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Small Details Yield Big Results For a Wisconsin hearth retailer, focusing on the nuts and bolts of his business has made it profitable even during hard times.
Written By Sharon Sanders
Photography by Mark Reinders
For a Wisconsin hearth retailer, focusing on the nuts and bolts of his business has made it profitable even during hard times.
The freezing winters along the banks of Lake Michigan have brought many prosperous years for Ken Doubek, owner of The Alaskan Fireplace Company/Fireside Hearth & Home, but he is the first to admit that running a hearth business has its challenges. If one were to ask Doubek to what he credits his success, he would be most likely to give one answer: focusing on the small things. From running the business efficiently and targeting the right customers to keeping his showroom fresh and interesting, Doubek has made The Alaskan Fireplace Company the most high-profile hearth retailer in the area.
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| A modern bathroom, complete with a fireplace, is part of the store’s new showroom vignettes. |
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| Jeanine and Ken Doubek own The Alaskan Fireplace Company/Fireside Hearth & Home, which they remodeled in October 2009. |
A Reluctant Evolution
The business was founded in Racine, Wisconsin, in 1992, catering primarily to new-home builders. It specialized in products that were construction related, including fireplaces, wire-rack closet shelving, and central built-in vacuums. In 1997, Doubek and his wife, Jeanine (whom he calls the perfect business partner), bought the business and then moved it to a larger, 8,000–square-foot building in Racine, where it remains today Doubek fondly remembers the early days, when business was booming and retailers were making money without doing much more than opening their stores every morning. He jokes, “It was like being in one of those sealed cash booths with money blowing everywhere, and all you had to do was grab for it.” Those days came to a screeching halt when the housing market crashed.
Before the crash, Doubek admits that he had never thought much about the way he ran his business. “It wasn’t something I made a priority,” he says. In an effort to rethink his business, he had an accountant friend help him analyze every detail of his operation (using the Blueprint for Success program created by Tom Pugh of Lloyd F. Pugh and Associates), and together, they created a new business plan. “The program taught me how to look at every small detail, from margins to inventory, advertising, and warehousing—and to understand that everything affected my ability to make a profit,” he explains. “I implemented the strategies three years ago, and that’s what I credit for us still being here.”
One thing that has remained strong is The Alaskan Fireplace Company’s reputation for service: Its employees are experts on the company and its products. Most of them have been around since the company’s inception. Doubek prides himself on the facts that he is the only in-home estimator and that he has never relied on commissioned salespeople. “They are going to try to sell a product that’s best for them and their commission. I’m more concerned about giving the customer what’s right for them than the money I’m going to make on the job. I will only recommend a product I think they will be happy with in the end,” he explains.
In 2006, Doubek turned to the Internet to supplement his income. He secured exclusive distribution rights in North America for a popular grate heater that consumers were buying by the tens of thousands after it was invented in 1977 by Ron and Dan Shimek (the founding fathers of Heat & Glo). The heater is popular because it adds up to 40,000 Btu of heat to a room and only costs around $400. “Retailing and wholesaling it have kept us going. I call it a reverse product because the worse the economy is, the better the sales are—because it’s inexpensive,” he says. The heater is sold across the nation to both dealers and consumers at www.hearthfan.com, a Web site that Doubek created. “Margins are high because it’s just me, a telephone, a computer, and a credit-card machine,” he explains, adding that he warehouses the product in his Racine warehouse. “What I’ve learned about running my business in this downturn, I truly believe will make us profitable on the other side,” he says.
A New Look
By 2009, it had been 12 years since Doubek had made any significant changes to his 4,000–square-foot showroom. With the newfound internal strength of his business, he was ready for a fresh look on the outside as well. “New-home builders were no longer our primary customers, so we needed to do something to appeal to the next generation: namely, homeowners and custom builders,” he explains. In August 2009, Doubek partnered with Hearth & Home Technologies to transform the store into a showplace that he’s confident will carry the business successfully through the new decade. Like many retailers, Doubek didn’t have the money or expertise to do what he envisioned for his store. “We had been selling Hearth & Home Technologies’ products for many years, with much success, so the partnership for the remodeling was the perfect fit,” Doubek says.
He was amazed at how easily and quickly his showroom was transformed. The grand opening was held in October 2009 (after just three months), and Doubek says that he couldn’t be happier with the final result, which includes modern vignettes featuring fireplaces in master-bathroom, bedroom, and home-office settings. He explains that the size of the showroom didn’t change, but it seems much bigger now because it’s laid out so well. “We put in products that I thought no rational, thinking dealer would spend money on, like landscape fireplaces and Heat & Glo’s ultramodern freestanding fireplace, Paloma™—and they are selling because the showroom opens people’s minds to new ideas,” he says. He admits that he was the biggest skeptic concerning the Paloma, yet he was the person who sold the first one.
Customers are buying higher-priced products as well. “Now, more than ever before, people see us as a stable company with the newest products,” Doubek explains. The exterior of the building also underwent a much-needed facelift. For the store’s grand opening, Doubek created and ran a television commercial announcing, “It’s still us,” just with a new look. Because the store is on a main street, he’s hoping that passersby will see the new exterior and stop in to see what’s new inside.
Looking to the Future Doubek is confident that the health of his business and the momentum of the remodeling project have propelled The Alaskan Fireplace Company strongly into 2010. In addition, over the next few years, he anticipates that the replacement business for prefabricated fireplaces is going to be huge because all the units that have been sold in the past 20 years will need to be torn out and replaced because 20 years is the typical life cycle of a fireplace. “I see it as another great opportunity for us,” he explains.
Doubek predicts that his biggest challenge is going to be that of replacing the lost new-construction business, anticipating that it will be gone for at least another five years—but it doesn’t worry him too much. “Once the economy recovers, our industry is going to explode,” Doubek says. “The guys who make it through this are going to be at the top. They will be the leaders of the next generation of hearth shops, and that’s what keeps me going.”
PHPR January/February 2010
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