Design Guide are available from Napoleon. Fireplaces for large, tract homebuilders tend to be sold by one-step, installing distributors. But there is a significant and more profitable market for specialty hearth product dealers with small and custom homebuilders.

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| Pellet Grills |

After only three decades, pellet grills are an overnight success, and smart retailers are jumping on the bandwagon. By Lisa Readie Mayer

ellet grills may have been around for more than three decades, but it has been only for the last handful of years that they have taken their rightful place on the patio. Traction in the category grew slowly after the Traeger family invented and patented the continuously‑fed, wood‑pellet‑fueled grills in 1986. Indeed, for years afterward, only a few people had ever heard of pellet grills outside of the Pacific Northwest where they originated. But that has all changed. Ushered in on a wave of consumer interest in wood‑smoke flavors, pellet grills have achieved “it‑grill” status today. Thanks to automated, set‑it‑and‑forget‑it operation, pellet grills appeal not just to die‑hard barbecuers, but also to convenience‑minded gas grillers who want the smoky flavor and texture of “real” barbecue, but are intimidated

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by, or don’t want the hassle of, tending a traditional smoker. The cookers even have a hip social media presence. With nearly three‑dozen brands now offering product at a wide range of price points, awareness and sales continue to grow. Most present‑day pellet grills have resolved the criticisms of the early versions – that they were limited to only low‑and‑slow cooking, not well insulated, and unattractive for upscale outdoor spaces. While pellet grills still cook primarily by flare‑up‑free, indirect heat, modern renditions now offer the option of cooking at temperatures high enough to sear steaks and burgers. Mechanics, construction, quality, and aesthetics also have been upgraded. Pellet grills lead all other grill categories in incorporating smart features and technology.

With Growth Comes Competition There is no doubt the pellet grill category is generating buzz in the barbecue industry, and manufacturers are taking notice. Telling evidence is last year’s move by Kingsford, the country’s leading charcoal brand, to launch a nationally available line of 100% hardwood pellet fuels. Veteran pellet grill manufacturers such as Traeger, Dansons, Memphis, Yoder, and Green Mountain Grills report strong growth; for example, according to Dansons’ president Jeff Thiessen, the company’s pellet grill business more than tripled last year. But with more than 30 manufacturers now offering a pellet grill, competition is increasingly “fierce,” notes Jason Baker, director of Business Development at Green Mountain Grills.

“If there were five to seven key players in 2017, there are 10 to 12 key players now,” he says. “Everyone has done a good job of promoting pellet grills, and each company is trying to carve out its niche.” He points out that as the pellet grill market expands and matures, it’s segmenting. “Certain brands are price‑point driven through Box stores, while others are positioned at the high end of the price spectrum. Some brands are focused on selling direct to the consumer, while we remain priced in the middle and sell through independent brick‑and‑mortar stores,” says Baker. Based on consumer and dealer feedback, Green Mountain Grills recently upgraded features, including adding a grill window, a fuel‑level alarm, bulkier

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The pellet-gas Hybrid grill from Black Earth Grills.

legs, and an additional probe on the control board, to make its grills more user‑friendly. Baker says interest in the grills’ Wi‑Fi feature continues to grow. “It’s fun and gives users more control and consistency through the app. The cloud is phenomenal – you can keep track of your average cook temperatures and times. People really like it.” In 2019, the company will focus on enhancing fuel efficiency and incorporating 12‑volt, rechargeable battery capability. “We will still keep prices under $1,000,” says Baker. “Our sweet spot is between $800 and $1,000. We’ll focus on what we do best and leave the high‑end, built‑in market to other brands.” Companies such as Memphis Wood Fire Grills are happy to oblige filling that niche. Named the “Best Luxury Smoker” by AmazingRibs.com, Memphis Wood Fire Grills is a premium pellet grill brand that offers the flexibility of smoking, roasting, and searing at temperatures between 180 and 700 degrees. Its high‑end finishes, quality construction, and elegant design make it a top choice for building into an outdoor kitchen alongside a premium gas grill. “Our sales were up by double digits last year,” says Sharla Wagy, general manager, Memphis Grills. “We are continuing to add dealers and are seeing more people building our grills into outdoor kitchens.”

Last year, Twin Eagles introduced a high‑end pellet grill with an upscale look to match the brand’s other grill offerings. It also comes with a full, luxury feature set, and is controlled by a high‑tech, intuitive, app‑managed, digital panel programmed with temperature and smoke settings for 25 foods. According to Brian Eskew, “The premium grill purchase decision starts with how the grill looks, then the decision moves to features. Our pellet grill answers both needs. It performs great and looks cool on the patio, even when you’re not using it.” Other pellet‑grill companies – including many newcomers – are bringing lots of innovation to the category. Camp Chef ’s new PG24SG series, which earned a Vesta Award last year, features “Slide & Grill” technology in which the heat‑diffuser plate slides to seamlessly switch between indirect‑ and direct‑flame cooking. It also incorporates a patented ash cleanout system. Black Earth Grills has introduced a pellet‑gas hybrid grill that can be used with either fuel separately or in tandem. “Pellet grilling is really growing, and this grill is ideal for someone who wants a traditional gas grill, but also wants to try pellets,” says Tom McAdams who handles Sales and Operations. Tabletop pizza ovens from Ooni and Wood Pellet Pizza Oven cook with pellet fuels. The ICON kamado line from Vision grills offers a Pellet Insert system to quickly

Daniel Boone Prime 12V WiFi from Green Mountain Grills.

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www.hearthandhome.com FEBRUARY 2019 | 39 friendly reading |experience

| Pellet Grills | swap out traditional charcoal for pellet fuel. Landmann USA introduced the Pellet Kettle, a gas and pellet dual‑fuel grill. Professional pitmaster Myron Mixon has added a line of organic pellet wood fuel to complement his pellet cookers. “I think pellets will surpass charcoal use soon,” he says. “It’s clean and easy to use. Women tell us they are comfortable using pellet grills, even when they’re not comfortable with gas or charcoal.”

PG24SG from Camp Chef.

Building the Buzz Dansons made news late last year when pellet grill inventor Joe Traeger joined the company in a product development role, and his son Brian joined the sales team. (Joe and Brian Traeger, as well as Dansons and its subsidiaries, are not affiliated in any way with Traeger Grills.) Dansons’ Pit Boss line has a strong hold in Big Box chains, but Thiessen says Joe Traeger will help the company enhance its offerings for the independent channel. A new line of pellet grills is in development exclusively for specialty retailers, and will be called the Louisiana Grill Founders Series, in recognition of Joe Traeger’s founding of the category. The new grills, some of which will be unveiled at HPBExpo in Dallas, have patent‑pending technology and many innovative features, according to Thiessen. “How proud we are to be affiliated with Joe Traeger,” he says. “No one has more depth in the pellet grill segment or has spent more time developing pellet products. There is a remarkable synergy

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between our two families that comes from being in family‑owned businesses. We are thrilled, not just with the product‑development skill and passion he brings, but with the man himself. “God has blessed us far beyond what we could have ever imagined,” Thiessen continues. “We’re having a great time as a business and launching a ton of new products. We’re aggressively expanding our spice and accessories lines, our vertical pellet smokers have been extremely successful this year, and our pellet fuels have expanded aggressively as well.” The company plans to host a Founders Series Barbecue event in September at the original Traeger family barn in Mount Angel, Oregon. The structure will become a product development facility for Dansons, with plans to eventually turn it into a museum. Brands such as Dansons, Yoder, Camp Chef, and Traeger have enviable followings on social media. They rack up hundreds of thousands of views for their instructional videos, and have many thousands of loyal followers who help to hype products, spread awareness, and amplify the buzz in the category. For instance, Yoder Smokers enjoys a passionate following with over 3,300 members and nearly 10,000 posts on its online community forum. Market leader Traeger hosted a National Traeger Day celebration on May 12 last year, inviting owners to cook on their Traeger grills and post photos of the food with the hashtag #traegerday. The event generated hundreds and hundreds of posts for everything from smoked apple tart to zucchini, with plenty of traditional pork ribs, chicken, and brisket in between. One poster captured the sense of lifestyle the brand has expertly achieved, stating, “I no longer grill. I only Traeger.” When Camp Chef’s social media video spoof promoting its Woodwind pellet grill went viral last year, it garnered nearly 30 million views. “Dealers say they’ve had customers coming in as a result of seeing it,” says Marketing manager Ryan Neeley. “The campaign really lifted awareness of Camp Chef as a whole.” Indeed, manufacturers’ efforts such as this are driving consumers to stores in search of pellet grills, according to retailers. Dan Hathaway of the Kansas City BBQ Store in Olathe, Kansas, says,

“The pellet business is going crazy right now. It’s been going on for the past couple of years.” Hathaway says that despite the increasing availability of pellet grills online or at mass‑market retailers, sales are still growing steadily in the brick‑and‑mortar store. “Other stores may have it, but people know we’re the experts,” he says.

“The customer for pellet grills is someone who wants to get more serious about barbecuing.” — Matt Federico Country Stove, Patio & Spa

Matt Federico of Country Stove, Patio & Spa in North Royalton, Ohio, says, “We have seen pellet grills really catch on in the last year or two… people come in very informed about the pellet category. They have done their research and often even come in looking for a specific model. The customer for pellet grills is someone who wants to get more serious about barbecuing, but doesn’t want the mess or hassle or learning curve involved with charcoal.” Convenience and ease of use is also behind the growth in pellet grill sales at Kerrisdale Lumber in Vancouver, British Columbia, according to Lyle Perry. “There is a certain consumer who enjoys the romanticism of cooking with fire, wood, and smoke, and typically they will choose either (a pellet grill or a kamado),” he explains. “We are predominantly a gas grill market, so more of our customers are choosing pellet grills because they’re closer to (the gas‑grill experience). They’re more approachable.” While easy and intuitive, there is still a learning curve involved with pellet grills for most consumers. Specialty retailers who position themselves as experts in the category should be able to capitalize on the buzz and enjoy solid sales growth for years to come.

| Profile |

A LIFE OF DESIGN

Perfectionists Richard and Catherine Frinier reflect on lives well spent in the worlds of travel and design. By Mark Brock

ver the course of four decades, Richard Frinier has become a design icon within the casual furniture industry, first as creative officer with Brown Jordan, where he helped establish the brand’s cutting edge in casual furniture, then as president of DesignResource, to his design consultancy today, where he serves casual industry category leaders. We reached out to Richard, and wife, Catherine, to invite reflections on a life devoted to design for outdoor living.

“While we were some 15 miles from the ocean, my friends and I called ourselves the Inland Surf Club. We made our own wet suits, and I shaped my first surfboard. My parents’ garage became my workshop making all sorts of things such as a sail for my skateboard, a small boat, and an attempt to build a fiberglass sports car from a VW chassis. Life was different then.”

Richard Frinier is a native and lifelong resident of California, a place that has provided an environment where creativity and outdoor lifestyles became engrained in his personality and career.

and retired after working 50 years for the Union Oil Company of California. My mother was an artist and painter, and would cut and sew her own dresses, and a few shirts for me. She worked for the local middle school as an executive assistant to the principal, the same school that my brother and I attended. My parents played bridge with their friends, and every summer we would take a road trip to see how many states we could visit. “Creative influences came from my mother, while planning, strategizing and discipline came from my father.”

Richard Frinier: “When I turned eight,

we moved from Los Angeles, where I was born, to the suburbs where orange trees grew from across the street to as far as you could see. The days were long riding my bike, skateboarding, and exploring. I delivered newspapers from a bag on my bicycle handlebars and watched as my brother made a surfboard.

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Tell us a little about your family and how it shaped your career. Frinier: “My father was an accountant

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www.hearthandhome.com FEBRUARY 2019 | 45 friendly reading |experience

| Profile | You mention many travels to Europe. We understand it was during one of these trips that your design career began to come into focus.

Frinier: “When I was 24 years old I had

Top to Bottom: Richard in Le Mans, France, on his 1964 Triumph. Frinier working in the Anton Lang Pottery Studio.

As a young man, Richard decided to explore Europe, an experience that ultimately led him to a career in design. Frinier: “As soon as I went off to college,

my mother and father set off to see the world. Wanderlust was in our family. When I was about to turn 21, I decided to take a break from college and left for Europe. As it was cool and common at that time, I hitchhiked for a while until I realized that the best way to experience my adventure would be by motorcycle. Not just any motorcycle, but one like

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Steve McQueen rode in “The Great Escape.” So I hitchhiked to London and bought a Triumph. “From London, I rode through France, Spain and crossed into North Africa. I spent about two weeks in Morocco, from Tangier to Casablanca and Marrakesh and through the Atlas Mountains to the edge of the Sahara. The adventure continued through Italy and Germany before shipping the bike back home. It was my first of many travels throughout Europe, but those four months of being a free spirit were some of the best of my adventures.”

just graduated from college with a degree in art and wanted to see if I could apply anything I had learned at school. Leaving for Europe with only $250 and a one‑way ticket, I challenged myself to stay a year. “I was running out of money when I reached Munich. It wasn’t as easy as I thought it might be to get a job. I had taken some pottery classes in college, so I traveled to the village of Oberammergau south of Munich and knocked on the door of the Anton Lang Pottery Studio and presented myself as a master potter from California. “Karl, Anton’s son and master potter, let me throw some pots on the kick wheel to show him my skills. I made three or four large vases, one that ended up as a pitcher with a spout and a handle, and I was hired. I could tell Karl wasn’t that impressed, except for the pitcher. “Karl named the pitcher ‘Krug Rikkard’ or ‘Richard’s Pitcher,’ and two weeks later we set up a booth at the Ambiente Fair in Frankfurt to show off our pottery, including Krug Rikkard. To my amazement, we received orders for 40 pitchers. In school, we were taught to make one of a kind pieces not multiples. Now, I was challenged to make all 40 look alike. I returned to the studio later that year to make even more Krug Rikkards to meet the demand and build inventory. “Earlier this year, I was again traveling in Europe and made a point to drive to Oberammergau. The potter’s studio is still there, although it is now the artist’s studio of Karl’s daughter. It was a great visit and stories of the earlier days were shared.” Richard’s design leadership in the casual industry came about as the result of serendipitous events, leading him to the position of chief creative officer at Brown Jordan and a 20‑year career that helped to transform an entire industry. Frinier: “Before I joined Brown Jordan in

the fall of 1981, I was teaching furniture making to college students while also

developing a lighting collection. My big break came when I was asked to design a bedroom collection for a California‑based company. To our surprise, in the first five years of production they shipped 9,000 sets. “Outdoor furniture design was not on my radar until I saw a chaise lounge on the cover of the Los Angeles Times magazine. It was somewhat of an epiphany as I was drawn to its minimal and sculptural form. The chaise was from Brown Jordan, which was only an hour away from where I was living. “I did some research, created some drawings, and contacted Brown Jordan to offer my freelance services. I met the design manager on a Friday to show him my concepts and learned that, on the following Sunday, the company would be running an ad for an entry‑level designer. I was not looking for a full‑time position, though over the weekend it occurred to me that if I were there every day, I could make it happen. On Monday, I applied for the position and, after several interviews, I got the job. “Funny how it all worked out, as I was there for 21 years every day making it happen, and now I’m still working with Brown Jordan only from the outside circling back to my original idea.” Spanning two decades, Richard’s career with Brown Jordan not only elevated the Brown Jordan brand, but also illustrated the possibilities of stylish, comfortable, and durable outdoor furniture. Frinier: “In the 1980s, Brown Jordan

was known for its storied design legacy illustrating the classic California lifestyle. I was fortunate to work with mid‑century modern designer Hall Bradley, a talented yet very quiet and thoughtful creative spirit. I learned much from being in his presence. “Over two decades I evolved to become the company’s chief creative officer and also became president of an in‑house creative division that I formed, DesignResource. My role was to oversee design and creative processes for the company’s 14 brands, including design, research and development, brand differentiation, marketing, advertising, and public relations.

“I traveled extensively and worked with master artisan craftspeople around the world. It was a prolific time for me when I created more than 1,000 individual pieces of furniture across hundreds of collections. It was astoundingly challenging, inspiring, and rewarding to source and design products while also directing photography for marketing and advertising campaigns, and showroom build‑outs to convey our brand message.

“My wife, Catherine, and I became business partners and created our design studio with a sabbatical nowhere in sight. Today, we enjoy design, creative collaborations, and consulting with Brown Jordan, Century Furniture, DEDON, and Sunbrella, and will be adding interior furniture and other categories to our portfolio. It was not a matter of risk‑taking to create our own firm, but a continuum on what was next for Catherine and me.”

Frinier working on photography with Brown Jordan.

“I was given the opportunity to become the ambassador for a brand that I had discovered many years before on the cover of a magazine quite by accident. All that we achieved at Brown Jordan during those years set the stage for the next chapter of my work.” Was it a leap of faith or a logical career progression to leave Brown Jordan and create the Richard Frinier Design Studio? Frinier: “In 2002, I had been with Brown

Jordan for almost 21 years. The company was going through changes and so was I. It was the right time for me to retire from Brown Jordan, and I was ready for a sabbatical with some time off. My plan to get away for a break, however, was upended almost immediately by a new project.

Richard often sums up his design philosophy in three words – “authentic, relevant, and memorable.” We asked him to elaborate. Frinier: “My personal design mantra

is that my designs must be authentic, relevant, and memorable. I challenge myself to achieve these attributes in each of my designs with the goal of making an emotional connection with others. For a designer, there is really no greater compliment than to know that people make that personal connection with your work. “Sometimes, when I’m traveling to international or national trade shows where my designs are being shown, I am fortunate to see people when they experience my designs for the first time. It’s pretty amazing when someone begins

www.hearthandhome.com | FEBRUARY 2019 | 47

| Profile | to smile, relax, and be drawn into the piece to experience it. It is really why I do what I do. “The very best retailers appreciate the importance of making an emotional connection with their customers, which makes it even more important for me to design furniture and textiles with this in mind.” The casual marketplace has evolved from thinking about individual pieces of furniture to the concept of the Outdoor Room. How has your work figured into this transformation? Frinier: “Since my first outdoor designs

While design has been essential to the progress of the outdoor category, Richard also recognizes the importance of advanced materials and manufacturing processes. Frinier: “We ask a lot of materials and

products to withstand the outdoors, and they certainly deliver. I sometimes think, however, that lifetime warranties are not really what people are interested in. More and more I see people interested in refreshing and changing out their furniture, textiles, and accessories, not because they are not lasting for years, but because they want a different look or function for their homes as their life experiences evolve. “When I’m designing furniture and textiles, I think about the person who will be enjoying the furniture. I set the

bar high for myself and hope to inspire and encourage the brands we collaborate with. It goes back to making an emotional connection with others through design. It’s my intention, starting with initial concepts, to deliver the unexpected in the most visually appealing and physically comfortable way possible.” Anyone who has worked with Richard Frinier knows that an essential element in his success has been his partnership with his wife , Catherine. We asked her about her life story and partnership with Richard. Catherine: “Richard and I were born and

raised within three miles of one another. Even though we did not know each other in those early years, we knew the same places and grew up in the Los Angeles area of Southern California. When we finally met in the fall of 1981, I learned that he was teaching furniture making at the college level, and that he had also just accepted a design position with Brown Jordan. “At that time, I was working for a large regional medical center in their combined capital development, fundraising, and community education departments. I was part of a small staff responsible for producing more than 100 fundraising

emerged while I was working at Brown Jordan, I strived to meet a high standard that I believed the brand was created to achieve. Once there, I was driven to go beyond the past and became a creative disrupter. “As I became more confident in my direction as marked by successes across the industry, I began to affect changes in the perception of the outdoor furniture category. I played a role in designing and fueling many socioeconomic trends, including the Outdoor Room, elimination of boundaries between interior and exterior living spaces, staycations, daycations, resort living, and resort‑at‑home lifestyles.

“More than at any other time in history, the need for balanced living is growing because of the increasing demands made by the live‑work‑play environment. This is true for those who work at home and for companies who require employees to be at work for longer hours and days. For us, indoor/outdoor living and balanced living is not a trend. It’s a lifestyle choice and it’s only going to grow in importance, necessity, and popularity.”

The sketch and completed product for DEDON’s Daydream Daybed.

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™

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| Profile |

Catherine Frinier.

and community events each year, in collaboration with an extraordinary group of community volunteers. “Richard and I became friends through friends in common; we married in 1986 in Las Vegas when we quietly eloped between Christmas and New Year’s. It was the only time that he was not traveling for new product development. “We have resided in the Belmont Heights area of Long Beach for many years. We live in a classic California Mediterranean home originally built in 1922 that Richard restored and we remodeled over time. We are presently building a modern home in the Santa Barbara area with a significant design studio space to collaborate with our clients, mentor students, and as a gathering place for creative thinking.” How has your career prepared you for your role today, working with Richard and with your casual industry clients? Catherine: “My career has spanned

three decades with an emphasis on luxury brands and co‑branding, marketing, sales management, public relations, and communications. These experiences have encompassed commercial, retail, and luxury residential real estate, architecture, interior design, and non‑profits. The past 25 years have been almost exclusively focused on luxury‑ and design‑related industries, with the past 16 years fully engaged in collaborating with Richard in our creative consultancy.

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“I’m fascinated with and drawn to the larger picture of business, identifying the potential for mutually beneficial collaborations, both short‑ and long‑term, for our business and for others. My experience has uniquely prepared me to imagine and implement valuable design ideas and provide meaningful direction for our consultancy and clients. I spend time immersed in material research and participate in fabric conceptualization, color stories and development, as well as marketing and public relations. “Richard and I are opposites in almost every way. We believe that our opposing points of view are a strength and also a luxury of our partnership. After working together and being married for so many years, however, it’s not uncommon for us to see things in total agreement. We definitely understand, respect, and appreciate one

“Our work is intensely visual and intuitive. It is exploratory and experimental. It is focused and honed.” — Catherine Frinier

another and each other’s preferences, which can change rapidly as neither of us sits still very well. We are always looking toward the future and evolving our own perspectives. It is this openness and flexibility that drive change and how we see things, inspiring creativity and energizing innovative thought processes.” Many casual furniture retailers can relate to the challenges and the opportunities of working with a business partner who is also a spouse. So it is with the Friniers. Catherine: “The reality is that we are

with each other all of the time with little exception. We often, but not always,

work seven days a week because the work is demanding. As Richard has traveled to more than 40 countries across five continents, and I have traveled to more than 30 countries across four continents, we are admittedly and quite happily immersed in our work by choice and enjoy the life we have created together. We sometimes add days onto business travel. We are overdue for a trip to Morocco and a future extended stay in Australia. “Our work is intensely visual and intuitive. It is exploratory and experimental. It is focused and honed. We are fully engaged with and loyal to those with whom we collaborate. We are dedicated, disciplined and each of us possesses an extremely high level of endurance, all with a clear vision to innovate, create, and make things happen. I believe very strongly that we must design our days as they become our lives.” While some may think that creativity is similar to a lightning bolt from heaven, it’s actually long hours and hard work, as Richard can attest. Frinier: “As an artist, I draw my concept

sketches and develop scale drawings by hand. There is an intuitive process that takes place when drawing by hand that is not the same as designing digitally. While CAD and other programs are essential for developing prototypes, there is an intrinsic sense of artistry and authenticity that can only be originated from the mind to the hand. “Once I have conceptualized a design and dimensioned scale drawings, I work very closely with our client’s R&D and engineering departments to develop CAD drawings to exacting specifications. Prototypes are built. Adjustments are made to finesse every detail until ideally there is nothing left to add and nothing left to take away. “I am fortunate to work with clients that have the capability of releasing new designs at different times of the year and not always within the confined schedule of market to market. Some designs come to me quickly and can be realized in a shorter time period. Other designs, and exploring new materials or manufacturing techniques, require much longer research and development timeframes.”

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| Profile | Richard and Catherine work with some of the casual industry’s leading brands, requiring them to collaborate with deeply experienced creative and business leaders with specific ideas for how their brands should be translated into products. Frinier: “My approach is to design in a

When it comes to designing new products, risk is a natural part of the process. Richard recognizes the need to push beyond the expected and accept the attendant risks. Frinier: “Many people have said that my

best designs have come before their time, only to find their place later when the rest of the world has caught up to what I have been seeing. This may be because I prefer to do the opposite of what others are doing. If the market is going traditional, I go contemporary. If people feel safer going transitional, I may go modern or do something exotic and definitely unexpected. I like to focus on what’s missing and what can be. As a designer, I have often said, ‘If it’s trending, it’s ending.’ “My work is an evolutionary process of imagination, visualization, ideation and experimentation. As a designer, I believe that failure is part of the process. It’s not for the faint of heart. Good design takes courage, endurance and patience. Richard is quick to acknowledge that his success as a designer has been possible because of the talent and dedication of the people who fabricate his designs and the people who market and sell them.

way that draws upon my own perspective yet innovates through the lens of the client. My methods are inspired, conceptualized, designed, and driven by what can be and what is missing in the marketplace. “My processes of ideation, innovation, and contributing to a brand’s design evolution are quite different from client to client. This is in part because the clients we work with each have their own distinctively unique history, legacy, culture, vision, core strengths, and challenges. My approach and methods must be as unique and different as each of my clients. “We strive for design that is clear and visually strong, making it instantly understandable. If you have to think about it, it’s not good design. I challenge myself to observe the principles of reductive detailing so there are no excessive design details, and results are only what are needed to achieve the desired impression and experience.

“For a design to be timeless and to make an emotional connection with others, it must be compelling in its form, function, and comfort. The story of how it came to be should be as compelling as the design itself. It is the essence of good design. How it looks. How it makes you feel. The places it takes you emotionally, as an experience. “My passion for materials, innovation, and modern design, and my appreciation for authentic classic details all come together as part of my approach. Catherine and I have a deep appreciation for rich textures, sophisticated color palettes, the power of storytelling, and the compelling nature of strong photography and artistic imagery. All of these are integral elements in the creative process that comes together in building and sustaining elevated brands. “Sometimes the story comes first, with innovative materials or styling that inspires the design. And sometimes the story follows the design as it begins to surface during the development process. Good design is a result of vision, innovation, and courage, not fear or focus groups. We also believe that authentic, relevant, and memorable marketing tells a compelling story about inspired design that is worth writing, learning, telling, and selling.”

The sketch and completed product for Century Furniture’s Orient.

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| Profile | Frinier: “Among the unsung heroes of

our industry there are the technicians and artisan craftspeople around the world who work tirelessly with passion and talent against intense deadlines to create the amazing products we enjoy in our worldwide marketplace. It is something that we rarely see mentioned or recognized, yet working with these individuals has been a highlight of my life’s work. “We also cannot over‑emphasize the role of specialty retailers because without them there would be no casual industry. It’s retailers’ vision, passion, and love of this business that provides a stage where consumers can make an emotional connection with what we have collectively designed and brought to market.”

I observe in great people that quietude speaks volumes. I do not consider this as being humble. It’s a matter of civility to listen more than you speak, and to toggle between being the teacher and the student.” For many years, Richard and Catherine have supported the development of young designers. We asked why.

projects from around the world. It’s an extraordinary opportunity that has led the students to internships and employment with remarkable firms. “Our latest student project is the ICFA/ Richard Frinier Design Scholarship that reaches out to professors of design across the country. Our mission is to incorporate our design scholarship challenge into

Richard champions how quality design contributes to a life filled with peace, comfort, and tranquility. With so many demands on their time and talents, we asked how Richard and Catherine find time to detach from the work. Frinier: “Because we love our work,

we admit that we work a lot, but that doesn’t mean we’re not enjoying the process or our lives. We are advocates of travel and traveling for your work. We believe in staycations, daycations, and even five‑minute vacations throughout the day. It is sometimes as simple as the walks we take along the ocean, the bay, or around the neighborhood. “It may be starting each day with tai chi and a tall, iced matcha tea, or waking up from an unintended yet restorative afternoon nap after stretching out in a chaise in the garden under filtered sunlight with a light breeze blowing. It’s all about finding one’s own pace and balance, whether traveling around the world or mind traveling, dreaming, and imagining something between our own two ears. It’s whatever brings us back to our center, and sometimes that means just practicing being quiet and still.” Many people who know Richard well describe him as “ humble.” How does he feel about this description? Frinier: “I’m just one of the many people

in our industry busy walking the walk.

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Design students from Auburn University received sponsorships from the Friniers, and attended the Best of Year event by Interior Design magazine.

Frinier: “We have been fortunate to be

successful with our work, and the home furnishings industry has been very good to us. We feel a responsibility to reach out to design students by supporting trade scholarships and educational opportunities to make them aware of our industry as a viable, exciting, and rewarding career choice. “For a number of years, we have supported design scholarships and opportunities for design students to attend major industry events. These events include the annual Interior Design magazine Hall of Fame Gala and the Best of the Year awards ceremonies in New York. “During these events, we introduce students to industry leaders so they can learn about a life dedicated to design leadership. During the Best of the Year awards ceremony, students experience incredible architectural and interior design

annual design curricula with the goal of raising awareness of our casual furnishings industry and providing an opportunity for students to enter the scholarship contest to visualize and present the future of outdoor living by design. “Catherine and I wish to inspire these students of design through an immersive experience. We are delighted to be planning for the next scholarship competition with ICFA open now and receiving entries through May 31, 2019. Last question – how would you like to be remembered? Frinier: “As an authentic, relevant,

and memorable person who played an integral and passionate role in creating innovative and experiential design while investing in the future by supporting design students.”

Frinier Designs Result In Milestone Events for Casual Brands Designs from Richard Frinier have often proven to be milestone events for the brands he represents, opening up new frontiers not only for those brands, but also for the casual industry as a whole. For example, it was under Frinier’s leadership that Brown Jordan developed woven resin weaving over powder-coated aluminum frames, fueling a new furniture category. Other innovations from Brown Jordan have included

Brown Jordan

Mission Teak (1989)

Quantum (1982) Richard’s first outdoor furniture design that is still in production 36 years later.

1982

neoclassic wrought-aluminum furniture styles that changed how outdoor furniture was previously perceived, going against deeply entrenched trends. Under Richard’s leadership, the company also experimented with material categories, including marine-grade stainless steel, colorful and translucent medical-grade tubing, and parabolic elastomeric textiles. Paradigm shifting creations from the fertile mind of Richard Frinier over the past four decades include:

1986

1989

Brown Jordan Eastlake (1993) A pioneer in woven furnishings weaving resin fiber over aluminum frames.

1993

1995

Brown Jordan Venetian and Florentine (1986) Led the industry with styling trend away from contemporary to classic.

Brown Jordan In-Home (1995) Expanded Brown Jordan brand beyond casual with interior beds and bed tables.

www.hearthandhome.com | FEBRUARY 2019 | 55

| Profile | Brown Jordan

Wave (2001) Adapted a material used in contract office seating to casual furnishings.

DEDON Orbit (2003) First round and rotating canopied daybed, iconic for its originality within the industry; named Best Outdoor Design of the Decade by Interior Design magazine.

Brown Jordan Streamline (1999) Shifting to a modern silhouette upholstered with translucent tubing.

Brown Jordan Nxt and Vu (2000) Futuristic styling with frames of marine-grade stainless steel and faux leathers.

1999

2000

DEDON Tango (2003) Designed to bring an unexpected sculptural and contoured form that would prove to be popular and challenging to emulate.

2001

2002

2003

Century Furniture Archipelago (2002) Blurred the lines between outdoor and indoor furniture with its interior styling and marine-grade finishes applied to teak frames.

Century Furniture Andalusia Royal Canopy Lounge (2002) Launched the new Century Outdoor furniture division with an award-winning collection that represents a luxury resort in a chair.

DEDON Daydream (2002) Fantasy piece that revolutionized daybed design with undulated surfaces and romantic sky canopy; voted the most emulated and Best Design Over the Past 30 Years by Robb Report Luxury magazine.

56 | FEBRUARY 2019 | www.hearthandhome.com

Sunbrella Sunbrella Fabrics by Richard Frinier (2002â&#x20AC;&#x201C;present) Collaboration with Sunbrella on more than 1,000 fabric designs since 2002 highlighted by innovative and award-winning designs elevating the perception of performance fabrics specified for interiors as well as exteriors.

Brown Jordan Cloud Nine (2010) Leading edge sculptural, organic form with low profile and contoured surfaces.

Sunbrella Architexture Collection (2018) A current Sunbrella fabric collection that received an IDSA IDEA Award for textiles and also a Best-of-Year Award from Interior Design magazine; inspired by the global architectural movement surrounding the surfacing and resurfacing of iconic building faรงades around the world.

Century Furniture Tangier Collection (2018) Moroccan-styled with innovative triaxial-weave pattern and octagonal-shaped modular sectional with six-sided lounge and dining chairs.

2010

2012

2013

2015

2018

Brown Jordan Flex (2012) Updated traditional vinyl strap seating incorporating Sunbrella stretch strap.

Brown Jordan Connexion (2013) Modern modular frame styling providing limitless configuration and upholstery customization more commonly seen in interior furniture design.

Century Furniture Palm Beach Royal Lounge Chair (2015) Romantic interpretation of classic peacock-style chair that furthered motion design, rotating 360 degrees on recessed inline skate wheels.

www.hearthandhome.com | FEBRUARY 2019 | 57

During his 40-year career, Richard Frinier has designed several thousand pieces spanning hundreds of collections. These designs have generated more than $1 billion in sales worldwide for partnering brands in residential, contract, and hospitality markets. In addition to this phenomenal sales record, Richard’s creations have attracted more than 90 design excellence and career achievement awards – successes he shares with the brands he represents, the artisan craftspeople who bring his designs to life, and specialty retailers who market and sell those products. Below are a few of Richard’s most significant awards: • Quantum from Brown Jordan was recognized with awards from multiple design trade organizations and specified broadly by the A&D (architecture and design) community, validating Richard’s quantum leap into the outdoor furniture industry and his first outdoor design. Quantum has remained in continuous production at Brown Jordan for 36 years.

Frinier Designs Have Garnered More Than 90 Industry Awards

| Profile |

• Richard is a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Casual Furnishings Association. This award has particular significance for Richard because it is supported by the industry to which he has dedicated his career. • Richard has also been inducted into the American Home Furnishings Hall of Fame. The significance of this reward for Richard is its recognition of how the casual furnishings industry has fostered an increasing emphasis on design excellence on par with all home furnishings, inside and out.

Top to bottom: Frinier at the ICFA Lifetime Achievement Award ceremony. Frinier being inducted into the AHF Hall of Fame with Jane Seymour and Thom Filicia. Frinier colleagues, friends, and family celebrating the award. Frinier standing by the “Wall of Fame” in High Point at the pinning ceremony.

58 | FEBRUARY 2019 | www.hearthandhome.com

• Richard’s original Orbit design for DEDON inspired a movement toward iconic outdoor furniture creations that has permeated the casual industry. Orbit was recently identified as the Best Outdoor Design of the Decade by Interior Design magazine.

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60 | FEBRUARY 2019 | www.hearthandhome.com

| Fine Wood Furniture |

The trio of Teak, Ipé, and Roblé are at the pinnacle of fine outdoor wood furniture. By Tom Lassiter

aybe it’s the leadership of Restoration Hardware, that major influencer of consumer tastes, lists more than 500 outdoor living products as being made with Teak. Maybe it’s because indoor furnishing trends emphasize mixing and matching materials, and one sure-fire way to soften the impact of stainless steel and aluminum and miles of resin wicker woven fiber in the Outdoor Room is to juxtapose it with fine wood. Or maybe wood casual furniture is more in vogue now simply because the fashion cycle has pushed it back squarely into the trend spotlight. In any event, 2019 promises to be a good time for a casual furniture merchant to have several choices available for shoppers in the market for fine wood furniture. It’s also a good strategy to win over those shoppers who don’t know what they want. Shoppers who don’t have a notion of how stylish and serviceable wood can be often open up to the possibilities when they see the range of choices available in Teak, Ipé, Roblé and other fine wood furniture. (Modify that last suggestion. When talking about fine wood casual furniture, there’s Teak, Ipé, Roblé, and not much else.) Wood casual furniture – whether constructed wholly of solid wood or using wood as an accent in a so-called mixed-media product – currently is in vogue. The product category has been trending strongly for the past couple of seasons, manufacturers and retailers say. “I think it’s going to be a fantastic year,” says Brian Blakeney, vice president of Sales and Marketing for Kingsley Bate,

a leading brand of Teak and other types of casual furniture. “We had a very strong early-buy season.” “There’s a market for Teak,” says Tom Murray, CEO of NorthCape. “That’s a fact in the marketplace right now. People are asking for it more.” Recent sales of Summer Classics’ Teak products are up more than 20%, says Bew White, president. That’s on top of a 40% gain in 2017. White projects more doubledigit growth in this coming season. Consumers like Teak furniture for its natural appearance and its longevity, he says. “I’m a purist,” he says. “It’s my favorite category, by far.” Durability is a big selling point for Teak furniture. Teak garden furniture first earned its reputation by enduring season after season exposed to the elements. That legendary durability continues to enhance Teak furniture today.

Seaside from NorthCape.

Click here for a mobile

www.hearthandhome.com FEBRUARY 2019 | 61 friendly reading |experience

| Fine Wood Furniture |

Ashland deep seating by Summer Classics.

Regal Teak specializes in traditionallystyled outdoor furniture constructed of Grade A plantation-grown Teak. “It’s made to last several decades,” says Elsa Rao, president. New accounts and early-buys are up for Barlow Tyrie in 2019, says Charles Hessler, executive vice president. Atom, a collection that debuted at Casual Market Chicago last September, “is one of our strongest new Teak introductions in maybe 10 years.”

Live Edge Teak Table from Lloyd Flanders.

Teak Adirondacks, chaise lounges, deep seating, and patio dining set from Regal Teak.

62 | FEBRUARY 2019 | www.hearthandhome.com

Blurring the Lines The lines have truly blurred between those casual furniture manufacturers that made a name by focusing primarily on Teak, and those that concentrated on other materials to construct outdoor furniture. Now just about everybody is doing just about everything. So-called Teak companies craft furniture from stainless steel and resin wicker and aluminum, and vice versa. The upshot is that specialty retailers now may choose from a much wider array of furniture makers offering some type of Teak products. Everybody wins. Unlike 20 years ago, when the U.S. market was inundated by Southeast Asian startups pushing Teak furniture of sometimes dubious origin and quality, Teak furniture today is much more reputable and trustworthy. Leading casual furniture companies typically use first-quality timber from sustainable sources. As a result, Teak and other fine wood furniture usually command prices starting at the middle-upper range and rising to the stratosphere.

“Even cheap Teak isn’t cheap,” says Murray, president of NorthCape International. NorthCape, a brand most often associated with resin wicker furniture, chose to enter the Teak category with solid wood furniture. “We’re doing focused SKUs that kind of fit our customer model,” Murray says. Lloyd Flanders introduced its first Teak products about five years ago, first with a few Teak tables and later incorporating Teak components into resin wicker products. Pairing wood with another material changes the experience. It’s like adding a pocket square to a standard blue business suit. All of a sudden, you’ve got something different. “Teak gives a warmth that you don’t get from a metal frame,” says Dudley Flanders, president of Lloyd Flanders. “We try to use it to accent our woven product. We’re happy being in the category.” Consumers Not Familiar Most consumers aren’t familiar enough with the category to ask for Ipé, the Bolivian hardwood most prominently featured in much of Jensen Leisure’s catalog. But they certainly respond well to the rich, deep tones of the finish and the smart, transitional styling that characterizes much of Jensen Leisure’s line. Consumers, says Janet Wansor, vice president of Sales and Marketing, love Ipé. “We’ve introduced Roblé, another good timber, but Ipé is the real star.”

Jensen Leisure came on the scene in 2008, the result of a union between Australia’s Jensen Jarrah and Roda Group of Bolivia. Since then the company has expanded its line season after season and established itself on the front lines of transitional design, positioning itself to take advantage of today’s leading home decorating trend. Contemporary preferences in furniture design may be stronger than ever, but the masses are most comfortable with transitional looks. Jensen Leisure introduced a record number of new products for 2019, Wansor says. Designers contributing to the collections reflect the international tastes so prevalent today; they come from the United States, Denmark, and Italy. Jensen Leisure’s products have earned strong sales as well as respect for design leadership, Wansor says. “It’s beautiful furniture, well crafted,” she says. “We’re very excited to be seen in the same categories as Gloster, Kingsley Bate, and Barlow Tyrie.” Jensen Leisure ranks in the top five suppliers for The Fire House Casual Living Store, a four-store retailer in the Carolinas. Among the store’s wood furniture vendors, Jensen Leisure is No. 1, says Jonathan Ogden, general manager. The retailer also offers furniture by Gloster, Kingsley Bate, and others. Design preferences for natural materials in the Outdoor Room are helping to fuel

sales of wood furniture, Ogden says. Natural stone and manmade pavers that mimic the look of stone have replaced concrete for the hardscape in many Outdoor Rooms, he notes. “The natural look of wood tends to fit those better than some other looks,” he says. Regional tastes continue to influence sales of wooden casual furniture. The Northeast has been a perennially strong region for Teak, for instance. Florida, on the other hand, cares not so much for furniture made from the Asian hardwood. Doug Shearer, owner of Paine’s Patio in Pocasset, Massachusetts, notes that, “We’ve always done extremely well in the Teak category, the last couple of years have been extremely strong. “The golden Teak look and feel is what’s going out our door,” Shearer says. The store carries Teak by Kingsley Bate and Gloster. Teak products account for about 25% or more of his outdoor furniture sales. Pocasset is a waterfront community on Cape Cod with traditional preferences, he says. Customers know what to expect maintenance-wise when they purchase Teak furniture. “At least half are letting it go, letting it gray up and be a more natural tone,” he says. Shearer recently added Jensen Leisure to his offerings, and customers are warming up to the look of Ipé. “We have to educate them about what it’s going to look like down the road,” he says.

Frances dining chairs from Kingsley Bate.

Bar Cart from Gloster.

Laguna Settee group with Topaz coffee and side tables from Jensen Leisure.

www.hearthandhome.com | FEBRUARY 2019 | 63

| Fine Wood Furniture | Jensen Leisure products lead the wood category at Outdoor Elegance Patio Design Center in La Verne, California. The dark, rich tones of Ipé make Jensen Leisure’s furniture “a grand slam home run” for the store’s Southern California customers, says owner Doug Sanicola. Sanicola points out that Teak is a more difficult sale in his market, which is some 40 miles inland. Teak becomes more popular with Southern California customers the closer one gets to the coastal communities south of Los Angeles. “I’ll sell Teak to places like Santa Barbara and Newport Beach,” says Sanicola, also a Gloster dealer.

Sunset from Kannoa.

Teak tables in the Havana collection from Sunset West.

64 | FEBRUARY 2019 | www.hearthandhome.com

Wood lends itself to the mixed-media look, and Sanicola has items from Jensen Leisure’s Coral Collection in his own home. The wood and resin wicker Coral Collection, first introduced about three seasons ago, was an instant success with its combination of natural-colored fiber and Ipé. The collection was refreshed for 2019 with a gray fiber option. “It’s absolutely spectacular looking,” he says of Coral. “When you look at the wood arm, it makes the furniture pop. Put a wood arm on a woven piece, and it makes it 100% better.” Sanicola especially likes wood furniture for its ability to pair with other materials in a “mix and match” approach. A Teak dining table takes on an entirely different appearance when surrounded by wicker seating. The same goes for a metal or concrete fire pit, encircled by chairs with wooden arms. Mixing and matching dissimilar materials “has become the deal,” Sanicola says. It’s how many products are displayed in the Outdoor Elegance showroom. Sanicola credits Wes Stewart, CEO of Sunset West, for being a pioneer in the realm of mix and match in the Outdoor Room. Stewart’s philosophy is that outdoor trends mimic indoor styles, where mix and match reigns supreme these days. He sees Teak becoming increasingly more important to Sunset West’s product lineup, offering “an alternative to the resin wicker coffee table.” The eye appeal and texture of wood contrast with, and enhance the look of, other materials. “Teak allows us to have a more sophisticated offering,” Stewart says. This will be Sunset West’s fourth season with Teak products. Mixing and matching wood with other casual furniture products takes a seasoned eye to perfect. It takes practice and a certain level of skill to take products, often from different sources, and bring them together “to make it look like one collection,” Stewart says. Mixing and matching and getting it right can be hard on specialty furniture buyers and presents inventory challenges for manufacturers such as Sunset West that pursue that strategy, Stewart says. “But in the end,” he says, “it’s worth it. Because it’s a better solution.”

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| Industry News |

NEW PRODUCTS

HY-C

The Flame Genie has a gravitational afterburner system that generates longer burn times without the smoke, sparks and clean-up of traditional wood fire pits. The fire burns clean and uses easy-to-handle wood pellets. Call (800) 325-7076 or visit www.hy-c.com.

Warehouse 2120

The Colonial Chair has a classic design that fits well in any outdoor setting. Made from recycled Bali fishing boats, the chair pops with vibrant colors weathered by time and nature. Call (825) 855-1075 or visit www.warehouse2120.com.

Lifetime Brands

The Wilton Armetale Gourmet Grillware Vegetable Griller was designed and crafted by hand. Grill any vegetables in the 19-inch long by 6-inch wide griller. The griller can withstand temperatures up to 1,000 degrees F. Call (800) 252-3390 or visit www.armetale.com.

E-Kolo, Inc. Serge Ferrari

Soltis Proof Vivo is a printable awning fabric with a natural fiber woven appearance. The waterproof fabric is ideal for outdoor rooms, awnings, canopies, pergolas and small tent structures. The fabric also is UV and mold resistant and comes in a choice of 14 colors. Call (866) 942-3600 or visit www.sergeferrari.com/us.

A clean, safe and natural way to start a roaring fire, the FireSource Pyramid can be used in any indoor or outdoor fireplace. Made of non-toxic, environmentally friendly pinewoods, oak and birch, FireSource uses naturally and ion treated dried mill ends. The outer shell is 100% recycled paper products with no toxic printing ink. Call (773) 827-4810 or visit www.e-kolo.com.

MAMAGREEN

The AIKO lounge is made from recycled teak. Combined with stylish and plush, oversized outdoor cushions, the lounge accommodates two to 20 people, offering endless configurations for any outdoor space. Call (312) 877-5155 or visit www.mamagreen.com.

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66 | FEBRUARY 2019 | www.hearthandhome.com friendly reading experience

| Business Climate |

DECEMBER SALES

In early January, Hearth & Home faxed a survey to 2,500 specialty retailers of hearth, patio, and barbecue products, asking them to compare December 2018 sales to December 2017. The accompanying charts and selected comments are from the 192 useable returns.

RETAILER SALES - U.S. AND CANADA December 2018 vs. December 2017

29%

HEARTH

14%

16%

BARBECUE

PATIO

49%

22%

40%

SPAS

50%

63%

78% Retailers Up

10%

23%

Retailers No Change

Retailers Down

Fifty percent of Spa retailers were UP in December, followed closely by Hearth retailers at 49%. Barbecue and Patio were at 23% and 16%, respectively.

13-MONTH YEAR-OVER-YEAR RETAIL SALES December 2018 vs. December 2017

BARBECUE

HEARTH 19% 9% 11% 10% 8% 9% 10%

8% 10%

4% 8% 5% 1% 4% 3% 0% 1%

1% 0% -2%

-3% 12/17 1/18 2/18 3/18 4/18 5/18 6/18 7/18 8/18 9/18 10/18 11/18 12/18

12/17 1/18 2/18 3/18 4/18 5/18 6/18 7/18 8/18 9/18 10/18 11/18 12/18

PATIO

SPAS 27%

25% 8% 5% -5%

16% 7% 2% 2% 5% 5%

2% 2% 2%

8% 5%

12% 13% 2%

21% 5% 5% 7%

9% 9%

-6%

12/17 1/18 2/18 3/18 4/18 5/18 6/18 7/18 8/18 9/18 10/18 11/18 12/18

In December, Spa retailers posted a 9% increase over the same period in the previous year. Hearth retailers were at 4%, Patio retailers were at 2%, and Barbecue retailers were even with the prior year.

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www.hearthandhome.com FEBRUARY 2019 | 67 friendly reading |experience

| Business Climate |

RETAILER COMMENTS NORTHEAST Connecticut: (Hearth, Patio, BBQ, Spas) “This was one of our top Decembers since we’ve been in business; 2019 looks to be a great year, even though we had a very good 2018.” Connecticut: (Hearth) “Last year’s long

and very cold winter must have contributed to the increase this year. Whatever the reason, we have had a really good year. Traffic was slower, but still good.” Connecticut: (Hearth) “Business is up

nicely YTD, but since the Blue Wave came through in November, I can see things starting to tighten up with continued business starting to slow down to what appears to be another slow period on the horizon. “I anticipate consumer confidence and consumer spending will diminish rapidly going forward until our politicians can play nice together, which I can’t see happening for some time. I hope that I am wrong, our economy doesn’t need another pull back like we saw with the last administration for eight lovely years. Time will tell.” New Jersey: (Hearth, Patio, BBQ)

“Need cold weather in the East. People are spending more money this year. New homes and additions are helping.” New Jersey: (Hearth, Patio, BBQ)

“Another year has flown by. Solid growth once again. Keeping up with growth is always a challenge, but who’s complaining? We’re always thankful!” New York: (Hearth, Patio, BBQ, Spas)

“December sales tend to be slow here in the Northeast as people start Christmas shopping on Black Friday and our taxes come out January 1.” New York: (Hearth, Spas) “Dear God,

please bring me some pellets. I’ll take any brand. Hardwood, softwood, rabbit pellets, um...owl pellets? Hallo, GOD? Are you there? But seriously, we are out of pellets! The pellet suppliers say they are out of raw materials. (#stingy #scrooge #really?).

68 | FEBRUARY 2019 | www.hearthandhome.com

“Gas inserts continue to dominate. Even wood stoves and inserts are up. This has been a good season. Not crazy about the rising cost of chimney and pellet pipe, but we are grateful, again, for a season that is way better than the last!” Pennsylvania: (Hearth) “Best calendar

year in the last five years. Also very profitable! Our fiscal year is July 1 and we are up 31%.”

Pennsylvania: (Hearth, Patio, BBQ)

“New construction and remodeling are still strong, booked out about seven weeks for custom work and fireplace installs. Due to the wet weather this year, pellets are very hard to get, we have had to ration our fuel so we don’t run out.” SOUTH Alabama: (Patio, BBQ) “The holiday

season was very good for us. We saw an increase in low- to mid-priced grills. Looking to spring for more built-in sales. Economy and other issues still has customers extra cautious, but many still purchase quality products.” Arkansas: (Hearth) “A good retail month

to end the year. Floor traffic was good and several future installations were discussed, so 2018 turned out to be a good year overall. Customers are moving into our area and wanting new hearth products, which we are happy to provide. Hope 2019 is even better.” Louisiana: (Hearth) “Our service business

is up 67%”

Oklahoma: (Hearth) “Great winter, ready

for the HPBExpo.”

Texas: (BBQ) “Barbecue product sales

have seen a positive year-over-year sales increase this year due to the higher interest in grilling, smoking, and outdoor entertainment. Who doesn’t like to try a new recipe every weekend and hang out with their family and friends?” Virginia: (Hearth, BBQ) “Wow, what a

year! I’ve worked here for 27 years and have never seen it this busy. Thanks president Trump. Business is a boomin’. Can’t wait for this coming season. Woo-hoo $$$.”

CONSUMER CONFIDENCE

137.9

The Consumer Confidence Index 122.1

decreased in December, following a

136.4

126.4

128.1

modest decline in November. The Index now stands at 128.1 (1985=100),

100

down from 136.4 in November. “Expectations regarding job

prospects and business conditions weakened,” said Lynn Franco, senior director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board, “but still suggest that the economy will continue expanding at a solid pace in the short-term. While consumers are ending 2018 on a strong note, back-to-back declines in Expectations are reflective of an increasing concern that the pace of economic growth will begin moderating in the first half of 2019.” A reading above 90 indicates the economy is on solid footing; above 100 signals strong growth. The Index is based on a probability-design random sample conducted for The Conference Board by The Nielsen Company.

Virginia: (Hearth) “2018 ended with record

sales and installations of vent-free gas fireplaces, log sets, and inserts. We converted more direct-vent gas fireplaces to vent-free than in years past. All in all, for such a slow start this season, and despite lousy weather (rain and more rain and tornadoes), the year ended extremely well. Thank you Lord!” MIDWEST Illinois: (Hearth) “Enrollment declined at our University, warmer weather, recent big decline in the stock market all contributed to depressed sales. Woodburning is slowly fading away, even in a rural, wooded area like ours.” Missouri: (Hearth, BBQ) “The strong

new construction market, along with an unseasonably cold October and November, contributed to record hearth product sales for us this year.” Minnesota: (Hearth, Patio, BBQ) “We

have to subcontract labor and the big shops

Year 6 Mo. Oct Nov Dec Ago Ago 2018 2018 2018

1985 = 100

are beating the daylights out of us. We have decided to send customers to the contractors and just retail from this point forward.” Nebraska: (Hearth, BBQ) “December

was feast or famine. We ran a great grill promotion for Black Friday that bled into December and provided a definite uptick in grill sales. We did, however, run into out-of-stock issues with our supplier due to high demand and great pricing on our pellet grills. “Hearth sales were stagnant from 2017 but we look forward to a possible uptick in 2019. All in all, business was good but we’re interested in seeing where the trade war steel prices go, along with tariff surcharges. Also, freight is a constant demand on end users, which seems strange as fuel prices have dropped but freight has not followed suit.” Ohio: (Hearth, BBQ) “The hearth season

has been solid. We were worried that the bad grill season would bring down the whole year, but we finished with a 4% gain for

www.hearthandhome.com | FEBRUARY 2019 | 69

| Business Climate | 2018. Direct-vent inserts have continued to be a strong seller, which helped us make up some ground in the fourth quarter.” Wisconsin: (Hearth, Patio, BBQ) “No

slowing down in sales of high-end fireplaces, wood and gas. New construction is not slowing down. It’s January and homes are still being started. Weather is not slowing sales down. Wow, what a time in our industry.”

a challenge. We have had some warranty issues, and manufacturers did not stand behind their product. We, however, did bite the bullet and stood behind our name.”

California: (Hearth, BBQ) “We have

Wisconsin: (Hearth) “Very strong builder

dead. Probably caused by the 7.1 earthquake on November 31. The second week of January is picking up.”

market. Retail sales are trending strongly toward upscale purchases. Wood and gas fireplaces are strong. Plain steel wood stoves is a weak spot. We’re clearing inventory of all non-2020 compliant wood stoves. Will restock only 2020 compliant.”

Wisconsin: (Hearth, Patio, BBQ, Spas)

“Weather had a big play in sales as it was colder and wetter. Overall year-end we were way up. Looking at higher January sales due to lower December sales. Wood seems to be really strong. Will see what 2019 brings!”

WEST California: (Hearth, Spas) “We finally

got some rain/cold weather in California. Competing with the holidays always hurts our sales in December. But still the hearth department was up 8% and spas were up 30%. We hope and pray for a few more years of this great economy!”

Wisconsin: (Hearth, BBQ) “Busy year.

Easily could have had greater sales if we could find another good employee. Such

been in business for 33 years and this was the best year yet.” New Mexico: (Hearth) “December was

Oregon: (Hearth, BBQ) “We opened

a new hearth showroom in fall of 2018.” Oregon: (Hearth) “December was rough;

the weather hasn’t been there to help us, and it’s exposing some of the discipline that we need to go all in on. When there isn’t weather, it’s up to us to go back to the basics and master them. I’m convinced there is more business out there than ever.”

STOCK WATCH COMPANY – EXCHANGE

Standard & Poor’s 500 (a) HNI Corporation (b) Pool Corporation (c) Restoration Hardware (b) Wayfair (b) NOTES:

HIGH

LOW

30-Nov-18

28-Dec-18

4 WEEK

26 WEEK

52 WEEK

MARKET CAPITALIZATION ($000,000)

2,930.75 45.40 175.87 164.49 151.20

2,351.10 32.55 123.88 74.50 60.53

2,760.17 38.55 167.51 116.14 106.20

2,485.74 35.20 147.84 118.96 90.74

-9.9% -8.7% -9.0% 2.4% -14.6%

-8.6% -5.4% -2.4% -14.8% -23.6%

-7.0% -8.7% 14.0% 38.0% 13.0%

$1,630.00 $6,050.00 $2,640.00 $8,710.00

52 WEEK

SYMBOL

S&P HNI POOL RH W

WEEK ENDING

% CHANGE

(a) = Standard & Poor’s 500 is based on the market capitalizations of 500 large companies having common stock listed on the NYSE or NASDAQ. It is considered one of the best representations of the U.S. stock market, and a bellwether for the U.S. economy. (b) = New York Stock Exchange (c) = NASDAQ

52-WEEK STOCK PRICE CHANGE

MARKET CAPITALIZATIONS (US $000,000)

$10,000 $9,000

40%

38.0%

$8,000 $7,000

30%

$6,000

20%

14.0%

13.0%

10%

$5,000 $4,000 $3,000

0% -10%

$2,000

-7.0%

S&P

$1,000

-8.7%

HNI POOL RH As of 28-Dec-2018

70 | FEBRUARY 2019 | www.hearthandhome.com

HNI

POOL 29-Dec-2017

RH 28-Dec-2018

CANADA British Columbia: (Hearth, BBQ)

“Hearth appliance sales were pretty much equal to 2017, but venting sales were up substantially.” British Columbia: (Hearth) “Inquiries

for wood and pellet heating options are

significantly higher this year, translating into more sales and price quotes.” Ontario: (Hearth) “We found that within

our catch-basin of clients, they are more aware of the new EPA-rated products on the market that can not only heat better, but save them money by using less wood.

They also are listening to our team with keener ears and understanding when they are informed that their present unit is no longer code compliant and should be replaced for safety issues.Training is key.” Quebec: (Hearth, Patio, BBQ, Spas) “With

cold weather, we expected more sales.”

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ur 3 step process to design & outdoor kitchen.

Confused? Simply follow our 3 step process to design & complete your outdoor kitchen.

your grill & appliances from our Magic, AOG, Summerset, Primo & True

Step 1: Select your grill & appliances from our inventory; FireMagic, AOG, Summerset, Primo & True.

design your custom layout, using our es or simply choose one of our express

Step 2: Let us design your custom layout, using our Exterus Modules or simply choose one of our express stock layouts.

your finishes from our inventory. We offer nd granite tops to complete your kitchen e source.

Step 3: Select your finishes from our inventory. We offer stone veneer and granite tops to complete your kitchen from one reliable source.

Call for an information packet today! 1-800-FORSHAW (367-7429)

www.hearthandhome.com | FEBRUARY 2019 | 71

| Classifieds | Help Wanted

1 Column x 1 Inch Minimum 1 inch minimum Price per column inch = $175 Call the Sales Department at (800) 258-3772 For Sale For Sale Fireplace shop in North Dallas area. Same location for 37 years. For info call: 972-385-9437 or e-mail ralphcanaan@yahoo.com.

Business for Sale Business for Sale Stove & fireplace retail store for sale. Located in the heart of Oregon wine country serving four counties west of Portland. This is a growing area and the business has a solid reputation in both sales and service. Owners are retiring. Asking $260K including inventory. Contact Reiley at 503-932-3517 or reidpeople@comcast.net

Outside Sales / Account Manager Associated Energy Systems, a leading distributor Hearth and Outdoor products in the Western United States is adding to their growing sales team and seeks to fill a Oregon Outside Sales Territory Manager position. We seek a high energy, high integrity individual with strong relationship and communication skills. Experience in the Hearth Products or Outdoor Products industry is preferred. The company provides competitive salary plus commission along with company vehicle and all necessary home office and business tools along with a strong benefits package. If you are a self â&#x20AC;&#x201C; starter then this could be the job for you. The successful candidate is seeking to build professional relationships within our customer base as well as our sales and marketing team while also exhibiting exceptional internal drive. Our customer base includes traditional dealers, home and hardware stores, propane dealers, heating and ventilation accounts as well as builders, architects and other specifiers. If you feel you fit the above guidelines and are looking to grow personally and professionally please send your resume to: shawnar@aes4home.com

| Ad Index | Advertiser Apricity Big Green Egg Broil King Bull Outdoor Products Dansons Group / Louisiana Grills Eddie Bauer Home / Kannoa Eiklor Flames Energex Corporation Forshaw of St. Louis Hearth & Home Technologies Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association Renaissance Fireplaces Memphis Wood Fire Grills Planika USA R H Peterson Co Ratana Spartherm Summerset Professional Grills Sunbrella Telescope Casual Furniture Tjernlund Chimney Products Valor / Miles Industries Vesta Awards White Mountain Hearth / Empire Comfort Systems

72 | FEBRUARY 2019 | www.hearthandhome.com

This ad index is an additional service provided by Hearth & Home to its advertisers. Hearth & Home assumes no liability for any incorrect information.

Page Phone 17,59 (800) 416-3511 C3 (770) 938-9394 33 (800) 265-2150 41 (800) 521-2855 37 (877) 303-3134 18,19 (305) 651-9655 C2 (888) 295-5647 65 71 (800) 367-7429 15 (800) 927-6841 3 (703) 522-0086 C4 (450) 565-6336 65 (888) 883-2260 71 (201) 993-7787 53 (800) 332-3973 29 (866) 919-1881 8,9 +49 5422 9441-0 51 (800) 966-8126 49 (336) 227-6211 24,25 (518) 642-1100 71 (800) 255-4208 31 (800) 468-2567 13 (800) 258-3772 42,43 (800) 851-3153

Website/e-mail www.apricityoutdoor.com www.biggreenegg.com email: gkelly@omcbbq.com www.bullbbq.com www.louisiana-grills.com www.eddiebaueroutdoorfurniture.com www.eiklorflames.com www.olhick.com www.exterusoutdoor.com www.hearthnhome.com www.hpbexpo.com/register www.renaissancefireplaces.com www.memphisgrills.com www.planikagasfires.com www.rhpeterson.com www.ratana.com www.spartherm-america.com www.summersetgrills.com www.sunbrella.com www.telescopecasual.com www.tjernlund.com www.valorfireplaces.com www.vestaawards.com www.whitemountainhearth.com

Who Reads

Doug Sanicola, for one! City: La Verne

State: California

Occupation: Owner of Outdoor Elegance Special Interests/Hobbies: “Golf and cooking.” Problems/Issues Facing the Patio Industry: “Being on top of your game. With all the competition such as the Internet and the flood of incorrect information, you need to know exactly what you’re doing.” Problems Facing the Barbecue Industry: “Perceived Value would be number one. So many grills look great but don’t last. All the cheap grills on the market should be named Disposal Grills; they’re filling up our landfills.” Key Trends in the Patio Industry Today: “Mixing and matching furniture. Example: wicker with iron and/or teak wood. This is the year of the mixed grouping of furniture.” Key Trends in the Barbecue Industry Today: “Outdoor Kitchens, Outdoor Kitchens – we built more outdoor kitchens with all the bells and whistles in 2018 than in any other year in the history of Outdoor Elegance.” Forecast for Your Overall Business in 2019: “We’re looking at an increase in business over 12% for 2019. More people want the customer service and are not buying online.” Years Reading Hearth & Home: “Since I purchased this business in 2001.” Reasons for Reading Hearth & Home: “Hearth & Home is a great industry publication. The information provided is valuable for our industry, and is a great reference guide when dealing with Hearth and Barbecue. One more thing – Richard is a cool person and Tom is also cool!!!!!!!!!!” Ed. Note: Hey! What about Lisa Readie Mayer? Article(s) Ideas: “I like reading about innovative people like myself. I love it when someone comes up with a plan or system on how to make money in our industry and also do good for the consumer. That’s what I like, and I want to see more of it.”

Click here for a mobile friendly reading experience

| Parting Shot |

PHOTOS, FABRICS & MEMORIES

atasha Kerr uses old photos from her own family album and combines them with vintage fabrics and trims to create a distinctive brand of recycled textile art. The stories embedded in both the black and white/sepia images, and the fabrics she uses, give Natasha’s work a depth that is very appealing to the viewer, and can trigger an emotional response. In 1998, Natasha’s work took over an entire Victorian townhouse in Battersea, London; the teaming of an historical venue with a multi-sensual experience gave the artist’s work a Click here for a mobile

74 | FEBRUARYfriendly 2019 | www.hearthandhome.com reading experience

contextual setting that was both moving and uncomfortable. Aptly named, “There are things you don’t need to know,” the exhibition painted a poignant picture of family life through the ages. In recent years, Natasha has been taking commissions to create works that tell the stories of families other than her own. Natasha Kerr, G:06 Northside Studios, 16-29 Andrews Road, London EB 4QF; Phone: +44 (0)20 7241 1294; Website: www.natashakerr.co.uk.

For a winning business recipeâ&#x20AC;Ś just add EGGs!

Wood-burning in classic spaces. The Uptown’s clean design and moderate size open endless possibilities for style and expression. The hidden guillotine door system with a built-in retractable screen make for easy loading and operation, while offering safety to those wanting the experience of a beautiful, open, crackling fire.

www.renaissancefireplaces.com

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Built-in guillotine door and firescreen 600 in2 view of the fire Heat circulation system 8" EXCEL chimney