A Sunny Future for Sunshine Drapery

BY GAIL GUTSCHE

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Sunshine Drapery. The St. Louis, MO-area company has witnessed many ups and downs over its history, including new product options, increased competition, recessions and economic booms, and changes in its operating environment. As owner Bruce Bernstein and his staff celebrate the company’s golden anniversary, Bernstein reflected back on how he got his start in the industry, what he’s learned over his years at Sunshine Drapery and what window covering companies can do to succeed in today’s marketplace. Disciplined and experienced, but not risk averse. Bernstein firmly believes that if you never make a wrong decision, you may never make the right one. He’s unafraid to try new products or turn the company in a new direction as long as the indicators are positive.

“You have to know when to try some new things and you have to know when to get out,” he says. He points to an expansion into home organizational systems Sunshine Drapery made shortly after he bought the business. They stuck with it for a couple of years, but when it proved unprofitable, he pulled the plug.

Disciplined but Not Risk Averse

Bernstein purchased Sunshine Drapery from its longtime owner, Les Finkelstein, in 2008. Bernstein worked for Finkelstein for 12 years prior to buying him out and had a long history in retail with The May Department Stores Company before that.

Marketing is another area where Bernstein says it’s important to try new things, although he recommends not overcommitting to new strategies. He tells the story of a dealer he read about who paid for a year of print ads up front. After the first month, he only had one lead, but he was unable to back out of the contract. “This was “At May, I was an execu“We’re not the only game in town anymore when a tough learning lesson,” Bernstein acknowledges. tive trainee, department it comes to blinds, shades and shutters. However, “What I make sure I do manager in men’s sports wear and assistant buy - our average ticket is much bigger. We see fewer is set a budget each year and have a general plan, er in the women’s dress division,” says Bernstein. customers, but those who come to us are looking but each year I try to add in some new ideas with“I worked in human sources—in charge reof for full service and complete makeovers.” out breaking the bank and staying with my core marcollege recruiting—and keting that I know works.” eventually became a general manager in the stores. Later, I became a sales manager for Sunshine. This lengthy retail This year, he tried radio advertising for a few months. When it background has made me disciplined in my approach to busi- failed to generate many leads, he pulled the ads and invested ness.” the money into TV, an advertising medium that has historically worked better.

Lead designer Teddy Karl with The Great Cover-Up created this warm, romantic bedroom. Bamboo shades by Horizon/B&W provide privacy on the French doors. Panel draperies are fabricated from Toile by Thibaut. Bedding by Jane Wilner, handcrafted Euro pillows and bench fabric from Cowtan & Tout.

Keeping Up with Industry Changes

Seven years ago, quite by luck and being in the right place at the right time, Sunshine expanded into senior living centers, which has been a boon for the company. “I had a voicemail from a woman asking me to call her back. I was taught to return calls, so I did,” says Bernstein. “That call led me to purchasing her senior living business, which is now a key division of our company.”

With that addition, Sunshine now has four distinct divisions: residential shop-at-home, commercial, senior living and The Great Cover-Up, which is a high-end full interior design service including window treatments, wall coverings, custom furniture and more. Residential shop-at-home accounts for 60 percent of Sunshine’s business, while commercial brings in half a million dollars in sales yearly.

Over the years, Bernstein has seen many changes in the window coverings industry. “We used to have 16 decorators running 160 leads a week. Now there is a lot more competition, especially with big-box stores and online options,” he says. “We’re not the only game in town anymore when it comes to blinds, shades and shutters. However, our average ticket is much bigger. We see fewer customers, but those who come to us are looking for full service and complete makeovers.”

The enormous choice in fabrics today dwarfs what was available 50 years ago. “Back then, most of the fabrics were made in the U.S.,” says Bernstein. “Most everything we sell now is imported, and there are so many more options—linen, silk, cotton, blends. Hard treatments have had a similar history. Years ago, it was mostly mini-blinds and pleated shades. Now there are at least a dozen choices.” Bernstein points to plantation shutters as an example. Sunshine didn’t sell them in the 1990s. Now they account for a quarter of a million dollars in sales annually.

This is an area in which he expects to see continued growth. “I think the alternative market has done a fabulous job with their diversification,” he says. “Look at companies like Hunter Douglas, Comfortex and Horizon. They have stepped up their game and their offerings are fantastic. I do see, however, that there will

always be a need for soft coverings with customers. Trends come and go in fashion, and it’s no different in our industry. The key is for companies like us to see it happening and be prepared to adjust. I may just have to, in the next few years, hire more seamstresses. One never knows. So while I see players getting out of drapery, I want Sunshine to be there for the business we have and the future.”

Currently, Sunshine has a union workroom that employs 10 seamstresses. Eight interior designers, spread out over the four divisions, also work for the company. In the coming years, Bernstein hopes to hire more young designers who are eager to be trained and stay at the company for a long time.

Also key to his staffing strategy is finding the right workers of any age. A few years ago, Bernstein decided he would only hire people who had the same work ethic and passion to succeed as he did. He pays them well and empowers them to do their jobs to the best of their ability. His volume of residential work is now higher than it was before the 2007 recession, but he is doing the work with fewer people.

Overall, Bernstein couldn’t be happier with the company’s success. “I equate our business with baseball. If you hit three out of 10, that’s considered a good batting average,” he says. “We’ve certainly accomplished that, and then some.” z

Business TRIUMPHS & TRIBULATIONS

BY SOPHIA BENNETT

This is part of our ongoing series describing how design professionals have overcome a business challenge or created the perfect treatment for a difficult window. Do you have a story to share? Send an email to sophia@wf-vision.com.

he Challenge Rebecca West is the owner of Seriously Happy Homes, an interior design firm in Seattle. She focuses on small spaces T T he Solution “Rebecca is hitting a pretty universal problem, which is that we might identify most quickly a need for someone and what she calls “families with real-people budgets,” to help with social media, but what we really need is more and emphasizes using design psychology to create homes that make of a generalist to help us with our marketing needs,” says Kate O’Hara, people feel happy above all else. At the beginning of the year, West CEO and creative director of Martha O’Hara Interiors, which has was struggling with how to market these somewhat niche services offices in Minneapolis and Austin, TX. She is also a frequent speaker to her target audience, especially through social media. The more on social media and marketing at professional conferences. “One she puzzled through her problem, the more she realized she had two of the biggest mistakes I hear people make is saying, ‘I’ll hire my son important questions to answer. or one of my employees’ kids because they know social media.’ The inherent challenge isn’t understanding social media. It’s understanding “The first was, what kind of marketing/media/PR help do I need branding, and if we’re talking social media especially, things like video and how can I figure that out?” she says. “That is really asking, what editing and graphic design and copy editing and how you use those is the best use of my time and money when it comes to doing all skills to brand a business. We think we need help with social media, that stuff? What am I trying to achieve and how will I know if I’ve but what we really need help with is setting goals, understanding the been successful? I saw that I needed to dig deeper into this question path to achieving them and setting metrics.” when I asked my website designer how to get more engagement on my blog and she asked me why I wanted the engagement, since Business owners looking for assistance with any type of marketing, comments don’t necessarily translate into clients. It also came up including social media, first need to do what West did: ask themselves when I was interviewing prospective social media interns. During one what the person they hire is going to achieve. Are they going to conversation I realized that one of my wish-list items—finding and be responsible for lead generation? Is their job to increase brand pitching to podcasts—was more a PR job than a social media job.” awareness? Will they position the business owner as a subject-matter expert or thought leader? Is their primary task to seek public relations Once she determined what she wanted to accomplish with her social opportunities? media and marketing efforts, the next question was who could help her. Did she need a social media intern? An employee who could Once the goals and objectives are clear, identifying the type of person manage social media and also act as a brand ambassador? A team of who can help you meet them should become easier. And regardless of independent contractors to tackle different aspects of her marketing? whether that person is a contractor or an employee, there are certain A marketing and PR agency? Or did she just need to find a way to free questions it’s good to ask. up her time so she could focus more on marketing?

An interview with a social media manager should start with a discussion about branding, O’Hara says. Gauge their strength in developing a strong brand and make sure they understand the importance of sticking to the company’s message, voice and look. “After they talk about branding, ask about what social media platforms they think you should use. A good marketer will say, ‘It depends on your business goals.’ They won’t make a recommendation until after they understand that.” The person should realize that it may be necessary to use different platforms to achieve certain goals or reach various audiences.

One of the advantages of digital marketing is that the different platforms can provide rich data. But that information is only helpful if someone knows how to use it. O’Hara’s next round of questioning for a potential marketing manager would revolve around their ability to use resources like Google Analytics and Facebook Insights to show that they’ve met their goals and are thinking about how to improve future marketing efforts. Potential interview questions to evaluate this include “What sort of metrics would you be likely to use in tracking your success?” “What sort of analytics platforms are you accustomed to using?” and “Do you have experience using data to make recommendations for improving future marketing tasks?”

Before going into an interview, develop a laundry list of other skills you’d like to find so you can ask the candidate about them. Strong writing skills are important if the person will be managing a blog or other text-rich platform, but they’re also essential for penning good social media posts. If the company would like to engage in digital advertising, ask the person if they’ve run ad campaigns. Do they have skills with graphic design or video editing, which are also helpful for social media management? Do they understand how to properly use and credit photographs? Do they know enough about public relations to effectively communicate with and respond to magazine editors, influencers and others through platforms like Twitter or Instagram?

Soft skills, including finding the person with the right temperament, are also important, O’Hara stresses. And in the end, finding that perfect balance between hard and soft skills got West the person she needed. She decided to hire a social media intern to help her manage Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook while she thought through her bigger questions on marketing. When choosing between two finalists, she picked the person who had several certifications in the major online platforms. But her other reason for hiring this young woman was that she was very self-directed and self-motivated. She did such a good job that when the internship concluded, West hired her as a permanent employee. She will put those generalist skills to work on the firm’s broader marketing efforts, including the email newsletter, website and blog. z

Kate O'Hara. Erica Loeks Photography

• “One of the things I realized through this process is that there’s a difference between making a social media post and social media marketing,” says West. When hiring a social media manager, finding someone who knows how to use platforms like Facebook and Instagram isn’t enough.

• Start any marketing effort by developing a clear understanding of your goals and what you want to achieve. All goals should be measurable. A good marketing person will be able to help you determine how to set and measure goals from the beginning of any campaign.

• The first interview questions with a social media or marketing manager should revolve around the person’s experience with and understanding of branding. After that, ask about experience with social media platforms.