'Right-sizing' gives R.J. Fricks sharper focus
By Brian Carroll -- Furniture Today, August 22, 2005
Rome, Ga. — Though "right-sizing" quickly became a well-known, Dilbert-esque euphemism for laying people off and slashing costs, the much-maligned term can hold some positives.
Since "right-sizing" from a $3.5 million retail operation two years ago to a single-store business generating less than half volume that today — $1.5 million — the owners of R.J. Fricks here couldn't be happier. And happiness was the main reason for the shift.
"Quality of life is a big issue for us," said Ramona J. Fricks, co-owner with her husband, Greg Fricks, of R.J. Fricks, a retail mainstay on Rome, Ga.'s main street here for nearly four decades. "Watching Greg ride his bike with the kids on a Saturday — that means so much."
Shutting down a second location in nearby Carrollton, Ga., trimming its retail workforce from 13 to five, opening the showroom only Tuesday through Friday, and focusing more on design project sales versus single items also has translated into better profitability.
Since "right-sizing" exactly two years ago, the retailer's profit margins have climbed to 44% from 37%.
As part of the quality improvement process, the Fricks moved from a house in east Rome into the third floor of the R.J. Fricks building, transforming a dusty, debris-strewn warehouse space into a heavenly haven thrice-featured on the HGTV cable network. The 7,000-square-foot living space includes an indoor basketball court and game room for the Fricks' two children, a music room, and a full bar for the many parties the Fricks host.
"We love to entertain, and we get asked by quite a few people in town to host events in our home," said Ramona Fricks, who got her retail start at Gabbert's in Minneapolis 20 years ago.
As the Fricks' spectacular living environs suggest, display is an area in which R.J. Fricks excels, consistently presenting vignettes and room displays better than any furniture retailer in Rome and at the same level as many of the nation's better stores. With the velocity of sales the 7,000-square-foot, first-floor store achieves, maintaining top-shelf displays presents a constant challenge.
"I have to give credit (for display) to our store manager, Kendall Collins Duggan," Ramona Fricks said. "She started as my assistant four years ago and has quickly developed an incredible eye for design and detail."
During the week prior to Furniture/Today's visit to R.J. Fricks, for example, approximately $200,000 worth of sold furniture had been trucked out of the store to customers, leaving bare spaces on floors and walls. The store's small staff reacted fast, reconfiguring displays to mask the exodus.
"Because we're small, we have to give 150%," Fricks said. "We have to give people something extra, something they can't get anywhere else."
This deluxe service approach has won the Fricks long-term customers throughout the country, from New York to California to Texas, Florida and Louisiana. Fricks and Collins Duggan each routinely have at any one time 12 to 15 design projects at various stages of completion.
"If I have one problem, it's that we haven't figured out yet how to clone Ramona," said Greg Fricks, who bought out his father, Bill Fricks, in 1991. "She has such loyal customers, such a loyal following. They stay with her. She's started designing interiors for the children of her clients."
The intensity of trust is demonstrated in the clients' general lack of involvement in the details of projects, which they typically leave to R.J. Fricks' design staff. Most customers only select about 10% of the furniture that ends up in their homes. Fricks and Collins Duggan choose the other 90%.
"They don't come into the store asking for a brand or a name," Greg Fricks said. "What they want is the finished product, and they trust us to put that together for them."
Ramona Fricks said part of the credit for this level of trust must go to the furniture lines the store carries, even if they're not often asked for by name.
"We think we have the best lines in the industry," said Ramona Fricks, who shops with her husband at both semiannual High Point markets and, as of last month, the Las Vegas market.
R.J. Fricks relies mainly on Thomasville, which the store has sold throughout its existence, as well as Lexington, Henredon, Century, Drexel Heritage and Maitland-Smith. Other lines include Habersham, Sarreid and John Richards.
As the manufacturer names suggest, R.J. Fricks sells mostly upper-end traditional, but Ramona Fricks is working to diversify — at least a little. A clientele situated largely in the South is unlikely to reward a wholesale shift. Fricks said she is noticing more interest in cleaner, more contemporary looks, however.
A black pinstripe sofa in the store's front window, from Ralph Lauren by Henredon, is an example of the new style direction.
"We're trying to diversify, but we will avoid the merely trendy," she said. "I don't want to walk into one of my rooms eight to ten years from now and think, 'Oh my gosh. What was I thinking?'"
