{"id":22564,"date":"2025-04-01T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-01T04:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/?post_type=essay&p=22564"},"modified":"2025-04-01T06:42:59","modified_gmt":"2025-04-01T10:42:59","slug":"we-are-family-an-inside-look-at-the-next-generation-of-custom-outdoor-furniture-restrapping","status":"publish","type":"essay","link":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/essay\/we-are-family-an-inside-look-at-the-next-generation-of-custom-outdoor-furniture-restrapping\/","title":{"rendered":"We Are Family: An inside look at the next generation of Custom Outdoor Furniture & Restrapping"},"content":{"rendered":"

By: Ashley Daniels<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd the administration financial office was in their dining room,\u201d she says with a laugh. \u201cI\u2019ll remember that forever, walking upstairs and having all these papers all over the dining room table.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smith\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe picked up a chair and figured out how to strap it and repair it, and then approached the hotels and said, \u2018Hey, you don\u2019t have to throw this out,\u2019\u201d says Smith.  \u2018I can fix it for you for a much cheaper cost. That way, you\u2019re not throwing out a perfectly good aluminum frame.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI started in administration, just really learning it all,\u201d she says. \u201cBut now I\u2019m trying to hit the ground running with some new ideas to get our face out there a little bit more.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s 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\u2019s inventory, Smith is introducing more accessories, such as Bold Drinkware comprised of acrylic and melamine that\u2019s outdoor-friendly and mimics high-end crystal, BOTE inflatable products, and the Brumate line of coolers, mugs, and tumblers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Fred<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re 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,\u201d says Smith. \u201cWe\u2019ve really grown into a beautiful retail establishment after we started off with commercial and contract customers being our roots. It\u2019s kind of the opposite of what most retail furniture stores start up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smith and her team also pride themselves on becoming certified Women\u2019s Business Enterprises (WBEs) through the Women\u2019s Business Enterprise Council (WBENC), the nation\u2019s largest third-party certifier of businesses owned and operated by women in the United States, about five years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She says it was a difficult selection process set by the WBENC\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe most important thing for me is to trust your team,\u201d says Smith. \u201cThat\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information, visit Customoutdoorfurniture.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Ashley Daniels 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":22565,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_tec_requires_first_save":true,"_gspb_post_css":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":"","footnotes":""},"essay_type":[46,76],"essay-category":[101,100],"class_list":["post-22564","essay","type-essay","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","essay_type-features","essay_type-sasee-gets-personal","essay-category-businesses","essay-category-local"],"blocksy_meta":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/essay\/22564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/essay"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/essay"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/essay\/22564\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"essay_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/essay_type?post=22564"},{"taxonomy":"essay-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/essay-category?post=22564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}