Retailer Perspective: Runyon’s Fine Furniture

Editor's Note: As statewide rules and regulations continue to change, please contact retailers for their latest store hours and delivery capabilities.

Home has become even more important to us all in the past year, and making our homes as comfortable and stylish as possible is ideal. But what’s even more imperative is that we are able to make our homes as uniquely “us” as we would like. We talked to Bo Runyon, owner of Runyon’s Fine Furniture, a one-of-a-kind furniture provider, about doing just that. She also gave us insight into how they’ve handled 2020 and what to expect in 2021.

2020 was a crazy year – what does your 2021 business outlook look like?
2020 was a challenging year for us all, kind of forcing us to try different things and do different things. For 2021, we’re focusing on our website and the social media part of the business, which is kind of new for us, because we’ve never done that. [Regarding our current business climate] we’re kind of a special, niche store where we offer things you’re not going to see everywhere. We help our customers create their own style, so we listen to what they’re looking for, and then we help them apply it and create it.

Did you face any challenges during the 2020 push for digital presence?
I’m not a computer person, and I don’t shop online. I’m getting there, but it was just a little bit harder for me to figure all that out. It’s just overcoming setting up arrangements for out-of-state deliveries, getting better at our website and social media. That’s why we’ve recently hired a person that strictly handles our online advertising and SEO. Before 2020 we were really ‘you drive by, and you come in.’ Now what 2020 has forced us to do is really reach out to the people nationally, which has been very interesting. Our goal is to continue reaching out to our clients nationally.

We get a lot of walk-in traffic, and we have been really blessed with a lot of our loyal customers returning, buying new homes, buying second homes. Honestly they were such a blessing for 2020. I guess with everybody staying home, now they’re ready to either expand and get bigger houses or get second homes, so honestly we had a really blessed 2020, but a lot of it was our return customers.

How have your digital strategies changed throughout the last year?
I’m the face of the business and I love what I do, but I’m not just one of those [people who are comfortable] on video. We are going to start trying to do more video where it’s more professionally done. We’re going to try to work on being more planned [for video] and having that part of the business more organized so we can start taking advantage of the videos on Facebook.

What is your best tip for online growth/engaging with your audience?
Word of mouth was always, and still is, really good for us. I’ve been blessed with a couple of new hires that have a lot of furniture knowledge, so I’m actually stepping back a little bit and working on the [online] side of the business. To bring in more people we are advertising more. We’re posting more on Facebook, Constant Contact, Etsy, going places we normally didn’t do.

I love working with local artisans. We’ve been in business for over 30 years, and I’ve made a lot of great contacts from people all around the world. So when they have something amazing they will contact me, so I don’t go so much to the trade shows, but I do plan on going this year to the Vegas show to see what’s new. I’ve got a pretty good eye for what my clientele wants and what’s needed, but I have a lot of wonderful connections. The hard work has been done. I’ve established a great relationship with artisans around the world that come to me when they’ve got some fine pieces of furniture, so I don’t have to travel so much, but I have traveled around to find these artisans. Then our upholstery and leathers are all made in the USA.

I love helping my customers create their home so they don’t have what everyone else has. I listen to what they’re wanting. I take their pieces and will incorporate new pieces to freshen up a home. At the end of the day when I leave their home, my customers are very happy, and it’s finished.

Are you expecting to see a return to in-person shopping this year?
We get a lot of walk-in traffic, and we have been really blessed with a lot of our loyal customers returning, buying new homes, buying second homes. Honestly they were such a blessing for 2020. I guess with everybody staying home, now they’re ready to either expand and get bigger houses or get second homes, so honestly we had a really blessed 2020, but a lot of it was our return customers.

Tell us about your brand/store style – what does style mean to you?
We’re not like all the other stores. It’s a little bit of a mixture of hacienda meets old world with a little bit of a transitional niche to it. We’re here to show our customers that if you like a lighter look, we can help you create [that] to still have that old world ranch-type feel to your home. We can absolutely even help our clients create a modern rustic if they wanted to go for more clean lines, but they like the feel of Texas or the hacienda [style] gives. I love bling. I love incorporating crystals and bling with my hacienda and old world flair that way it’s not too heavy one way or the other, and we do bedding. Our bedding is very elegant and beautiful. I love helping my customers create their home so they don’t have what everyone else has. I listen to what they’re wanting. I take their pieces and will incorporate new pieces to freshen up a home. At the end of the day when I leave their home, my customers are very happy, and it’s finished.

Give us your best style tip!
You can place a new piece of furniture in a room, but if it’s not finished with accessories, lamps, wall décor, it’s not going to be very exciting, so we actually like to go out to our clients and help them finish it. We’ll even go as far as taking pieces to their home so they can actually visualize it. I really am just here to help [customers] create their look, so it’s their home, and it’s the way they want it so they can enjoy it and be proud of it, and it looks nothing like anybody else’s home. Retailer Perspective: Runyon's Fine Furniture

This interview is part of an ongoing series that W&E is conducting with retailers. Click here to peruse more stories and interviews from the retail industry.