We Are Family: An inside look at the next generation of Custom Outdoor Furniture & Restrapping

Olivia Smith has fond memories as a kid of her grandparents working out of their garage before Custom Outdoor Furniture & Restrapping began operating in the building it does today on Business 17 in Garden City in 1999.

“And the administration financial office was in their dining room,” she says with a laugh. “I’ll remember that forever, walking upstairs and having all these papers all over the dining room table.”

Smith’s grandparents started the business in 1979 by just doing outdoor furniture repairs. The business was kicked off by her grandfather driving up and down Ocean Boulevard in Myrtle Beach to scope out the hotels with broken-strapped furniture sitting on the curb for trash pickup.

“He picked up a chair and figured out how to strap it and repair it, and then approached the hotels and said, ‘Hey, you don’t have to throw this out,’” says Smith. ‘I can fix it for you for a much cheaper cost. That way, you’re not throwing out a perfectly good aluminum frame.’”

Today, much has changed about the family-owned Custom Outdoor Furniture, but many generational traditions have remained the same. Smith, who graduated with a bachelor’s in hospitality management from the University of South Carolina in 2015, serves as co-owner with her mom, Sam Cox, and uncle and has a role in marketing and human resources. But that was after she spent a few years learning the ropes of the business and implementing a new POS system.

“I started in administration, just really learning it all,” she says. “But now I’m trying to hit the ground running with some new ideas to get our face out there a little bit more.”

For starters, Smith is boosting their presence on social media platforms with more authentic video content based on the store, showroom, and its team members instead of stock imagery from the manufacturers they sell. She’s also in the midst of revamping the Custom Outdoor Furniture website and transitioning it into a Shopify e-commerce experience. And, as far as the store’s inventory, Smith is introducing more accessories, such as Bold Drinkware comprised of acrylic and melamine that’s outdoor-friendly and mimics high-end crystal, BOTE inflatable products, and the Brumate line of coolers, mugs, and tumblers.

Custom Outdoor Furniture, however, has stayed steadfast in selling and repairing outdoor furniture, like it has for the last for the last 54 years. The staff of about 12 provides aluminum sling and strap furniture repair and sells new aluminum cushion, marine grade polymer, poly lumber, tables, wicker, teak, and wood furniture, plus umbrellas.

“We’re still true to our roots, and we like to sell things that we can fix or, as I like to say, we service what we sell,” says Smith. “We’ve really grown into a beautiful retail establishment after we started off with commercial and contract customers being our roots. It’s kind of the opposite of what most retail furniture stores start up.”

Smith and her team also pride themselves on becoming certified Women’s Business Enterprises (WBEs) through the Women’s Business Enterprise Council (WBENC), the nation’s largest third-party certifier of businesses owned and operated by women in the United States, about five years ago.

She says it was a difficult selection process set by the WBENC’s high standard of certification, which includes an in-depth review of the business and a site inspection to confirm that a business is at least 51 percent owned, operated, and controlled by a woman or women.

“The most important thing for me is to trust your team,” says Smith. “That’s the biggest thing: to have a team that you really trust and if you invest in your team, you are going to get the rewards.”

For more information, visit Customoutdoorfurniture.com.