WILMINGTON, N.C. — As Custom Home Furniture Galleries here approaches 30 years in business, its owners believe they’ve taken a big step in the retail brand’s evolution.
Brothers and owners Kevin and John Gray recently completed a 50,000-square-foot distribution center that will unify logistics operations for the four-store retailer, which has been in business since 1995. Currently, Custom Home operates a 19,000-square-foot warehouse to service its two Custom Home locations and its Niche Décor & Gifts store, plus a 15,000-square-foot warehouse and a rented 25,000-square-foot space to service its Custom Home Outlet.
“We realized we needed to be more efficient on our back-end delivery service, so we felt we needed to centralize our distribution center and have everything out of one location,” John Gray told Furniture Today.
Kevin Gray said having multiple spaces wasn’t ideal, but the business done from the Outlet location necessitated it, so they made it work.
“The Outlet took off and did more business than we expected it to do. The Outlet has a concept of buying showroom samples, direct containers and discontinued items, and it takes a lot of inventory,” he said. “We have to keep a lot in stock, and with the volume being more than expected, the on-site 15,000-square-foot warehouse wasn’t enough. We also found we sometimes had two different trucks in the same neighborhood, which wasn’t very efficient.”
Now, the Grays are on the brink of bringing it all together, as they expect to have the certificate of occupancy in hand this month. And while the single distribution center has about 10,000 square feet less in floor space, John Gray said it’s got 27 rows of racks that can stack product up to 30 feet high.
“We’re able to go up, and we’ll be able to receive and deliver and service out of one location,” Kevin Gray said, noting that Custom Home will use the warehouse spaces attached to two of its stores mostly for retaining a little on-location inventory and for staging and repairs.
And while one might think having a more efficient distribution system in place might be a precursor for growth, the Grays said it’s all about making sure they’re doing the best business they can in their hometown.
“Right now, it’s for getting better at what we’re doing and it will allow us to inventory more product at all locations so there can be more instant gratification across the board,” John Gray said.
Added Kevin Gray, “We need to maximize what we’re doing out of all locations. They’re doing strong, but they can do better. The next push is to make sure each location is doing the most business it can possibly do in the most efficient way possible.”