Chattanooga: Cabinet company launches with unique business model

With his newest business, Jim Storey wanted to make crystal clear the number of days he wanted to work each week.

“We literally named our business 4-Day Cabinets for two reasons, one it gave us a license to only work four days a week,” Mr. Storey said.

Secondly, by opening the doors to the retail shop just Wednesday through Saturday, the company is only open when customers are most likely to be coming in the doors.

“The name is talking about making the most efficient use of your time,” said Arthur Ballard, project manager for 4-Day Cabinets. “We found that is a critical factor. We’re open four days a week from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. because that is when the public is out there buying.”

The business opened on River Street in Chattanooga’s Coolidge Park in February in a space Mr. Storey has owned for the past 15 years. The company’s Web site boasts four easy steps to change the look of a kitchen or bath.

First, plan a design; second, choose cabinet style and color. Steps three and four involve the building and installation of the cabinets — all of which can be done in four days, according to the owner.

The business plan works, Mr. Storey said, because 4-Day Cabinets keeps a large number of cabinets in stock — as much as $300,000 of inventory at any given time. So when someone comes into the retail showroom and chooses a configuration of cabinets, they are already there. Plus, the inventory is somewhat limited, which also keeps costs down, Mr. Storey said.

Along with Mr. Storey and Mr. Ballard, Sam Hoover is the only other worker at the business. Mr. Hoover and Mr. Ballard together bring more than 30 years of experience in designing and building cabinets. When customers come in, they guide them through the process of picking out the right cabinets for their kitchen, bathroom or even a garage.

“You can buy things in an outlet environment, but with full service, and that’s design and planning, installation, working with contractor, whatever has to happen,” he said.

Though Mr. Storey admits October was horribly slow — just like it was for many other businesses — overall, things have picked up in the cabinet-buying business, he said. He credits the economy with driving some of that business.

“What we are seeing is that there are people who have come to realize, ‘I am not going to be able to sell my house and move up to another house. I am going to be satisfied in this house, but I am going to make this place look the way I want it to if we are going to live here for another three years,’” Mr. Storey said.

The retail business also is an extension of another “hidden” business, Mr. Storey said. The inventory, stored in a warehouse nearby, supplies not just the customers who walk in off the street, but a growing number of builders and contractors from around the region who are shopping online.

The company gets its inventory from a supplier in China, but the manufacturing process is tailored to what 4-Day Cabinets wants. And 4-Day Cabinets is the exclusive provider of the cabinets, which are all wood and come in five different finishes, from dark mahogany to a much lighter natural look.

The cabinets sell for between 20 and 50 percent less than what someone would pay for custom work, but the customer can still get features such as glazed finishes and solid wood doors and drawer fronts, Mr. Storey said.